Music in the Mythological Consciousness of Chuvash

Main Article Content

Mikhail G. Kondratyev

Abstract

This work is the first attempt to consider the materials of folklore studies and ethnography about music in the mythological consciousness of Chuvash. The article composition is determined by the initial difference between mythological ideas about the nature of song/singing and musical instruments/music-making. The author examines the concepts of both vocal (yură, săвă) and instrumental (kupăs, shăpăr, kĕsle, tămra) music living in the mythological consciousness of the Chuvash people. The article emphasizes the connection with the activity of the cultural heroes-demiurges of the demonological characters Tura and Kiremet, that points the primordial and archaic nature of these concepts and objects in the national culture. We are also talking about other representatives of the demonological pantheon Shuittan, Kil-khachĕ, Khĕrt-surt , who directly or indirectly characterize musical traditions and preferences of the people. Mythological ideas and concepts about music and about people who master this art are generated by attempts to understand and explain the origin of song and the art of singing, the causes and strength of influencing the art of sounds on man, the origin of musical instruments. While it is not possible to single out mythological components in the intonation content of folk music, these components are found in the prose texts of oral folk art. Taken together, in one way or another, the affected images and concepts form a certain system that is located in the depth of the ethno-cultural identity of the Chuvash people, who cannot imagine a holiday-rite without a native song or instrumental tune.


Keywords: mythological consciousness, the origin of song and musical instruments, demonological characters, supernatural abilities, ethno-cultural identity.

Article Details

How to Cite
Kondratyev М. Г. (2023). Music in the Mythological Consciousness of Chuvash. Music Scholarship / Problemy Muzykal’noj Nauki, 53(4), 158–168. Retrieved from https://musicscholar.ru/index.php/PMN/article/view/1485
Section
Area Studies in Music
Author Biography

Mikhail G. Kondratyev, Chuvash State Institute of Humanities, Cheboksary, Russia

DrSci (Arts), Chief Research Worker at the Art Department