Olonkho
One of the most important pieces of Sakha folklore is the epic literature represented by Olonkho. Olonkho consists of a great number of lengthy legends, which reflect the Sakha cosmology and their religion. According to Sakha cosmology, the world consists of three layers: The Upper World (the Heavens), where the Yurung Aar Toyon (the Great White Lord) and other gods live, the Lower World, the world of evil, and the Middle World, where people live. In the centre of the Middle World, there is the sacred evergreen tree, Aal Luuk Mas, a home for goddess who is the Mistress of the Earth – Aan Alakhchyyn. The Lower World is hidden behind the mountains, far up in the north, where the Arctic Sea lies and where the sky is dark and gloomy. The inhabitants of the Lower World are cunning, treacherous and elusive. The inhabitants of the Middle World are noble warriors who are incredibly strong, handsome and wise. The view of women found in Olonkho is usually idealistic. They are beautiful and kind, and fight evil. There are picturesque descriptions of landscapes, homes and battles. Special attention is paid to horses. According to the Sakha tradition, the horse is a sacred animal. It can speak and it understands human language.
The language of Olonkho is very rich in symbols, numerous epithets, comparisons and repetitions. Olonkho is not merely narrated by olonkhohuts but is performed like a piece of music. It is the melody that creates the artistic image.
In 2005, UNESCO proclaimed Olonkho a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity. This prestigious status is usually awarded to important items from a nation’s cultural heritage, such as oral traditions, music and dance, rituals and mythology, traditional knowledge and customs.
When Olonkho is performed khomus usuallu sounds. The khomus (also known as a ‘vargan’ and ‘mouth harp’) is the main musical instrument of the Sakha people. It is a small, flat, metal instrument with a reed in the middle. There are various kinds of Sakha mouth harp – a thin wooden version, one made with a flat bone frame and a reed, a metal frame with the two reeds and so on. According to tradition, it was mainly women who played the khomus in the past, producing widely – know melodies. Melodies that imitate natural sounds were very popular among khomus players – the cuckoo, the skylark, geese and horses to name a few. Nowadays, republican and international festivals in khomus music for children and adults for family groups and solo performers are organized. Khomus music has become a part of the curriculum in some school too.
ОтветитьУдалитьAnd my information about Yakut classical music. There were no professional musicians in Yakutia before the Great October Revolution, but the Yakut people have had original multiform music of Olonkho, songs and dances. Olonkho is a great epic musical composition, it is a kind of opera or a dialogue without any accompaniment. Olonkho-performers (olonkhohust) are highly gifted actors, singers and improvisators, their memory is extraordinary. The Yakut classical music is based on Olonkho. The first Yakut professional musicians Adam Skryabin and Fyodor Kornilov explored the Yakut folklore and noted a lot of songs. Skryabin organized the first folk choir and the first brass band. The famous Yakut composer Mark Zhirkov organized the Yakut State Folk Choir which became a great school for the first professional singers in Yakutia: Ekaterina Zakharova, Taras Mestnikov, Anna Egorova, Anastasia Lytkina and many others. Mark Zhirkov together with the other composer Genrikh Litinsky created the first Yakut operas “Njurgun Bootur”, “Sygyi Kyrynaastyr” and the first ballet “A Wild Flower”. The famous Yakut composer Grant Grigoryan wrote a lot of popular Yakut songs , oratorios, concerts for the orchestra and violin, the opera “Lookut and Njyrguhun”, the first Yakut musical comedy “The North Flower”.
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