Genre: Buryat
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About Buryat
The Buryats (Buryat: Буряад, Buryaad; Буряад-монгол; Mongolian: Буриад), numbering approximately 500,000, are the largest indigenous (aboriginal) group in Siberia, mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Buryat Republic, a federal subject of Russia. They are the major northern subgroup of the Mongols.
Buryats share many customs with other Mongols, including nomadic herding, and erecting gers for shelter. Today, the majority of Buryats live in and around Ulan-Ude Read more on Last.fm.
Buryats share many customs with other Mongols, including nomadic herding, and erecting gers for shelter. Today, the majority of Buryats live in and around Ulan-Ude Read more on Last.fm.
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The Buryats (Buryat: Буряад, Buryaad; Буряад-монгол; Mongolian: Буриад), numbering approximately 500,000, are the largest indigenous (aboriginal) group in Siberia, mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Buryat Republic, a federal subject of Russia. They are the major northern subgroup of the Mongols.
Buryats share many customs with other Mongols, including nomadic herding, and erecting gers for shelter. Today, the majority of Buryats live in and around Ulan-Ude, the capital of the republic, although many live more traditionally in the countryside. They speak a dialect of Mongol language called Buryat.
One of the country's main instruments is a two-stringed horse-head fiddle called a morin khuur. This is a similar instrument to that found across the region. Other elements of Buryat music, such as the use of fourths both in tuning instruments and in songs, and pentatonic scales, reveal similarities to music from Siberia and Eastern Asia. There traditionally was no polyphony, instead voices and instruments performed the same melody in unison but varied in timing and ornamentation.
Narrative structures are a part of most Buryat folk music, often in the form of epic tales, and the last song of famous leaders; these include the Last Song of Rinchin Dorzhin.
Under Soviet control, Buryat folk music was sanitized and only allowed in forms that were supportive of the state's power. This period, along with the new state-approved songs recollecting new events such as the Civil War, also left behind traditions of student songsters and blatniye pesni, or songs based on prison slang.
The first Buryat rock band was Uragsha, who were one of the few bands of the time to sing both in Russian and their native tongue. Their collaborations with La MaMa theater in New York in late 1990s led to their embrace of traditional music and shamanic roots too, and eventually to formation of the group Namgar that represents Buryat traditional music at world music festivals since 2001.
Vladlen Pantaev is also a notable Buryat musician; one of the key composers of Buryat folk music. He has devoted many years to the National Theater in Ulan-Ude. Many of his songs are widely recognized in the region. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
Buryats share many customs with other Mongols, including nomadic herding, and erecting gers for shelter. Today, the majority of Buryats live in and around Ulan-Ude, the capital of the republic, although many live more traditionally in the countryside. They speak a dialect of Mongol language called Buryat.
One of the country's main instruments is a two-stringed horse-head fiddle called a morin khuur. This is a similar instrument to that found across the region. Other elements of Buryat music, such as the use of fourths both in tuning instruments and in songs, and pentatonic scales, reveal similarities to music from Siberia and Eastern Asia. There traditionally was no polyphony, instead voices and instruments performed the same melody in unison but varied in timing and ornamentation.
Narrative structures are a part of most Buryat folk music, often in the form of epic tales, and the last song of famous leaders; these include the Last Song of Rinchin Dorzhin.
Under Soviet control, Buryat folk music was sanitized and only allowed in forms that were supportive of the state's power. This period, along with the new state-approved songs recollecting new events such as the Civil War, also left behind traditions of student songsters and blatniye pesni, or songs based on prison slang.
The first Buryat rock band was Uragsha, who were one of the few bands of the time to sing both in Russian and their native tongue. Their collaborations with La MaMa theater in New York in late 1990s led to their embrace of traditional music and shamanic roots too, and eventually to formation of the group Namgar that represents Buryat traditional music at world music festivals since 2001.
Vladlen Pantaev is also a notable Buryat musician; one of the key composers of Buryat folk music. He has devoted many years to the National Theater in Ulan-Ude. Many of his songs are widely recognized in the region. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.