Page 179 brought me to this book. There are statements in this book that I've never heard before.
Window on the East: National and Imperial Identities in Late Tsarist Russia. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2001
This reference expresses the most prominent non-existent wedge between those that call themselves "Mishar" and others. This reference is not my experience. Different types of Tatars consider themselves to be one thing - Tatar.
Like the Tatars, the Bashkirs distinguish between ‘long-songs’ (uzun küi), marked by free rhythm, highly melismatic melody, fragmented text and extremely extended final syllables, and ‘short-songs’ (kiska küi), syllabic songs in fairly quick tempo with more or less even note values. A story is basic to the long-song, with singers taking on the mood of the characters being depicted. Within the category of short-songs, a newer variety called takmak was developed in the 19th century, apparently connected with the rise of the accordion as an accompanying instrument and related to the Russian chastushka. Other basic types of song include the kubair, or epic recitation, which was evidently dying out in the 19th century, the senliau (bride’s lament) and teliak (greeting of the bride by the groom’s kin), which are examples of wedding songs, and the newer bait, a topical song, for example a 19th-century tune on the subject of the introduction of tea-drinking among the Bashkirs. One highly distinctive genre not practised by other Volga-Ural peoples is the uzlyau, a method of guttural singing whereby the performer first produces a deep chest tone and then simultaneously projects of high-pitched melody line based on the upper partials of the fundamental, creating two-part music by a single singer. This technique, quite rare even in the 19th century, is paralleled among the Altai Turks, Tuvans and Mongols. As with the neighbouring Kazakhs and Kirghiz, Bashkir instrumental music traditionally contained strong elements of story. Thus, players of the kurai (long end-blown flute, usually with four finger-holes) are able with their music to project a plot to listeners. Kurai players seem to be accorded the importance associated with lutenists among the Kazakhs and Kirghiz. They participate in contests of skill and receive high praise as wandering minstrels. The kurai player can perform in a manner analogous to that of the uzlyau song by maintaining a strong, steady, fundamental hum under a lively flute tune. Such a style can be found among widely separated players of open end-blown flutes, such as the Baluchi (in Iran and Afghanistan), the Altai Urianghais, Tuvans and Kazakhs (West Mongolia), and certain east Europeans, for instance Romanians, Slovaks and Serbs.
The era of modern Bashkir music began in 1919 with the establishment of the professional theatre and opening of the first music school. The first Bashkir opera was M. Val'eyev’s Khakmar, produced in 1940.
EARLYMUSIC 2009
The opening concert of the festival Potemkin Palace. Traditional Bashkir music. Nazira Gabbasova - voice. RInat Kamalov - kurai.
The Volga Tatars are to be distinguished from their namesakes of the Crimea, of Astrakhan and of western Siberia. They are usually subdivided into two large groups, the Kazan' Tatars and Mishar Tatars. Within these subdivisions one must also differentiate between Muslim and Christian Tatars (the main groups of the latter are the Tatar-Kryashens of the Kama river and the Nagaybaks of the southern Urals), located as they are at the juncture of Islam and Christianity. Though the Christian Tatars have had closer cultural ties with nearby co-religionists (Mordvins, Chuvashes, Maris and Russians), they have nevertheless preserved a significant portion of the common Tatar heritage.
Among the Tatars, as among the Bashkirs, there is an important division of song types which is more closely related to practice in the Altai region and Mongolia than to traditions to the west. The two basic genres are the ‘long-song’ (özen küi) and the ‘short-song’. The long-song is marked by highly ornamented, melismatic melody, free rhythm, free use of text (including fragmentation of words), extreme lengthening of final syllables and slow tempo, in contrast to the quick, syllabic, sparsely ornamented style of the short-song. Its style is analogous to that of the Russian protyazhnaya pesnya or the Turkish uzun hava. The fully developed özen küi is used less among the Mishar and Christian Tatars. shows the opening of an özen küi. As among the Bashkirs, Tatars also sing songs in styles somewhere between those of the long- and short-song, for example the takmak, bait and khushavaz.
Though pentatonic scales play an important role in Tatar music, other scalar structures abound. Melodic contour is similarly varied. Tunes with a two-part structure in which the tune is transposed up or down a fixed distance, like those noted for the Maris and Chuvashes, occur frequently in Tatar music, but there are also many songs with a gradual descent to the tonic or in arch form. A tendency in Turkic folk poetry to insert great numbers of non-text syllables in a text is often observed in Tatar folksong texts.
Here, for example, are two lines of a song text in which the non-text syllables are given in parentheses: zhe (ie) ge (e)t cha(ia) klar(i) da (di le) bar (la)da(la) j (ie) de Ki (e)ng u(iu)ram(i) nar da be(ie) ege (le) ai tar i (ie) de (When we were young broad streets seemed narrow.)
