Musical-Song Folklore in the Context of Funeral-Memorial Tradition of the Eastern Udmurts [Myzykal’no-pesennyi folklor v kontekste pohoronno-pominal’noi traditsii zakamskikh udmurtov].
- Authors: Anisimov N.V.1,2, Pchelovodova I.V.2
-
Affiliations:
- Estonian Literary Museum
- Udmurt Federal Research Centre, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
- Issue: No 1 (2025)
- Pages: 177-197
- Section: Research Articles
- URL: https://archivog.com/0869-5415/article/view/683040
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.31857/S0869541525010099
- EDN: https://elibrary.ru/URJHIP
- ID: 683040
Cite item
Abstract
The article examines the musical and song folklore of the Eastern Udmurts in the context of the culture of funeral and memorial rites. Drawing both on the archival and field data, we discuss the functions, symbolism, terminologies, as well as musical and poetical aspects of songs and melodies performed during funeral and commemoration rites. The sources that we explored point to the strong influence of the neighboring Turkic musical culture. We argue that there is not a single basic tune or melody that could be considered as typical for the funeral and commemorative culture of the Eastern Udmurts; rather, one can speak of a variety of local tunes and melodies. There are both welcome songs and lyrical or folk songs that are frequently performed during the rites. The latter, in their musical aspects, are usually close to the folk culture of neighboring Turkic peoples, such as the Tatar, Bashkir, or perhaps sometimes Chuvash. The presence of lyrical songs in the ritual contexts is due to the fact that those let the rite participants express much stronger emotions, which may be considered excessive and unnecessary in everyday life. The study confirms the assumption that songs in funeral and commemoration rites function as a medium for communication in the sacral dialog between the worlds.
Full Text

About the authors
Nikolai V. Anisimov
Estonian Literary Museum; Udmurt Federal Research Centre, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Author for correspondence.
Email: kyldysin@yandex.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-6060-3562
PhD, старший научный сотрудник отдела фольклористики, научный сотрудник отдела филологических исследований, Удмуртский институт истории, языка и литературы
Estonia, Tartu; Izhevsk, RussiaIrina V. Pchelovodova
Udmurt Federal Research Centre, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Email: orimush@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-5553-0100
Udmurt Institute of History, Language and Literature
Russian Federation, IzhevskReferences
- Anisimov, N.V. 2022. Vesennie pominki tulys kis’ton zakamskikh udmurtov: sovremennoe bytovanie traditsii [The Tulys Kis’ton Spring Commemorations of the Dead among the Eastern Udmurt: Modern Living of a Tradition]. Etnograficheskoe obozrenie 5: 166–186. https://doi.org/10.31857/S0869541522050098
- Atamanov, M.G. 2004. Iz istorii formirovaniia zakamskoi gruppy yuzhnykh udmurtov [From the History of the Formation of the Eastern Group of Southern Udmurts]. Vordskem kyl 1: 79–90.
- Atamanov, M.G. 2005. Ot Dondykara do Ursygurta. Iz istorii udmurtskikh regionov [From Dondykar to Ursygurt: A History of the Udmurt Regions]. Izhevsk: Udmurtiia.
- Bochkareva, M. 2020. Pesennaia kul’tura zakamskikh udmurtov [The Song Culture of the Eastern Udmurts]. MA Thesis. Kazanskaia gosudarstvennaia konservatoriia, Kazan’.
- Chernykh, A.V. 1995. Buiskie udmurty: etnograficheskii ocherk [Bui Udmurts: Ethnographic Sketch]. Perm’: Permskii oblastnoi tvorcheskii tsentr.
- Kamaltdinova, A.V. 2007. Dopesennoe i pesennoe intonirovanie v muzykal’nom fol’klore zakamskikh udmurtov (metodika notirovki zvukozapisei) [Pre-Song and Song Intonation in the Musical Folklore of Eastern Udmurts (Methodology of Transcribing Sound Recordings)]. Graduate Thesis. Udmurtskii gosudarstvennyi universitet, Izhevsk.
