Author’s “songs about the city” and their prototypes in folklore (based on northern Russian materials)

The article analyzes the practice of creating songs and poems about their home town (village, region) by residents of small settlements in the Russian North. Such author’s texts, which have become widespread since the second half of the 20th century, reveal a close connection with folk tradition, in particular, with mentioning villages in epics (bylinas) and historical songs, using topographical realities and subjective characteristics in “geographical” proverbs, sayings, nicknames, songs, in the wedding ceremony. “A song about a city (village)”, being born as an author’s work, becomes a form of group selfpresentation of local residents and a way to maintain the local identity of the community. An analysis of this general practice allows us to re-raise the question of the relationship between individual and collective creativity at the present stage.