LULLABY

“LULLABY”, Bashkir ethnic song, uzun-kuy. The legend and a variant of the song were first registered by K.M. Diyarov in 1972 in Kugarchinskiy District from M. Suleymanova and published in the book “Sal Uraldyn Mondary” (1988). The song is lyro­dramatic. According to the legend, it was composed by a young mother cradling her son, her husband was taken to the tsar’s army. The songs tells about the woman’s worries about long separation from her husband and unbearableness of her burden. The melody of the song is based on a major pentatonic. It is richly ornamented. Descending tunes in the end of phrases make the melody calm.

E.A. Akhmetshina