Buryatia Buryatia, officially the Republic of Buryatia (russian: Республика Бурятия, r=Respublika Buryatiya, p=rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə bʊˈrʲætʲɪjə; bua, Буряад Улас, Buryaad Ulas, , mn, Буриад Улс, Buriad Uls), is ...

is a part of the

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. One of the country's main instruments is a two-stringed horse-head

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

called a ''

morin khuur The ''morin khuur'' ( mn, морин хуур, morin khuur), also known as the horsehead fiddle, is a traditional Mongolian bowed stringed instrument. It is one of the most important musical instruments of the Mongol people, and is considered ...

''. This is an instrument closely linked to the all-important cult of the horse, belonging to the intangible heritage of all Mongolic peoples. Other elements of Buryat music, such as the use of fourths both in tuning instruments and in songs, and

pentatonic A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to the heptatonic scale, which has seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale). Pentatonic scales were developed independently by many ancie ...

scales, reveal similarities to music from Siberia and Eastern Asia. There traditionally was no

polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

, instead voices and instruments performed the same melody in unison but varied in timing and

ornamentation An ornament is something used for decoration. Ornament may also refer to: Decoration *Ornament (art), any purely decorative element in architecture and the decorative arts *Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals that appear to serve on ...

Narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller (ge ...

structures are a part of most Buryat folk music, often in the form of epic tales, and the last song of famous leaders; these include the ''

Last Song of Rinchin Dorzhin A last is a mechanical form shaped like a human foot. It is used by Shoemaking, shoemakers and cordwainers in the manufacture and repair of shoes. Lasts typically come in pairs and have been made from various materials, including hardwoods, cas ...

''. Under

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

control, Buryat folk music was sanitized and mostly allowed in forms that were supportive of the state's power. This period saw state-approved songs recollecting events such as the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

and the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sout ...

. The first Buryat rock band was Uragsha, who were one of the few bands of the time to sing both in Russian and their native Mongolian language. Their collaborations with

La MaMa La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club (La MaMa E.T.C.) is an Off-Off-Broadway theatre founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart, African-American theatre director, producer, and fashion designer. Located in Manhattan's East Village, the theatre began in the ...

theater in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in late 1990s led to their embrace of traditional music and

shamanic Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiri ...

roots too, and eventually to formation of the group

Namgar Namgar ( Buryat: Намгар) is a 4-piece music group that performs traditional Buryat and Mongolian music. Its leader Namgar Lhasaranova comes from the east borderland where three countries, Russia, Mongolia, and China meet. She inherited a ...

that represents Buryat traditional music at world music festivals since 2001. Vladlen Pantaev is also a notable Buryat musician; one of the key composers of Buryat folk music. He has devoted many years to the National Theater in Ulan-Ude. Many of his songs are widely recognized in the region.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Music Of Buryatia Buryat music

See also

Further reading

References