Page 29 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2017. Glasbene migracije: stičišče evropske glasbene raznolikosti - Musical Migrations: Crossroads of European Musical Diversity. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 1
P. 29
there and back: circassians in anatolia
It is obvious that these performances have little to do with the tradi-
tional wored-s (songs) of the “long-lived” men of Circassia, however much
lip service may be paid to the values of that primary practice. As in Geor-
gia, there existed in Abkhazia and the Circassian lands a rich tradition of
music connected to everyday life, including work songs, ceremonial songs
(especially hunting songs), lullabies and laments, with the latter two tradi-
tionally the preserve of women. Mostly these songs were monophonic, but
some were traditionally sung in two- or three-part polyphony, and even
the monophonic songs often have either a vocal refrain in parallel fourths
or fifths or a multi-part instrumental accompaniment. Here we might note
that while North Caucasian polyphonies remained distinct in idiom from
Georgian counterparts, Abkhazia had points of contact with both. Of the
various northern traditions it was proximate to ancient Ossetian styles in
particular, for reasons that are not entirely clear, but there were also, pre-
dictably enough given the geopolitics of the region, shared characteristics
with Mingrelian idioms that are today considered Georgian (Mingrelia was
part of the medieval Abkhaz Kingdom). Short-breathed phrases, a high lev-
el of repetition and a background pulse often articulated by clappers are
characteristic. In addition to these repertories of ritual song, there were
epic songs referencing Abkhaz and Circassian histories, often performed
as stridently recited poetry with semi-improvised accompaniment. These
songs are a reminder of a bardic tradition that was once widespread across
the Caucasus, inviting comparison with epic traditions both to the north
(Russia) and to the south (Turkey).12
Again as in Georgia, it is hard to pinpoint a starting point for the folk-
lorization of Abkhaz-Adygean traditional music, given that from an early
stage music was associated with particular families (in Abkhazia) and vil-
lages (in both Abkhazia and Adygea), which established and maintained a
12 Н. Д. Чанба, Героическая Хоровая Песния Абхаэов [Heroic Choral Songs of Ab-
khazians] (Sukhum: Abgiz, 2014). On the Russian tradition, see Isabel Florence
Hapgood, The Epic Songs of Russia (London; Constable & Co, 1915), Nora Kershaw
Chadwick, Russian Heroic Poetry (New York; Russell & Russell, 1964 [1932]), and
James Bailey and Tatiana Ivanova, An Anthology of Russian Folk Epics (New York
and London: M.E. Sharpe, 1998). On the Turkish Ashik tradition (though not ex-
clusively focusing on epics), see Yildiray Erdener, The Song Contests of Turkish Min-
strels: Improvised Poetry Sung to Traditional Music (New York and London: Garland,
1995) and Natalie Kononenko Moyle, The Turkish Minstrel Tale Tradition (Bloom-
ington: Indiana University Press, 1993). More generally, see Karl Reichl, ed., The Oral
Epic: Performance and Music (Berlin: Verlag für Wiss. und Bildung, 2000), and on
the Balkans, see Philip Bohlman and Nada Petković, eds., Balkan Epic: Songs, Histo-
ry, Modernity (Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2011).
27
It is obvious that these performances have little to do with the tradi-
tional wored-s (songs) of the “long-lived” men of Circassia, however much
lip service may be paid to the values of that primary practice. As in Geor-
gia, there existed in Abkhazia and the Circassian lands a rich tradition of
music connected to everyday life, including work songs, ceremonial songs
(especially hunting songs), lullabies and laments, with the latter two tradi-
tionally the preserve of women. Mostly these songs were monophonic, but
some were traditionally sung in two- or three-part polyphony, and even
the monophonic songs often have either a vocal refrain in parallel fourths
or fifths or a multi-part instrumental accompaniment. Here we might note
that while North Caucasian polyphonies remained distinct in idiom from
Georgian counterparts, Abkhazia had points of contact with both. Of the
various northern traditions it was proximate to ancient Ossetian styles in
particular, for reasons that are not entirely clear, but there were also, pre-
dictably enough given the geopolitics of the region, shared characteristics
with Mingrelian idioms that are today considered Georgian (Mingrelia was
part of the medieval Abkhaz Kingdom). Short-breathed phrases, a high lev-
el of repetition and a background pulse often articulated by clappers are
characteristic. In addition to these repertories of ritual song, there were
epic songs referencing Abkhaz and Circassian histories, often performed
as stridently recited poetry with semi-improvised accompaniment. These
songs are a reminder of a bardic tradition that was once widespread across
the Caucasus, inviting comparison with epic traditions both to the north
(Russia) and to the south (Turkey).12
Again as in Georgia, it is hard to pinpoint a starting point for the folk-
lorization of Abkhaz-Adygean traditional music, given that from an early
stage music was associated with particular families (in Abkhazia) and vil-
lages (in both Abkhazia and Adygea), which established and maintained a
12 Н. Д. Чанба, Героическая Хоровая Песния Абхаэов [Heroic Choral Songs of Ab-
khazians] (Sukhum: Abgiz, 2014). On the Russian tradition, see Isabel Florence
Hapgood, The Epic Songs of Russia (London; Constable & Co, 1915), Nora Kershaw
Chadwick, Russian Heroic Poetry (New York; Russell & Russell, 1964 [1932]), and
James Bailey and Tatiana Ivanova, An Anthology of Russian Folk Epics (New York
and London: M.E. Sharpe, 1998). On the Turkish Ashik tradition (though not ex-
clusively focusing on epics), see Yildiray Erdener, The Song Contests of Turkish Min-
strels: Improvised Poetry Sung to Traditional Music (New York and London: Garland,
1995) and Natalie Kononenko Moyle, The Turkish Minstrel Tale Tradition (Bloom-
ington: Indiana University Press, 1993). More generally, see Karl Reichl, ed., The Oral
Epic: Performance and Music (Berlin: Verlag für Wiss. und Bildung, 2000), and on
the Balkans, see Philip Bohlman and Nada Petković, eds., Balkan Epic: Songs, Histo-
ry, Modernity (Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2011).
27
