One of the chapters of the synthese „The folk song, music and dance in the Czech culture“, prepared by the employees of the Department of Ethnomusicology, of Ethnological Institute of Czech Academy of Sciences, will be dedicated to the Urban (folk) song in the historical ad social cultural context. The present study tries to formulate a summary of theoretical information as a methodological and terminological point of departure for a further research, a summary based on the sematic analysis of the individual components of the term „urban folk song“ and on the previous fundamental editions and monographies. The author proves that the inomissible part of the so called national treasure of songs has its roots exactly in the urban folk song, he reflects on the purpose of the contemporary investigation in this field and on the problem of the very existence of the urban folk song as a recent type. He points out the difficulties brought on by the attempts of the systematization in this sphere, he analyses various classification criteria and recommends their combination with the so called phenomenons (market song, party song etc.) In conclusion, he recapitulates briefly the hitherto produced bibliography in this field.
The professional structure of the Romani ethnics developed in an uneven pace and in a regressive way. The traditional blacksmiths, horse-dealers, musicians or artists were outweighed by wage-workers , home-producers and unproductive persons with illegal sources of income. Because of this the experiences and usages passed over from one generation to another were disappearing. The only thing left was the coarse work force and even this was possible to be used casually and in season. Outside the summer months members of some families had to complement their incomes by begging, petty thefts and other forms of sponging.
We have been witnesses of the revival of various moral, cultural and religious differences among people based on a concrete description of activities of a Czech gravedigger. In the recently launched standardization of particular qualifications of a gravedigger and in the manner of verification of his/her professional competence, the author, who is personally involved in this process, looks for the assumptions for establishing a cemetery open for all nationalities where religion and culture could co-exist. The text introduces both the historical (diachronic) interpretation of the position of a gravedigger as well as its socio-cultural (synchronic) delimitation. The author attempts to incorporate all objectively existing elements into the requirements laid upon professional competences of a gravedigger. Especially globalization, migration and recovery of local communities on the religious and ethnic basis belong among them.