Title:
THE POLYPHONIC TRANSMISSION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE: THE CHOIR

Authors:
Özlem ONUK NATONSKI

Abstract:
This article approaches choral music not merely as an aesthetic mode of performance but as a socioaesthetic structure that enables the polyphonic transmission of cultural heritage. The choir is not only a form wherein individual voices converge into collective resonance; it is also a cultural space where memory, identity, and shared lived experience are constructed through sound. In this context, the choir functions simultaneously as a musical praxis and a regime of cultural representation. The study examines how local narratives are translated into a universal musical language through polyphonic arrangements of folk melodies, and how memory is reconstructed and transformed via aesthetic means. Choral repertoire is conceived not solely as a reproduction of the past, but as a performative stage where contemporary identity politics, historical ruptures, and affective collectivities are articulated. Grounded in music sociology, performance theory, and theories of cultural memory, this article posits the choir as an active agent that shapes identity and bridges temporalities through sonic expression. Thus, the choir establishes cultural continuity on both sensorial and conceptual levels; it does not merely carry collective memory, but actively re-creates it with each performance.

Keywords:
Choir, Choral Music, Cultural Heritage, Theories of Memory, Identity and Music

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37500/IJESSR.2025.8507

Date of Publication: 17-09-2025