What Is Old and What Is New in the Traditional Music of the Volga-Kama Region

Abstract

The theory based on the similarity of melody types in the Hungarian, Cheremis and Chuvash folk music and observed first by Bela Bartok, then Zoltan Kodaly emerged roughly 60 years ago. According to it, this musical congruence points to an origin preceding the conquest of the territory of Hungary by the Magyars: Thus the counterparts of the supposedly oldest Hungarian fifth-shift melodies can still be found among the present-day inhabitants of the one-time country of origin. In the thirties the musical material collected among the related (Finno-Ugrian and Turkic) peoples and available for comparative research some 600 to 700 melodies was published, except for 24 phonographed songs, in foreign collections. As a result, the melodies were not within easy reach for Hungarian scholars and none of the items was associated with Hungarian field experiences. Unfortunately, even the specific knowledge of musical notation was missing in several cases. Nevertheless, on the basis of mainly Mountain Cheremis and Northern Chuvash melodies it became obvious that a relationship, however distant in time and space, could be demonstrated by means of the pentatonic scale and the fifth-shift structure, respectively. This theory was apparently supported by historical facts and the already two hundred-year old linguistic research. In addition to the similarity of melody types there emerged some closely related Hungarian, Cheremis and Chuvash melodies as well. This circumstance strengthened the theory of musical relationship which seemed to be almost incontestable by then. We also have to take into consideration that the Hungarian pentatonic music which was meant to improve the whole Hungarian musical culture, and the