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240Case Study #8The Nuristan PolyphonyThe uniquely isolated tradition of vocal polyphony in the Hindukush Mountainsrequires a separate look. Without repeating what was said in the first part of this bookabout Nuristan polyphony, let us go straight to the main point.We do not have many historical records about the Nuristan and their polyphony.Most of the existing records describe the inhospitable Nuristan terrain and the failure ofArab and Mongol conquerors who tried to subdue and convert the recalcitrant “pagan”mountaineers. The heavily wooded steep mountains of the interior Nuristan with fastmountain rivers (with the villages strategically positioned on the other side of the river)are mostly inaccessible even today for all but those on foot.The legacy of the visit of Alexander the Great, who came to Nuristan in the 4 thcentury B.C. is still a popular theme of discussions and legends. According to historicaltradition, the meeting between the people of Nuristan and Alexander the Great was afriendly one. The unusual physical features of the Nuristan men and women (with a largenumber of people with blue eyes and red and blond hair) had been sometimes discussedin the context of the prolonged visit of Macedonians to the Nuristan.Another great conqueror, Tamerlane, came to Nuristan many centuries later withdifferent, more aggressive aims. By the end of the campaign, after most of his horseswere dashed to death against the rocks, Tamerlane turned back and sent his prayers ofthanks to god for his safe return from the Kafiristan.The population of Nuristan maintained their way of life and religion up to 1896,when they were conquered by Afghani Amir Abdur Rahman Khan, who forcibly turnedthem into Moslems. The deep changes that followed this transition, according to availableinformation, did not alter their tradition of vocal polyphony.I am not going to repeat the characteristics of Nuristan polyphony in detail, but toremind the readers, we may say that Nuristan polyphony is mostly a three-part tradition,with a drone in the middle of the texture and two melodic parts around the drone. Therange is very small and sharp seconds are almost the only harmonic interval the listenershear.Florian Messner seems to be the first who put Nuristan polyphony in the contextof European drone polyphonic singing with dissonant seconds, known from the Balkans,Caucasia, the Baltic region and even Melanesia (Messner, 1980, in German. Englishtranslation is in press. See also Brandl, 1975). I would like to discuss in a bit more detailthe existing parallels between Nuristan polyphony and the Lithuanian sutartines style.Here are two different lists. The first list presents the list of features thatdemonstrate the differences between Nuristan polyphony and the sutartines. The secondlist discusses the features that are common between these two polyphonic styles.So, these are the points that differ between Nuristan polyphony and Lithuaniansecondal sutartines:• Nuristan polyphony is primarily drone type polyphony, while there is no dronein the Lithuanian secondal polytonal sutartines. Drone polyphony is present in Lithuania