SALIMAKAY

“SALIMAKAY”, Bashkir ethnic song, uzun-kuy. The legend of the song’s origin was first registered in the 1920’s by M.A. Burangulov. The song was registered by S. Gabyashi from A. Karimov in 1934. It is published inthe“Bashkort khalk yirdary” collection. The song is lyrical. Presumably,  Buranbay-sesen is the author of the song. He dedicated it to his beloved Salima. According to one of the legends, Salima, the daughter of Sait­-tarkhan, was incredibly beautiful and could sing very well. The region governor fell in love with her and tried to persuade her grandfather named Kaipkul­-tarkhan to organize the murder of his son­-in­-law Sait­-tarkhan, who had not given his consent for his daughter’s marriage with the governor. When Salima learned about it she fell ill. Kaipkul­-tarkhan wanted to cure her disease and called for the prominent singer and quaray player Yarkey (Buranbay-­sesen). His songs cured Salima. The young people fell in love and escaped together. According to another version, Salima was from a poor family. She lived in one of the villages near the Sakmara river. A quaray player from the same village fell in love with her and dedicated his melodies to her. Salima’s father agreed to arrange his daughter’s marriage with the mentally retarded son of a rich man as he had offered a generous sum for her. Salima decided to escape together with her lover but people caught them and beat them cruelly. They were forced to return in fetters. Salima, having lost her mind, threw herself from the Karatash rock of the Irendyk mountain and died. “S.” melody has a wide range of chants, which can reach quart and quint and seventh from the singing sound. The musical scale is a major hexachord. The melody is used in “Aykhylu” opera by M.M. Valeev and N.I. Peyko.

G.A. Ishkinina