The Eduard Alekseyev Fieldwork Collection of the Musical Culture of Yakutia, 1957-1990.

The collection includes sound recordings (22 acetate and polyester audio tape reels), 7 PAL VHS videocassettes, and one folder containing the original reel boxes with notes written in Russian.

The collection includes recordings of traditional music made from 1957 through 1990. The majority of the audio and video footage of the collection is devoted to the Sakha (Yakut), an indigenous people from the Sakha Republic of the Russian Federation, formerly known as the Yakut ASSR (Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic). Sakha (Yakutia) is the largest sub-national entity in the world, and is a circumpolar region, half of which lies above the Arctic Circle.

The recordings primarily represent traditional religious and ritual cultural expressions which have survived in spite of Soviet ideology. Included are various types of rites, such as shamanistic ceremonies of purification and epic songs that precede hunting or fishing. Some of the recordings were made in situations intended to reconstruct traditional circumstances. The majority of the recordings were created in a fieldwork setting, but some were made during concerts, and at festival events of Ukrainian people in Kiev, and of Crimean Tatars in Simferopol. The languages represented here are Yakut, Evenk and Russian. It is important to recognize that from the 1960s through the 1980s, publication of materials about the rituals of indigenous cultures were suppressed, due to the Soviet policy of the times. From that perspective, the recordings within this collection are particularly valuable.

The Yakut genres primarily represented are the olonkho (epic); ohuokhai (round dance); and the shaman ceremony as it is performed by well-known, regional performers and singers. Notably present are early forms of heterophony or multipart improvisational singing as part of the traditional round dances (ohuokhai). There are also examples of music played on the khomus (jaw harp), diungiur (shaman’s drum), and other musical instruments; recordings of an Evenk (Tungusic indigenous people of Northern Asia) shamaness; and music of Russians in Yakutia, who began to settle in the area in the 17th century.

Note to Users: The names of performers, geographical locations, and subject headings used have been standardized according to the OCLC authority file, when found. Eduard Alekseyev has determined the transliteration style for the original language terms and names used within the body of the finding aid. The OCLC subject term "jew's harp music" refers to what should properly be called "jaw harp music."