who asked the first question? - International Research Center For ...

59Ex. 8. Balkarians. Example of three-part singing (From Anatoli Rakhaev)Ex. 9. Balkarians. (From Anatoli Rakhaev)Ex. 10. Balkarians. (From Anatoli Rakhaev)OssetiansOssetians (Iron in Ossetian) occupy the central part of the North Caucasia. Theylive from both (northern and southern) sides of the Caucasian range, respectively inRussia and Georgia. They are the only representative of the Indo-European languages inNorth Caucasia, and the only Christian people (or mostly Christian) in North Caucasia.Ossetians were usually considered the descendants of the Medieval Alans, carriers ofIndo-Iranian language. Later archaeological and physical anthropological studiesrevealed, that despite the fact of the change of the indigenous Caucasian language intoIndo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family of languages, the newcomers (Alans)did not have much influence on the indigenous population of Ossetia (Alexeev,1974a:197-200). Musically Ossetians are very close to other North Caucasian peoples,sharing most of the characteristic feature with them. Most importantly for us, polyphonictradition is as important to Christian Ossetians, as to their Moslem neighbors.