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65Ex. 16. Mari. (From Oleg Gerasimov)UdmurtiaUdmurts (in Old Russian “Votiaks”) are usually divided into two subgroups –northern and southern, and are ethnically close to Komi-Permiaks. There are also moredetailed ethnic divisions among Udmurts. For example, there is a specific ethnic groupBessermians in northern Udmurtia, regarded as the descendants of the medieval Bulgarsfrom banks of the Volga River. Although most of the Udmurts are Christians, there areMoslem and pagan groups among them as well. In regards of traditional polyphony, bothsouthern and northern Udmurtia have a tradition of group singing. In southern Udmurtiathe result is mostly unison and variant heterophony. In northern Udmurtia functionalpolyphony plays more distinguished role.Turkic languages are represented in Volga-Ural region by Tatars, Bashkirs andChuvashs. Generally speaking, in Volga-Ural region Turkic language speaker minoritiesare more populous than Finnish speaking minorities.TatarsTatars are easily the biggest minority group in the Volga-Ural region (about 4million population), and one of the biggest minorities in Russia. Besides the Volga – Uralregion, Tatars also live in Siberia, and around the northern tip of the Caspian Sea (socalled“Astrakhan Tatars”). More detailed division of the Tatars living in these threeregions is also available in the ethnographic literature.In regards to traditional polyphony, Tatars possibly represent the mostmonophonic musical culture in the Volga-Ural region. As far as I am aware of, only onespecific group – so-called “Christened Tatars” (“kriashennie tatari”) practice actively theunison-heterophonic type of polyphony (Almeeva, 1985). Christened Tatars are the onlyChristian group among the Moslem Tatars.Ex. 17. Tatars. (From Nailia Almeeva)