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Introduction
The study of folk traditions embodied in different genres of poetic, musical, play, festive, ceremonial folklore was of great importance for the development of Tatar culture. Attention to the national culture of the Tatar people prevailed upon scientists, folklorists, ethnographers, linguists, ethnomusicologists to search for the origins, to identify the features of the traditional culture of the Tatars, which is reflected in the works by Sayfullina (2013); Zagidullina, Yusupova & Yusupov 2017); Gabdrakhmanova, Zamaletdinov & Zamaletdinova (2017); Akbarova, Dyganova & Khadeeva (2019); Salikhova, et al. (2017); Zamaletdinov, Gabdrakhmanova & Zamaletdinova (2018); Karkina, Nurgayanova & Kaur (2019), and others.
The first attempts to determine the place of genres of book intoning in Tatar music were made by Russian ethnographer Rybakov (1897), at the end of the 19th century. Already at that time he distinguished the genres of “book writing” (bait, munajat) from the works of authentically folk “dzhyrlar” - drawling tunes (ozyn koj) and play tunes (takmak). At the same time, in his opinion, bait is a poem or ode of a historical and instructive nature, and munajats are works of religious content, which include sayings in Arabic. Many genres of spiritual songs of the Tatars have not been studied or published for a long time in musicology since Rybakov’s studies. Only in the mid-1970s, thanks to the expeditionary recordings of ethnomusicologist Nigmedzyanov (1976), there appeared a music collection containing samples of baits and munajats along with other song genres.
At present, the genres of spiritual songs are reflected in the studies of Tatar folklorists, in which their semantic meaning is investigated, a meaningful analysis is given, the sources of origin and formation are revealed.
Researchers consider munajat as an appeal to the Most High with a request, a prayer. Its roots can be traced in the Arabic-Persian word “nezhu” - conversation. Their content is varied. In our study, we characterize the religious variants of the munajats. Their function is glorifying, i.e. singing of the Muslim religion, singing the praise of Prophet Muhammad. Most of them are munajats, the texts of which contain appeals to The Most High asking for help. Religious ones also include ritual munajats, which sound during various rituals and religious holidays.
Bait belongs to the genres of spiritual songs of the Tatars, which is an original and national wealth of the Tatars’ musical and poetic oeuvre. The word bait is of Arabic origin and denotes a two-line stanza. The term bait, according to F. Urmancheev (2002), who studied Tatar folklore in depth, penetrated into Turkic poetry not later than the 10th - 11th centuries. Over time, one began to use the word to call a poem. At first, the scholar considered bait only as a genre of the heroic Tatar epic. Somewhat later baits were considered as epic, lyric-epic, sometimes lyrical musical and poetic works, including historical and military plots, telling about major historical events; popular baits, including two groups - family and social.
For example, in the course of modern expeditionary research, the co-author of this work E.M. Galimova discovered less-common bait “Su buenda” (By the River) containing a historical plot that tells about the fate of a commissar during the civil war.
The bait “Sak-Sok” became the oldest and most popular among the Tatars, in which, according to philologist F. Akhmetova (1991), a synthesis of the epical and the lyrical is expressed. The defining advantage of the poetic composition of the pieces, according to the scholar, is a decrease in the load on the plot, this is expressed in the independence and autonomy of the stanzas of the work, which is generally typical for almost all epic genres. In modern folklore, bait acts as a separate genre of Tatar folk art.
Methodoly
The following research methods were used in the work: systemic and structural analysis, synthesis of scientific, historical, ethnographic, linguistic, art historical, musicological, archival literature. The generalization of our own experience in view of the problem under investigation was carried out. Empirical data were obtained in the course of conversations, observations, interviews, audio and video recordings.
Results and discussion
The migration processes of the Volga-Ural Tatars began in the middle of the 16th century after the Kazan Khanate was annexed to the Russian state. This led to the formation of regional sub-ethnic groups of the Tatar people with some differences in language, popular and spiritual cultures. Ethnomusicologists designate local features of folk singing and playing music as “musical dialects”, the formation of which took place in the conditions of intercultural communication of autochthonal and transmigratory traditions.
As a result of folklore expeditions to different regions of the Volga-Ural region, the authors of the article managed to record original examples of spiritual songs - the genres of book intoning (kojlyap uku), among which munajat occupies a particular place.
The scientific literature provides a systematization and classification of the genre of munajats in accordance with their functional purpose. The munajats (Ziker, Salavat) glorifying the Prophet, saints, as well as the munajats containing texts of request for mercy and help to Allah have a special place in this system.
The next group contains munajats that function as chanting during religious rituals performed at the time of Majlis (festive feasts with the recitation of prayers) on Muslim holidays such as Uraza-Gaet where Elvidag dhikr is performed, Kurban-Bayram, Mavlid, etc.
