The opposition ‘own - foreign’ in the ritual melika of Polissya: Conservatism of women's repertoire and creativity of rural violinists of Pinsk region
Authors: Klymenko Iryna , Markhel Mariana 
Published: December 2024

The opposition ‘friend or foe’ is one of the criteria by which certain human communities separate themselves from others. The ‘own’ gather around a certain centre or territory. This principle also applies to the field of ethnic music. The topic has become relevant in connection with modern migration of representatives of different ethnic groups and has become the subject of scientific discussions. However, in traditional culture, the problem of ‘friend or foe’ was also understood at the internal level, in the relations of regional subgroups of the same ethnic group. During ethnographic fieldwork in Polissya, a region located on the northern border of the Ukrainian (linguistically) ethnic territory, residents of adjacent loci still often emphasise that their language and songs are different from those of neighbouring areas. Such relations are especially characteristic of Polissya, known for its good preservation of ancient layers of traditional culture (including relics of ancient ritual music) and for the fine division of the territory into cultural areas. Linguistic and melogeographical maps, whose isolines correlate with archaeological divisions of ancient cultures, allow us to ‘lower’ the chronological bar for the formation of certain Polissya territorial communities to the times of tribalism and the princely era. The article examines the lands on the right bank of the Prypiat River, in the sector of the lower reaches of the Styr (Pinshchyna, administrative centres of Pinsk and Zarichne) and Horyn (Nyzhne Pohoryn, administrative centres of Stolyn and Dubrovytsia). These two loci are highlighted in the Atlas of the Ukrainian Language (1988, vol. 2). Field notes by Iryna Klymenko in the 1980s and 1990s and 2010s The article examines the lands on the right bank of the Prypiat River, in the sector of the lower reaches of the Styr (Pinshchyna, administrative centres of Pinsk and Zarichne) and Horyn (Nyzhne Pohoryn, administrative centres of Stolyn and Dubrovytsia). These two loci are highlighted in the Atlas of the Ukrainian Language (1988, vol. 2). Iryna Klymenko's field recordings of the 1980s and 1990s in these areas show that the world of women's ceremonial songs (vesnyanky (call songs), vesnyanky (tank songs), bush songs, harvest songs, and wedding songs) in these two neighbouring territorial entities was distinctly opposed: the women's repertoire was a clear cultural marker of each of the former ‘tribes’. Thus, these two loci correspond to the opposition ‘our own - alien’. The song repertoire of local wedding ceremonies is less contrasting: four common rhythmic types of wedding melodies were found in the two loci. However, there are still more contrasting features: six more rhythmic types are known in the Pinchuk region (in total, Pinchuks have 10 types of melodies), which Pohorynnia does not know. The sound content of the same types of wedding rhythmic compositions in the two communities is also contrasting - they use different sound scales. The melodies of the Pinshchyna are characterised by a tertian basis, while the melodies of Pohorynnia are based on a quintal sound system. The article illustrates these differences with numerous examples and localises them on a typological map. Nevertheless, the ‘repertoire border’ between these traditions is not impenetrable. Cultural contacts between the inhabitants of neighbouring territories have been recorded, i.e. stylistic influences directed from Nizhne Pohoryn to Pinsk. For example, the repertoire of several village violinists of the southern Pinsk region (former Zarichne district) included, in addition to the tertiary melodies of ‘their tribe’, also neighbouring quintet melodies. This was facilitated by the itinerant nature of certain types of rural music - caroling, accompanying weddings - outside of their ‘own’ environment, in neighbouring villages. The wider geography of the violinists' musical activity led to the filling of their repertoire with “foreign” melodies. Probably, the process of their assimilation went ‘from violinist to violinist’ (similar to the way dance music spread, but on a much smaller scale). The cultural products of the repertoire assimilation were wedding songs with the verse bases V*6, V*553 and V*53. At the end of the article, the ‘internal’ cultural relations of former neighbouring tribes are commented on in the context of the macro-arealogy of certain song forms. This view opens up new angles and perspectives for the study, in particular, provides relative chronological guidelines for the history of the formation of certain phenomena of song morphology.