BAYT
BAYT (from Arab. “beyt” – couplet), is a Bashkir (beyet) and Tatar (beet) epic, lyro-epic and lyrical genre of folk and ethnic poetry; Chuvashes call it (peyt, peyet) and consider as a kind of a ballad. It can be oral or written and combines features of folklore and literature. B. plots are tragic, dramatic or satire dramatic. There are mythological B. (“Sak-Suk”), historical B. and social household B.
Historical B. include works about Bashkortostan colonization and destruction of Bashkir lands (“To Bashkirs”, “Bayt about selling lands”, etc.), fight for Bashkir freedom in the 18th c. (“Bayt about Salavat”, “Bayt about Tevkelev”, etc), Tatar freedom (“Bayt of the Sryednyaya Yelyuzan river”, “Chanly Bayt”), Chuvash freedom (“I reached the Belaya river”, “They take the city of Kazan”), etc., about the Bashkir and other peoples’ contribution to the Patriotic war of 1812 (“Bayt about the French war”, “French Bayt”, etc., “Bayt of the RussianFrench war” and other wars (“Bayt of the Russian-German war”, “Bayt about the RussianTurkish war”, etc.), the events of 1920’s–1930’s (Bashkir – “Bayt of Sharaf commissioner”, “Bayt about Fazyl”, etc.; Tatar – “Bayt of the Red fighters”, “Bayt of Mirsait”, etc.), the Great Patriotic War (Bashkir: “They went from the aul village and reached Berlin”, “Bayt about the Great Patriotic war”; Tatar – “Bayt about the Moscow defense”), etc.
Social-household B. focuses on household activities (Bashkir – “Bayt about the hay”, “Bayt about Kumys milk”, etc.), accidents and calamities (Bashkir – “Bayt about famine”, “Bayt of Yagafar shakird”, etc.; Tatar – “Mother’s Bayt”, “I will not forget your father, etc.; Chuvash – “The evil father”, etc.), women’s destiny (Bashkir – “Gaysha’s Bayt”, “Bayt of a girl sold for cattle”, etc.), etc.
B.can be formed as a kubair, masnavi, munazhat, rubai, people use a pentatonic base to sing it (see Pentatonic, Khamak, Khamak-kuy). B. traditionally is sung a cappella. See also Ethnic poetry.
L.A. Afanasyevа, G.A. Ishkinina
