THE CRANE SONG

THE CRANE SONG (Syngrau torna), a Bashkir folk melody. For the first time, versions of the legend and its melodies were recorded by S.G.Rybakov and published in the book Music and Songs of Ural Muslims with an Essay on their Life. A lyrical epic tune. The performance of the melody is preceded by a legend that exists in several versions. In one of them, there is a story about a crane flock that circled over the army of invaders who had invaded the lands of the Bashkirs in ancient times. The enemies became confused by the sound, and the Bashkir army won the battle. According to the version recorded by K.M.Diyarov, the appearance of this melody is connected with the events that occurred when a certain batyr, who, upon seeing a flock of singing and circling cranes, memorized their song and then played it in front of the people telling them about what he had seen. According to a popular belief, such a dance of cranes foreshadowed a bloody battle. Having received the blessing of his father, the batyr gathered an army, and when strangers attacked the land of his clan, he struck at the enemies and defeated them. The lake, near which the battle took place, was named Yaugul (the lake of the battle). The measure of the rhythm of the music is Phrygian and is done in quartic intonations imitating the crooning of cranes. Adaptations were done by A.M.Kubagushev for a band of kuraists and by A.R.Khalfetdinov for voice and piano. N.A.Dautov adapted it for soloist, choir and symphonic orchestra performances (all based on poems of R.Y.Garipov). The legend of the melody formed the basis for the libretto of the ballet The Crane Song, the melody became the leitmotif for the main characters. It was also used by V.A.Bely in The Three Miniatures on Bashkir Themes for the piano and by M.M.Valeyev in his The Legend for a symphonic orchestra.