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54heterophonic and octave forms of group singing had been recorded (not to forget aboutthe polyphonic style with “uniquely independent voices”, documented in this region inthe 1920s).Out of the several different types of Russian traditional polyphony, discussedabove, I suggest to distinguish two principally different groups of traditional polyphony:(1) Group of highly developed heterophonic types of polyphony withfunctionally different two (and sometimes three) parts. This kind ofpolyphony is generally called in Russia ”podgolosochnaia polifonia”and the decisive feature of this style is the heterophonic (“thick”)performance of the main melody (often called “bass”) by the most ofthe singers. The contrasting high part is often performed by a soloist;This group comprise of several types (or sub-types), and is widelyspread on most of the territory where ethnic Russians live;(2) Principally different from the “podgolosochnaia polifonia” type ofpolyphony is drone polyphony, in which the majority of performerssing the drone (rhythmic drone with the text, or a pedal drone). Themelody in drone type polyphony has a narrow range and can beperformed by a soloist or by a group (Fedorenko, 1989:13; Pashina,1989:11). In rare cases drone can be performed by a soloist as well. Insome local styles the parts of the drone and the melody are not welldefined (terminologically), and performers freely move from themelody to the drone and back to the melody again.The geographic distribution of these two different types of polyphony is verydifferent: podgolosochnaia polifonia is spread extremely widely and comprises almostthe whole territory of the settlement of ethnic Russians. The distribution of dronepolyphony, on the contrary, is confined to the very small isolated regions in western andsouthern Russia.Polyphonic traditions of Minorities of Russian FederationAs you would expect from the biggest country of our planet, plenty of minoritieslive on the vast territories of contemporary Russian Federation. Minorities are grouped inseveral regions of the European part of Russia: (1) in the southernmost part of Russia,North Caucasia, a mountainous region, populated by the peoples of different languagefamilies; (2) in North and Northwestern regions of Russia, populated by Finnish-speakingpeoples; and (3) Volga-Ural region, populated by the peoples of different languagefamilies and cultures. Besides these minorities with their national territories within theRussian Federation (earlier within the Russian Empire and then within the USSR), twomore peoples - Jews and Gypsies lived throughout the Russian Empire without their ownterritory. North Caucasian and Volga-Ural regions will be discussed in more detail, as thetradition of vocal polyphony is a very important part of the musical culture of the peoplesof these regions.