Soundscapes of Musical Folklore Among the Old-Timers of Russkoe Ustye

Альманах
Key words
soundscape of the Arctic, Russkoe Ustye, Russian old residents, musical folklore, andylschinа
Author
Varvara E. Dyakonova, Liya I. Kardashevskaya
About the Author
Varvara E. Dyakonova
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3470-5474
E-mail: agiki@mail.ru Tel.: +7 (411) 234-4460
4, Ordzhonikidze str., Yakutsk, 677000, Russian Federation
PhD in Arts, Associate Professor, Department of Art History, Arctic State Institute of Culture and Arts

Liya I. Kardashevskaya
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5709-910X
E-mail: kardmike@mail.ru Tel.: +7 (411) 234-4460
4, Ordzhonikidze str., Yakutsk, 677000, Russian Federation
PhD in Arts, Senior Lecturer, Department of Art History, Arctic State Institute of Culture and Arts
Received
Date of publication
DOI
https://doi.org/10.26158/TK.2023.24.1.003
Body

This article is an attempt to apply the notion of the Artic soundscape to the musical folklore of representatives of a subethnic group of the Russian people — Russian old-timers living in the village of Russkoe Ustye in the Allaikhovsky district of Yakutia. In particular, two intonational layers of the auditory landscape of the Arctic are analyzed. The first of them — the intonational interaction with nature — is represented in lyrical, dance songs and chastushki (ditties). Lyrical songs reveal intonational portraits of natural phenomena such as trees and rivers. Praise of a natural element — like a river — is presented in dance songs. The theme of cold weather also appears in lyrical songs and chastushki, thus revealing features not only of the auditory, but also of the cultural landscape. In interesting and rare examples of “andylschinа” (lyrical song-dialogues between a young man and a girl), which appeared as a result of interethnic contacts with Yukaghirs, manifestations of the auditory landscape are associated with the use of diminutives (e. g., “bistranochka” [little minnow], “kamushek’ [little rock or pebble]).

The second layer of the Artic soundscape — the projection of social and individual features onto the outward person — preserves villagers’ memories of the cultural landscape of the metropolis, their distant homeland. It is expressed in disappearing epic songs; in surviving historical songs in which appear images-reminiscences of the events of the Russian conquest of-Kazan in the sixteenth century; the Time of Troubles at the end of the sixteenth — early seventeenth century; and the eighteenth-century war with Sweden; etc., as well as in rare examples of calendar songs. It is necessary to note the special “shuffling” sound (the “primordial” dialect) of the Russo-Ustin people, which distinguishes the auditory landscape of Russkoe Ustye from the rest of the Arctic territory and makes it unique.

The article is based on the authors’ field materials recorded in 2014 as well as on the scholarly
literature.

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For citation

Smirnov D. V. (2023) Zvuchashchie landshafty muzykal’nogo fol’klora starozhilov Russkogo Ust’ya [Soundscapes of Musical Folklore Among the Old-Timers of Russkoe Ustye]. Traditsionnaya kul’tura. 2023. Vol. 24. No. 1. Pp. 31–44. In Russian.