A separate group is the munajats that reflect personal experiences and feelings of people. There is a bitter theme of nostalgia: about separation from the homeland, nearest and dearest, friends. Here the scholars also refer “Ana zary” to - the munajats-complaints of mothers about their desolate old age, severance from their children, “Ana vasyate” - the munajats-instructions and wills of parents to children; the munajats-complaints of orphans. There are the pieces that carry philosophical reflections on the meaning, essence and transience of earthly human life (Sajdasheva, 2002).
During the expeditions in 2015-2019, a large number of munajats of these genres actively functioning among the Tatar population of the Volga-Ural region were recorded. So, in the Ulyanovsk region N, K. Nurgayanova recorded munajats among which “Yasin surasy`na munajat” (the munajat appealing to read surah Yasin) “Ayat al` Kursi munajaty`” (the munajat dedicated to surah Ayat al` Kursi), “Fatima” (munajat dedicated to the daughter of Prophet Fatima), etc.
An important factor was the fixation of the munajats accompanying the funeral ritual, which are now less and less common among the Muslims of the region. The funeral munajats “Ulem munajatlary” were recorded by one of the co-authors of the article, E.M. Galimova in the Perm region. Such munajats are performed during the all-night vigil in the house of the deceased. The spiritual songs convey a description of a person’s life path, his/her mission of coming to earth, the process of the soul’s transition to another world. In some pieces, the narration is as if in the voice of the deceased, in which a detailed performance of the funeral rite is described. Here is an example of the funeral munajat “Al`xam uky`ek” (Let’s read the prayer Al`xam):
Al`xam uky`ek tan` sy`zy`lganda (Let's say a prayer at dawn). .
Rappem, yardam bir sy`rhap yatkanda (Almighty God, help me weak).
The formation of the stanza of the munajats includes two (a, b) or three (a, b, c) poetic phrases, this is their originality. Sometimes each poetic line conveys its own meaning. In the spiritual songs of Muslims, one can observe the dependence of the melody on the written text. This dependence contributes to the creation of a stable rhythm in the tunes, and therefore melodic typing, which subsequently led to the conservation of tunes.
Sajdasheva (2002), notes that in the musical and poetic works of the book intoning of the Muslim Tatars, several types of rukn have become widespread, which are realized in tunes in the form of clear metro-rhythmic formulas, where short and long syllables, respectively, were fixed by short and long durations, forming certain song types, the pivotal (tectonic) elements of which are the rhythmic structure of verse and melody: three-syllable - foulun (v - -); small fasila (v v -); four-syllable - mafailun (v - - -), large fasila (v v v -); five-syllable - matafailun (v v v v -).
It was revealed in the course of expeditionary research that the possession of traditional forms of rhythmic and intonational characteristics in spiritual songs could be seen only in the performance of ethnophors of old age. In the process of recording pieces performed by some middle-aged ethnophors and especially by the younger generation, the tunes of the munajats sounded on the basis of atypical rhythms. The informants encountered a difficulty in using traditional rhythms; rhythmic distortions were observed in their singing. Some informants brought the rhythms of the songs of the munajats and baits closer to lyrical songs. So, for example, there were the munajats performed to the beat of a waltz, characteristic of some modern Tatar songs.
The main part of the spiritual songs recorded on expeditions has a modal basis both in the ambitus of the quinte and in a wider volume from the sixth (c - d - f - g - a) to the octave (c - d - f - g - a - c). Such a modal property of the pentatonic scale as “high-altitude transposition” consists in all these tunes. However, modern performers have also here the features of the new era, which are revealed in the use of popular intonations in spiritual songs.
During field research the members of the expeditions recorded a large number of baits. Some pieces were based on the use of typical tunes and rhythmic structure. However, in informants’ performance there were baits the melodies of which were borrowed from Russian folk songs. This fact can be explained by ethnophors’ lack of knowledge of typical melodies inherent in the tradition of singing spiritual songs. For example, in the melody of the bait “Ике туган бәете” (The Bait About Two Brothers), which tells about the tragedy of brothers who became enemies during the civil war due to historical circumstances, the tones of the Russian song “Kirpichiki” (Bricks) are heard. Earlier, baits with similar melody were heard in the performance of among the Tatars of different regions.
Unfortunately, we have to admit that the tradition of intoning spiritual songs tends to fade with time. The modern existence of spiritual genres among the Tatars of the Volga-Ural region is observed mainly in the written tradition.
Conclusions
As the expeditionary studies have shown, modern generations have some interest in mastering the genres and forms of spiritual songs. However, the knowledge of the tradition of book intoning (kojlyap uku) is to a greater extent shown by the informants related to religious education in Islamic educational institutions. Undoubtedly, musical recordings of the pieces of spiritual songs, fixation of the poetic texts of the baits and munajats, made in the places of residence of the Volga-Ural Tatars, will expand the scope of knowledge associated with the traditions of musical folklore, which will significantly enlarge the borders of the ethnic culture of the Tatar people on the whole.
