UZUN-KYUY

UZUN-KYUY (literally — a long tune), in the Bashk. music folklore refers to a melodic style; a genre of the Bashk. folk music. The U.‑ k. performance is the top‑stone of the Bashkirs’ singing art. The U.‑k. performers have mostly high male (tenors) and female (soprano) voices. The first samples of U.‑k. were published by S.G.Rybakov in his The Music and Songs of Ural Muslims with an Essay of Their Everyday Life book. In 1893, N.F.Katanov recorded these samples on the phonograph. The distinctive feature of U.‑k. is the intonation expressiveness of the tunes which have both a wide range (from decima to 2 octaves and above) and a general downward movement. They are characterized by reliance on angelitonic sound rows, alternation of unfolded intra‑syllable tunes, recitative and intonated constructions, long sounds and widely chanted cries on interjections like “akhay” and “ekhey”, etc. Poetic texts of the U.‑k. are represented by quatrains and couplets, which consist of 10—9 syllables and are united by the principle of psychol., rhythmic and syntactic parallelism. The U.‑k. performance is preceded by a legend, which tells about the events connected with the creation of the song, indicates the author, time and place of action (Ashkadar, Biish, Buranbay, Zulkhizya, Tevkelev, etc). U.‑k. is traditionally performed accompanied by a kurai and has an instrumental version.