Двинско-нёманский этнопесенный массив и пограничья
The Daugava-Neman River folk song’s area and borderlands

Summary/Abstract: Considered are peculiarities of the song tradition in the area of Dvina and Neman rivers’ basin (DN). The area requires individual study since it performs specific features within its most archaic layer of the harvest song’s melos. This is the most extensive tradition of three known harvest song traditions of Belarus, the other two being the Polessie region and the Sozh river area. The whole DN regional tradition is marked with a specific type of singing, which is – a type of incantations where a system of dynamic and emphatic accents is presented as the typical and the most important factor. This system predetermines the syntax of basic tones in the conjuration song tunes. Marked out is a circle of songs that comprise the nuclear of the DN macrotradition and refer to a single and solid cultural and historical layer. Such songs are combined by their common lexis, namely, by the same poetic and melodic structures, such as: sung double iambus, rhythmical or melodic¬ rhythmical fanfare figure, and “female” pentasyllabic verse. Besides the root DN lexemes, the song tunes with yet ascertained genealogy are found in the given region. Among those, there are tunes based on the rhythm of tetrasyllable structure, such as ascending ionic and choriambus. Represented is a modal and melodic dynamics of the DN complex. The findings of the research can be expounded in the light of Baltic¬ Slavic ethnic genesis theory.

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