Zakamie Udmurts: The Tradition of Paradoxes (Ethnomusicological Essay)

Abstract

The article discusses the specificities of the song tradition among the Zakamie Udmurts residing in Bashkortostan. Drawing on both publication and field data, the author argues about the gradual “turcization” of the local Udmurts’ musical language. The article introduces newly uncovered archival audio data that point to the case of gender differentiation during the performance of ritual tunes, which has not been examined yet in the Udmurt ethnography.