Spring songs of Belarusians of Siberia and the Far East: structural-rhythmic typology

The paper presents the results of the typological study of the tunes of the spring songs of Belarusian settlers of Siberia and the Far East. The author has analyzed the archival and published recordings of spring songs made in 1970–1990 in the major regions of the settlement of Belarusians (Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, Omsk regions, Krasnoyarsk, and Primorsky territories). The analysis focused on the structural and rhythmic organization of tunes, considered the most important aspect of calendar songs. Studying the tunes of the songs of Belarusian settlers of Siberia and the Far East allowed the author to divide the spring songs into groups, correlating by their structure with the types of tunes identified by the Belarusian ethnomusicologist Z. Ya. Mozheiko. It was found that the Siberian collection contains tunes of type III ves., as well as, in a modified form, VI rus. and IX ves.-kup. (according to Z. Ya. Mozheiko). The spring ritual songs of Belarusian settlers were found to be based on other typical rhythmic formulas from the Belarusian classification: “arrow,” “stream,” and the rhythmic formula of the main type of carol songs. One group of songs was identified to be based on the verse structure “kolomyika,” common to the East Slavic peoples. The tunes of some songs cannot be classified as typical, although they do have the features of formulaicity. Seasonally timed songs tend to be based on the same verse structures and rhythmic formulas as the ritual ones. Of particular importance are round dance songs.