The Fifth International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony ...

124
Alla Sokolova
performed by Zaur Nagoev. For the occasion of the arrival of the guests in Maikop, a meeting of the ensemble
members and the young singer was organized, there Zaur Nagoev and Marishchan sang the song in turn to the
accompaniment of the ensemble Zhyu.
A lot of ethnographic and folklore evidence of the presence of the Amoebean form in the traditional
Adyghe songs has been preserved in the notes of Prof. R. Unarokova. As Moulid Enamuko, a Turkish citizen
of the Adyghe origin says, R. Unarokova recorded a story which narrates that an Adyghe song, accompanied
by zhyu was being performed by 11 soloists. <strong>The</strong> one, who was to be the ninth soloist, horrified, realized that he
had forgotten the necessary text. <strong>The</strong> ill-starred singer left the drawing-room at once and rushed to the nearest
Aul to see the old man who was sure to know the text. He had to wake up the man and persuade him sing the
stanza he needed. Having got what he needed, he got back to the Khacheshch 3 , just in time to sing his part. M.
Enamuko learned this story directly from a witness of the described event.
<strong>The</strong> Adyghe Muhajirs in Turkey would frequently sit in a semicircle in the Khacheshch, “passing the
baton on” from neighbour to neighbour. R.B. Unarokova recorded a story as to how at male gatherings there
was a tradition to drink wine from a big goblet or a drinking horn. Ethnophores called this tradition bakhsyma
(Adighe) or makhsyma (Kabardian). <strong>The</strong> ritual vessel was passed from one to another round the circle, and
every single one, who was handed the goblet, had to sing one stanza of the song; afterwards, having drunk a
mouthful, he should hand it over to the ext participant in the ritual. This tradition was completely lost among
Russian Adygeis, but among Turkish Adygeis it had unstable form. Though at the end of the 20 th century the
Circassian youth in Turkey followed the example of the elder and used it during their gathering. Thus, one song
could be performed by various number of attendants – about 8-15 people.
<strong>The</strong> traces of the Amoebean performing tradition have not been preserved only in the passive memory of
the informants, historical documents and folklore sources, but also in the active practice at the beginning of
the 20 th century. <strong>The</strong> sound recordings of the beginning of the 20 th century, which have preserved the voices
of Ilias Nagiev, Magomet Khagauj and Shalikh Bedanokov, performing the song Vored abadzekhski may be
considered to be the audio documents of Amoebean singing (ex. 1; audio ex. 1).
Two soloists also sang in turn the song Kiorer (ex. 2; audio ex. 2) from the same series of the London
Archives recordings 4 .
In the deciphering of field recordings of G.M. Kontsevich, made in the 30s of the 20 th century, some songs
of the drovers performed by two singers have been preserved (Shu, 1997: 15-16).
In the academic edition of Folk Songs and Instrumental Tunes of the Adyghes there are four songs, where
two soloists sing in turn, accompanied by the zhyu. All the songs belong to the gybze genre (Baragunov,
Kardangushev, 1990). In 1972, in the village of Verkhni (upper) Kurts of the Terski District of the Kabardino-
Balkarian ASSR, were recorded two specimens of Gybze, performed in the Amoebean manner by Khabaly
Nebezhev (born in 1917) and Khauti Shariev, (born in 1890). In the song A Dirge over Machanee Uvzhuk, the
soloists perform stanza after stanza alternately, but the song is begun by the first singer, who performs the first
four stanzas one after another, in this manner generating the emotional key of the whole song. In another song,
performed by the same singers A Dirge over Sheriev Nashkho the transition from one singer to another is not
limited by the number of stanzas or their content.