GRAY EAGLE WITH WHITE SHOULDERS

“GRAY EAGLE WITH WHITE SHOULDERS”, Bashkir ethnic naigrysh melody. Firstly registered by L.N.Lebedinskiy from G. Shamsutdinov in 1939 in Baymakskiy District, BASSR; the song is published in the “Bashkort khalk yirdary” collection by Z.G. Ismagilov. Naigrysh resembles dancing. Its performance is usually preceded by the legend, which has several variants. One of them tells about a golden eagle, which was flying above a hunter, who had taken nestlings out of the nest; the hunter was not able to forget the mournful cry of the bird and composed the melody. Another variant of the legend is more dynamic. According to its plot, the story is about golden eagles, whose revenge made village people to return the stolen nestlings.The legend reflects the tradition for the Bashkir cult of golden eagles (see Cults). The melody has dotted beat, repe­ titions and square structure. The alteration of long upper sounds and wide descending leaps make the naigrysh melody special.

L.K. Salmanova