Today we are opening our page for Tatar sung folklore. The contribution of the Tatar people to cultural exchange along the Silk Road has always been well known and significant. There are numerous books and articles about Tatar history but few in foreign languages. Fortunately, a fundamental book came out not long ago, Tatar History and Civilization: Edited by Damir Ishaqov, Project Director: Halit Eren, Project Advisors: M. A. Usmanov, R. S. Khakimov, translated by Ilnur I. Nadirov, IRCICA, 2010. This is a rich and comprehensive book about the history and civilization of the Tatars and is the first to be published in English. This is a collaborative work in which 35 scholars from Tatarstan have participated. The book was originally prepared in the Tatar language. A few weeks ago a new book appeared in Russia under the auspices of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian Institute for the History of the Arts, and the Academy of Sciences of Tatarstan, – Naila Almeyeva. Songs of Kryashen Tatars. Issue 2. “Mol’keyevo Group.” General editor: Izaly Zemtsovsky. St. Petersburg – Kazan, 2013. (The first issue came out in 2007.) Cover pictures of both books are reproduced here. The cover photo of vol. 1 -- a woman during her first year of marriage in a dress traditional for her marital status. The cover photo of vol. 2 -- a married woman in a traditional everyday dress that was habitually worn until the 1960s. The dress is made of hemp fabric. She is wearing a foot wrapping instead of socks and wears sandals with a wooden sole to protect them from soiling if it rains. This book is the second volume in a multivolume series dedicated to the traditional folklore of the Orthodox Christian Tatars (the Kryashens), who live in the Middle Volga Region. The volume is devoted to a local tradition of the Kryashen group concentrated on the border between Tatarstan and the Chuvash Republic. The volume contains 115 poetic and musical texts of songs and their variants. The volume includes polyphonic singing unique for Tatars and belongs to such genres as circle-dances, Maslenitsa (Shrovetide), harvesting and wedding ceremony, bride’s lamentations, drinking and recruit songs, as well as melodies of Orthodox prayers appearing in Tatar lyrics. The lyrics are presented in Tatar together with a Russian translation. (A few selected examples can be read and listened to here on our facebook page.) The book has an attached CD containing audio and video recordings of traditional singing. The preface – in Russian and in English – describes the specific features of the local tradition. Each tune is provided with comments, personal data of the performers, and stories told by ethnophores about the circumstances in which each song was sung. All field recordings, notations, photographs, video material, and translations of lyrics and stories result from the painstaking and devoted personal work over many years by Dr. Naila Almeyeva, an outstanding collector and experienced transcriber of complex field data. Now we all are able to enjoy the accomplishments of her work.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Aug 2013 05:31:35 +0000
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