- Kelmakov, V.K. 2006. Kratkii kurs udmurtskoi dialektologii: uchebnoe posobie dlia vysshikh uchebnykh zavedenii [Brief Course in Udmurt Dialectology: Textbook for Higher Education Institutions]. Izhevsk: Udmurtskii universitet.
- Khristoliubova, L.S., and T.G. Minniiakhmetova. 1994. Udmurty Bashkortostana. Istoriia, kul’tura, sovremennost’ [Udmurts of Bashkortostan: History, Culture, Contemporary Life]. Ufa: RTSNT.
- Kondratiev, M.G. 2007. Chuvashskaia muzyka: ot mifologicheskikh vremen do stanovleniia sovremennogo professionalizma [Chuvash Music: From Mythological Times to the Emergence of Modern Professionalism]. Moscow: PER SE.
- Kosareva, I.A. 2000. Traditsionnaia zhenskaia odezhda periferiinykh grupp udmurtov (kosinskoi, slobodskoi, kukmorskoi, shoshminskoi, zakamskoi) v kontse XIX – nachale XX v. [Traditional Women’s Clothing of Peripheral Groups of Udmurts (Kosinsky, Slobodsky, Kukmorsky, Shoshminsky, Eastern) at the End of the 19th – Beginning of the 20th Centuries]. Izhevsk: UIIIaL UrO RAN.
- Lallukka, S., T.G. Minniyakhmetova, and R.R. Sadikov, eds. 2014. Puteshestviia k udmurtam i mariitsam. Pis’ma Uno Khol’mberga 1911 i 1913 gg. [Travel to the Udmurt and the Mari: Uno Holmberg’s Correspondence 1911 and 1913]. St. Petersburg: Evropeiskii dom.
- Luppov, P.N. 1901. Khristianstvo u votiakov so vremeni pervykh istoricheskikh izvestii o nikh do XIX veka [Christianity Among the Votyaks from the Earliest Historical Records to the 19th Century]. Viatka: N.A. Ogorodnikov i K.
- Minniyakhmetova, T.G. 1989. Rol’ etnicheskoi sredy v formirovanii pesennogo repertuara derevni [The Role of the Ethnic Environment in Shaping the Song Repertoire of a Village]. In Fol’klor i etnografiia udmurtov: obriady, obychai, pover’ia [Folklore and Ethnography of the Udmurts: Rituals, Customs, Beliefs], edited by T.G. Vladykina and L.S. Khristoliubova, 128–139. Izhevsk: UIIIaL.
- Minniyakhmetova, T.G. 2000. Kalendarnye obriady zakamskikh udmurtov [The Eastern Udmurt’s Calendar Rituals]. Izhevsk: UIIIaL UrO RAN.
- Minniyakhmetova, T.G. 2001. Pominal’nye obriady zakamskikh udmurtov [The Eastern Udmurt’s Commemorative Rituals]. In Finno-ugorskaia fol’kloristika na poroge novogo tysiacheletiia [Finno-Ugric Folkloristics on the Doorstep of the New Millennium: Conference Materials], edited by Т.G. Vladykina, 84–95. Izhevsk: UIIIaL UrO RAN.
- Minniyakhmetova, T. 2003. Traditsionnye obriady zakamskikh udmurtov. Struktura. Semantika. Fol’klor [The Eastern Udmurt’s Traditional Rituals: Structure, Semantics, Folklore]. Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus.
- Nasibullin, R.S. 1972. Zakamskie govory udmurtskogo yazyka [The Eastern Dialects of the Udmurt Language]. PhD diss., University of Tartu.
- Nikitina, G.A. 2016. Zakamskie udmurty: obshchee i osobennoe [Eastern Udmurts: Commonalities and Uniqueness]. Finno-ugorskii mir 2: 42–50.
- Nurieva, I.M. 2013. Zakamskie udmurty: traditsiia paradoksov (etnomuzykovedcheskii etiud) [Eastern Udmurts: Tradition of Paradoxes (Ethnomusicological Study)]. Etnograficheskoe obozrenie 6: 150–158.