Like the Bashkirs, the Tatars play the kuray (an end-blown flute) and the dumbra (a lute, related to the Kazakh dömbra), although the latter is now rare. Because Kazan' has long been a key city for both Tatars and Russians, the Tatars have been in close contact with Russian culture since Ivan the Terrible’s conquest of the city in 1552. Russian and European music were introduced early, well before Soviet times. Clearly one of the earliest borrowings from Europe was the accordion which, after being modified to suit local taste, became the chief accompanying instrument from the late 19th century. After the Revolution professional music in the European sense developed among the Tatars, leading to the establishment of the Kazan' State Conservatory in 1945. Sultan Gabyashi (1891–1942) is usually cited as the first Tatar musicologist and composer.
This painting depicts a dramatic moment in Lenin's life when he bursts into a lecture hall at Kazan University with a group of associates and pounding his fists, he shouts, "WE DEMAND PEREMECH FOR ALL WORKERS!"
Ebe had told me that my family was from Penza. Penza is a city and an "oblast". Many Mishar Tatar villages are in the Penza area. I've recently learned that my family, among other places is from the village of Lopukhovka | Penzenskaya Oblast’. I was able to google map to this location, but I'm not sure if it's correct. There seem to be several places within Russia with this same name.
I have a couple more village names to hunt down as well. They are from my Faile Apa in Ankara.
Edith Coliver Festival of Cultures: Saturday, April 17, 2010
The Edith Coliver Festival of Cultures "SpringFest" at International House is an exuberant celebration of life and culture from around the globe. This annual event is held in conjunction with Cal Day, the UC Berkeley campus open house. Attendees are treated to tantalizing delicacies from Armenia to Zambia. Performances of traditional music and dance from all corners of the world occur on five stages. Booths offering information, jewelry and handicrafts fill I-House from the front steps to the Auditorium!
baked Peremech to offer our guests
Rita at the Tatar Table. She was writing visitors' names in Cyrillic and Arabic while taking the time to educate folk about Tatars and Tatar Culture.
Dilare Apa, Rita and Timur Dilare Apa teaches here in Burlingame. Rita is a visiting student from Kazan University and Timur is a student of Physics at UC Berkeley.
We offfered Kosh Tele, Kebeste Belish, Peremech, Dried Apricots, Dates, Suhari, Ochpochmak and Chey! and they loved it.
The Tatar ethnic minority live mainly in Yining, Tacheng and Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Historically this minority was known as Dada and first was mentioned in the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907). The national census in 2000 recorded 4,890 Tatars.
Language and Character: The Tatars have their own language which is a member of the Turkic subgroup of the Altaic phylum. They also speak and write Uygur and Kazak due to mixing with these minorities.
Food and Food Customs: The Tatars are sustained primarily by commerce, supplemented by live stock husbandry, agriculture and handicrafts. They like to eat flour food, meat and milk, often served with rice. The Tatar women are proud of their culinary skills. They bake cakes made of flour, rice, cheese, egg, butter, raisin, etc, and the cakes made of meat and rice. For drink, they brew a honey wine which tastes like beer.
Etiquette is very important for the Tatars. When family members sit at a dining table; the most senior is served first, followed by the rest ordered by age. Dinner is not complete until ended with a prayer. In their daily life, they greet each other by shaking hands; they respect the old people and treat guests warmly; and they do not joke with women, and so on.
Clothes: The clothes of the Tatar are dainty. Women wear one-piece dress and hat decorated with pearls; even men wear black hats and white shirt both of which are embroidered intricately. Tatar women embroider flower motifs on clothes, pillows, coverlets, table cloths, curtains, and especially wedding dresses.
Customs: Islam is the major component of Tatar culture, affecting all aspects of their lives. The most important festivals are the Kaizhai Festival, Corban Festival, and Almsgiving Festival.
The Tatars are a lively and vivacious people. They have many distinctive amusements and sports that are held during festivals, such as dance, wrestling, horse racing, and pole climbing.
iLhan, Timur, Azamat, and Ayla
"Tea with Timur"
baked Peremech to offer our guests
Rita at the Tatar Table.
Dilare Apa, Rita and Timur
We offfered Kosh Tele, Kebeste Belish, Peremech, Dried Apricots, Dates, Suhari, Ochpochmak and Chey!
Written materials concerning Kazan and Tatars
АКШның Сан-Франциско шәһәрендә Америка татар-төрек ассоциациясе (АТТА), ягъни Америка татарлары җәмгыяте оешуга 50 ел тулуга багышланган бәйрәм җыены үтте. Шул уңайдан Бөтендөнья татар конгрессы Башкарма комитеты рәисе Ринат Закиров милләттәшләребезгә котлау хаты юллады.
1706 - French and crisp as could be.
