Shamanism Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a Spirit world (Spiritualism), spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as tranc ...

in various cultures shows great diversity.Hoppál 2005: 15 In some cultures,

shamanic music Shamanic music is ritualistic music used in religious and spiritual ceremonies associated with the practice of shamanism. Shamanic music makes use of various means of producing music, with an emphasis on voice and rhythm. Shamanistic music can ...

may intentionally mimic natural sounds, sometimes with

onomatopoeia Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Such a word itself is also called an onomatopoeia. Common onomatopoeias include animal noises such as ''oink'', ''m ...

.Hoppál 2006: 143
Imitation of natural sounds may also serve other functions not necessarily related to shamanism, such as luring in the hunt;Nattiez: 5 and entertainment (

katajjaq Inuit throat singing, or ''katajjaq'' (Inuktitut syllabics: ᑲᑕᔾᔭᖅ), is a distinct type of throat singing uniquely found among the Inuit. It is a form of musical performance, traditionally consisting of two women who sing duets in a cl ...

s of the

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

).Nattiez: 5Deschênes 2002
/ref>

Localities

Sami

This holds e. g. for shamanism among Sami groups. Some of their shamanistic beliefs and practice shared important features with those of some Siberian cultures.Voigt 1966: 296 Some of the Sami

yoik A joik or yoik (anglicised, where the latter spelling in English conforms with the pronunciation; also named , , , or in the Sámi languages) is a traditional form of song in Sámi music performed by the Sámi people of Sapmi in Northern Europe. ...

s were sung during shamanistic rites,Szomjas-Schiffert 1996: 56, 76; this memory is conserved also in folklore tales of shamans.Voigt 1966: 145 In the modern day, yoiks are sung in two different styles, one only used by young people. The more common style of singing, the "mumbling" style, resembles magic spell-chanting.Szomjas-Schiffert 1996: 64 Several characteristics of yoiks can be explained through comparing the concepts of musical

ideal Ideal may refer to: Philosophy * Ideal (ethics), values that one actively pursues as goals * Platonic ideal, a philosophical idea of trueness of form, associated with Plato Mathematics * Ideal (ring theory), special subsets of a ring considere ...

s as observed in yoiks with the ideals of other cultures. Some yoiks intend to mimic natural sounds.Somby 1995
This can be contrasted with

bel canto Bel canto (Italian for "beautiful singing" or "beautiful song", )—with several similar constructions (''bellezze del canto'', ''bell'arte del canto'')—is a term with several meanings that relate to Italian singing. The phrase was not associat ...

, which intends to exploit the human speech organs on the highest level to achieve a nearly "superhuman" sound.Szomjas-Schiffert 1996: 74

Siberia

Shamanism in Siberia A large minority of people in North Asia, particularly in Siberia, follow the religio-cultural practices of shamanism. Some researchers regard Siberia as the heartland of shamanism.Hoppál 2005:13 The people of Siberia comprise a variety of et ...

is far from being homogeneous. In some of the various cultures there, mimicking natural sounds can be present: some instances of

overtone singing Overtone singing – also known as overtone chanting, harmonic singing, polyphonic overtone singing, and diphonic singing – is a set of singing techniques in which the vocalist manipulates the resonances of the vocal tract, in order to arous ...

, and also certain shamanic songs of some cultures can be examples.

Samoyedic

The seances of Nganasan shamans were accompanied by women imitating the sounds of a reindeer calf, (thought to provide fertility for women).Hoppál 2005: 92 In 1931, A. Popov observed the Nganasan shaman Dyukhade Kosterkin imitating the sound of a polar bear in order to spiritually transform into one.Lintrop
/ref>

Obi-Ugric

A Russian traveler described a

Khanty The Khanty (Khanty: ханти, ''hanti''), also known in older literature as Ostyaks (russian: остяки) are a Ugric indigenous people, living in Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug, a region historically known as "Yugra" in Russia, together ...

shamanic séance: it took place in a

birch bark Birch bark or birchbark is the bark of several Eurasian and North American birch trees of the genus ''Betula''. The strong and water-resistant cardboard-like bark can be easily cut, bent, and sewn, which has made it a valuable building, crafti ...

tent in full darkness. Only the song and the

dombra The ''dombra'', also known as ''dombyra'' ( kz, домбыра, uz, dombira, ba, думбыра) is a long-necked Kazakh, Uzbek and Bashkir lute and a musical string instrument. The dombyra shares certain characteristics with the komuz a ...

music of the shaman could be heard: he invoked his spirits. It was performed in a way to suggest the direction of the sound was moving: implying that the shaman had flown around inside the tent before leaving it. Later, the voices of various animals (cuckoo, owl,

hoopoe Hoopoes () are colourful birds found across Africa, Asia, and Europe, notable for their distinctive "crown" of feathers. Three living and one extinct species are recognized, though for many years all of the extant species were lumped as a single ...

, duck, squirrel) could be heard. Later, the shaman performed a "flight" back into the tent via the song.

Altai

Among several peoples near the

Altai Mountains The Altai Mountains (), also spelled Altay Mountains, are a mountain range in Central Asia, Central and East Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan converge, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob River, Ob have their headwaters. The m ...

, the new drum of a shaman must go through a special ritual. This is regarded as "giving the drum life": the tree and the deer who gave their wood and skin for the new drum narrate their whole lives and promise to the shaman that they will serve him. The ritual itself involves a

libation A libation is a ritual pouring of a liquid, or grains such as rice, as an offering to a deity or spirit, or in memory of the dead. It was common in many religions of antiquity and continues to be offered in cultures today. Various substa ...

: beer is poured onto the skin and wood of the drum, and these materials "come to life" and speak with the voice of the shaman in the name of the tree and the deer. Among the

Tubalar The Tubalars are an ethnic subgroup of the Altaians native to the Altai Republic in Russia. According to the 2010 census, there were 1,965 Tubalars in Russia. In 2002 they were listed by the authorities within the indigenous small-numbered peopl ...

, this means the imitation of the behavior and the voice of the animal by the shaman. Eliade 2001: 164 (= Chpt 5 discussing the symbolics of shamanic drum and costume, the subsection about the drum) In a

Soyot The Soyot are ethnic group of Turkic origin live mainly in the Oka region in the Okinsky District in the Buryatia, Russia. According to the 2010 census, there were 3,608 Soyots in Russia. Their extinct language (partly revitalized) was of a Tur ...

shamanic song, the sounds of birds and wolves are imitated to represent the spirits helping the shaman.Diószegi 1960: 203

Notes

References

* * **This book has been translated to English: * **This book has been translated to Hungarian: * **This book is published also in German, Estonian and Finnish
Site of publisher with short description on the book (in Hungarian)
* * * **These songs ar

from the

ethnopoetics Ethnopoetics is a method of recording text versions of oral poetry or narrative performances (i.e. verbal lore) that uses poetic lines, verses, and stanzas (instead of prose paragraphs) to capture the formal, poetic performance elements which w ...

website curated by

Jerome Rothenberg Jerome Rothenberg (born December 11, 1931) is an American poet, translator and anthologist, noted for his work in the fields of ethnopoetics and performance poetry. Early life and education Jerome Rothenberg was born and raised in New York ...

. * * * **Translated into Hungarian: *