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THE HISTORY OF RESEARCH ON NGANASAN SHAMANISM // Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology. 2013. Issue 2 (2). P. 100-105

The paper discusses the history of research on Nganasan shamanism of the period from the 18th century till present. The works on shamanism written by Russian and foreign ethnographers, linguists, musiclogists are studied. Dating back to the 18th century, the works of researchers and travellers mentioned shamanism in Samoyedic cultures. The detailed description of data on shamanism is found in the works of A. F. Middendorf, A. A. Mordvinov, P. I. Tretjakov written in the 19th century. The consistent ethnographic study of Nganasan shamanism dates back to the end of 1920s and was performed by Soviet researchers. Andrey Alexandrovich Popov described the rituals of the “Clean Chum”, documented the stages and procedures of the rituals, discussed the shaman rituals in the cultural context, and provided illustrations of the shaman’s clothes and artefacts. In 1978 during the fieldtrip Yurij Borisovich Simchenko collected and later published photo, video and text data of the Nganasan shaman rituals which are of great value. The research work of Galina Nikolaevna Gracheva focuses on shamanism in the context of old Nganasan beliefs about mothers of nature. In the 1990–2000s Nikolaj Pluzhnikov and Jean-Luc Lambert studied shamanism in the perspective of folklore texts (stories about shamans). The published catalogues of the museum collections of Taimyr Local Lore Museum, Museum of Ethnography on Lama Lake are a valuable source of ethnographic data. The linguist E. A. Helimski and the folklore researcher N. T. Kosterkina first published the texts on shaman rituals in Nganasan. Ethnomusicological research on shaman rituals of the Nganasans was performed by O. E. Dobzhanskaya. Unfortunately, at present the decline in shaman practices of the Nganasans is observed. The immediate heirs of shamans, who preserved the immitation forms of the shamanic activities, passed away in 2011–2012. In conclusion it should be noted that the Nganasan shamanism as a cultural phenomenon attracts interest of young researchers who participate in the conferences in Norilsk and Dudinka. The research topic is still strong and relevant which gives hope that there will be works focusing on the new forms of shamanic beliefs and rituals persisting in the modern life of the Nganasans.

Keywords: Nganasans, shamanism, shaman rituals, shaman beliefs, researchers of shamanism

THE SHAMAN’S DRUM: A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT OR SHAMAN’S RIDING REINDEER? // Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology. 2016. Issue 2 (12). P. 81-90

The article analyzes the main images which associated with a shaman drum in the culture of the Samoyed peoples. These are: a drum-reindeer, a drum-boat, a drum-Universe, a drum-year, a drum-week, a drum-cloud and some individual reflections of shaman’s drum. Ethnological and ethnomusico-logical materials are interpreted through cultural geography that allows us to deepen the understanding of the figurative meanings of the Shaman drum. As one music instrument, a drum considered as a ritual attribute of a shaman. Special attention is paid to ideological properties of drum’s sounding. The article is based on published sources and the author's field materials, recorded in 1990 from D. D. Kosterkin.

Keywords: Samoyed peoples, Nganasans, Nenets, Enets, Selkups, musical instruments, shaman drum, the image of drum-reindeer, cultural geography, geo-cultural image

THE MUSICAL CULTURE OF CHUKCHI: THE HISTORY OF RESEARCH // Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology. 2018. Issue 3 (21). P. 118-131

The article covers the process of researching the musical folklore of Chukchi, from the first references in the materials of travelers and missionaries of the XVIII–XIX centuries (G. Sarychev, F. Matiushkin, A. Argentov etc.) to the present time. Special attention is paid to the works of ethnographers of XIX–XX centuries V. Bogoraz, V. Kuznetsova, I. Vdovin and others, in which music is characterized as an integral part of ethnic culture. The article takes into account the data of archeology (N. Dikov), religious studies, philology and folklore studies (L. Belikov, V. Leontjev), art criticism (S. Ivanov, N. Kocheshkov), cultural studies, folk choreography (M. Zhornitsraya), linguistics (P. Skorik, P. Inenlikei) etc., which are relevant to musical culture. The musicological study of Chukchi folklore began in the XX century, it is associated with musical notation by E. Shirokogorova, sound fixations by E. Gippius, Z. Evald, E. Magid, P. Collaer, publications by H. Narva and V. Lytkin. The ethnomusicological studies associated with the works of I. Brodsky (Bogdanov), Yu. Sheikin, O. Dobzhanskaya, Z. Djachkova and others, multimedia publications of A. Lecomte, K. Tanimoto, etc. Some publications of cultural workers and leaders of Chukchi amateur musical-dancing groups (E. Rul’tyneut, O. Geuntonau, G. Tagrina, V. Tymnevje) also considered.

Keywords: Chukchi, paleo-Asiatic peoples, musical folklore, musical ethnography, research of Chukchi musical folklore

THE HISTORY OF THE STUDY OF YUKAGHIR MUSICAL CULTURE // Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology. 2019. Issue 4 (26). P. 149-159

Yukaghirs are a very small Northern people, their number is only 1603 people (according to the all-Russian census of 2010). The article describes the process of studying the musical folklore of two preserved local groups of Yukaghirs: Oduls (Upper Kolyma Yukaghirs) and Vaduls (Lower Kolyma Yukaghirs). The first account of the musical culture of the Yukaghirs appear in the works of travelers and missionaries, participants of expeditions of the 18–19 centuries, who studied the Kolyma region (F. F. Matyushkin, S. I. Mickiewicz, M. S. Vrutsevich, A. E. Dyachkov, V. G. Bogoraz). The works by V.I. Iohelson contain extensive ethnographic, linguistic and folklore materials on Oduls, which have a significant importance for researching the Yukaghirs musical culture. V.I. Iochelson described pictographic inscriptions on birch bark which are called changar shorile and related to the song tradition. In the 20th century, the works of E. A. Kreinovich were significant for the study of Yukaghir culture. A. N. Laptev published a number of folklore texts collected in 1959 by the expedition of USSR’s Academy of Science. Choreographer M. Ya. Zhornitskaya describing circular and imitative dances based on the field materials collected in 1959 and 1964. Yukaghir music became an object of research from 1960s, when composers and musicologists G. A. Grigoryan, E. Ye. Alekseev, G. N. Komrakov began to record examples of musical folklore and study them. In 1973, I. A. Brodsky recorded melodies of musical and dance folklore, gathered several musical instruments and instrumental tunes, made a primary theoretical analysis of intonation practice. T. S. Shentalinskaya in 1982 collected samples of song and lyrical improvisations (andylschina), characteristic for Russian old inhabitants and Yukaghirs of the Lower Kolyma. Since 1980s, T. I. Ignatieva and Yu. I. Sheykin have been working on the collection and publication of musical folklore of Yukaghirs. In the 1980s and 1990s, recordings of Yukaghir folklore were made by K. Tanimoto and T. Miller. Linguist S. Ode using their own field materials 1990–2000s studied recitative melodies in the tales of Yukaghir. The unique musical culture of the Yukaghirs belongs to the disappearing musical and folklore traditions and needs to be studied urgently.

Keywords: Indigenous Northern peoples, Yukaghirs, Oduls, Vaduls, music, musical folklore