- Nurieva, I.M. 2014. Udmurtskaia muzykal’no-pesennaia traditsiia: spetsifika zhanroobrazovaniia i funktsionirovaniia [The Udmurt Musical-Song Tradition: Specifics of Genre Formation and Functioning]. PhD diss., State Institute of Art Studies, Izhevsk.
- Pchelovodova, I.V., and N.V. Anisimov. 2020. Pesennaia traditsiia zakamskikh udmurtov: istoriia sobiraniia i izucheniia [The Song Tradition of the Eastern Udmurts: History of Collection and Study]. In Gosudarstvennost’ Udmurtii: istoriko-kul’turnye praktiki i strategii sovremennogo razvitiia [The Statehood of Udmurtia: Historical-Cultural Practices and Strategies of Modern Development], 2 (1): 71−80. Izhevsk: MarShak.
- Pchelovodova, I.V., and N.V. Anisimov. 2022. Pesennyi fol’klor zakamskikh udmurtov v kontekste vesennego obriadovogo kompleksa Byd’zhynnal [The Song Folklore of the Eastern Udmurts in the Context of the Spring Ritual Complex ‘Byd’zhynnal’]. Istoriko-kul’turnoe nasledie narodov Uralo-Povolzh’ia 13 (2): 84−97.
- Sadikov, R.R. 2001. Poseleniia i zhilishcha zakamskikh udmurtov (materialэnyi i dukhovnyi aspekty) [Тhe Eastern Udmurt’s Settlements and Dwellings (Material and Spiritual Aspects)]. Ufa: Gilem.
- Sadikov, R.R. 2008. Traditsionnye religioznye verovaniia i obriadnost’ zakamskikh udmurtov (istoriia i sovremennye tendentsii razvitiia) [Traditional Religious Beliefs and Rituals of the Eastern Udmurts (History and Modern Trends of Development)]. Ufa: Tsentr etnologicheskikh issledovanii UNTs RAN.
- Sadikov, R.R. 2017. Pokhoronnaia i pominal’naia obriadnost’ zakamskikh udmurtov (po polevym materialam) [Тhe Eastern Udmurt’s Funeral and Commemorative Rituals (Based on Fieldwork)]. In Dokumenty i materialy po istorii i etnografii narodov Yuzhnogo Urala [Documents and Materials on the Southern Ural Peoples’ History and Ethnography], edited by F.G. Galieva, 1: 173–194. Ufa: Dialog.
- Sadikov, R.R. 2019. Traditsionnaia religiia zakamskikh udmurtov (istoriia i sovremennost’) [The Traditional Religion of the Eastern Udmurt (History and Contemporary Situation)]. Ufa: Pervaia tipografiia.
- Smirnova, E.V., and M.V. Bochkareva. 2020. Pesennaia traditsiia zakamskikh udmurtov (po rezul’tatam polevykh ekspeditsii 2017–2018 godov) [The Song Tradition of the Eastern Udmurts (Based on the Results of Field Expeditions in 2017–2018)]. Muzyka. Iskusstvo, nauka, praktika 4 (32): 59–74.
- Tarakanov, I.V. 1958. Foneticheskie osobennosti bavlinskogo dialekta udmurtskogo iazyka (v svete eksperimental'nykh dannykh) [Phonetic Features of the Bavly Dialect of the Udmurt Language (in Light of Experimental Data)]. PhD dis. Tartusskii gosudarstvennyi universitet. https://dspace.ut.ee/server/api/core/bitstreams/db1905ca-6654-4c50-9bd6-07ff8fc3e9cf/content
- Vikár, L., and G. Bereczki. 1989. Votyak Folksongs. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó.
- Vladykin, V.E., and R.A. Churakova. 2012. Obriad “Iyr-pyd seton” v pominal’nom rituale udmurtov [The Ritual of “Yyr-pyd seton” in the Memorial Rite of the Udmurts]. Ezhegodnik finno-ugorskikh issledovanii 3: 27–41.
Supplementary files
