“Sung Poetry” of the South Siberian Turks: Interrelations between Music and Poetry

Abstract

The article is devoted to the so-called ‘sung poetry’ of several Turkic-speaking peoples of South Siberia. The author’s main focus is on the problem of metric organization of poetic and musical parameters and the interrelations between them. The author starts with a discussion of some methodological issues, in particular, what can be regarded as ‘meter’ in vocal folk music. Contrary to some authors, who attribute this term exclusively to poetic expression, in this article it is understood in a broader sense: as a system of temporal organization. In Altai, Tuva, Shor, and Khakass song traditions, there is a ‘syllabic rhythmical formula’ (SRF), which corresponds to the verses, as well as to the melodic line. The SRF, following the author’s opinion, can be regarded as a meter for a song, or the song as genre. It usually regulates number and quality of musical units in correspondence with the syllables. This common and rather simple picture, nevertheless, becomes more complicated when the author starts to describe some particular cases. The traditions of the Telengits, Chalkans and Kumandins, Shors, and Khakasses-Sagays are chosen to demonstrate a variety of arrangements of the of ‘sung poetry’ of the South Siberian Turks.