A book about the instrumental traditions of Abkhaz and Circassians from Turkey was presented in Sukhum.
Said Bargandzhia
The book “Musical Folklore of Abkhaz and Circassians in Turkey” was presented in Sukhum. The publication tells about the Abkhaz-Adyg Diaspora in Turkey, the song and instrumental traditions of the two peoples in the context of musical folklore, as well as about traditional and modern wedding rites of the Abkhaz and Circassians. The author of the book is a candidate of philological sciences, associate professor of the Philological faculty of the Abkhaz State University, senior researcher at the Department of Folklore of the ABIGI named after Dmitry Gulia Churey Tyzhyn Ali.
She said that she has been researching the topic for more than ten years. Over the years, nine books have already been published, five of which are directly related to the musical folklore of the Abkhaz and Circassians living in the Republic of Turkey.
“The musical life of the Diaspora has long been isolated from its historical homeland. This area is practically unstudied. This is the first step, the first attempt to explore in detail the musical folklore of two fraternal peoples. We collected material in the book by exploring many archives. All the material presented in the book is collected in Turkey,” the author shared.
Commenting on the book, the head of the Department of Abkhaz Literature of the Abkhaz State University, Diana Adzhinzhal, drew the attention of the presentation participants to the fact that the author had done serious work on reconstructing the history of the origin of ethnic music and studying the educational musical heritage of the Abkhaz-Adyg Diaspora of the late 19th century.
She emphasized the fact that the study is devoted to the tragic history of Abkhaz and Circassians in a foreign land. This story “caused an irreparable damage to the national culture, ethnic identity, spiritual, physical integrity of the Abkhaz and Circassians.”
“The relevance and novelty of this study is determined by new provisions for the Abkhaz-Adyg science, which were first put forward and substantiated in this book. Here, first of all, the sources of ethnomusic culture are examined, and the national-cultural education of the Diaspora in Turkey is also considered,” said Diana Adzhindzhal.
The book aroused interest not only among representatives of the scientific community. At the presentation there were a lot of young people, students.
“Without the past, there is no future. This book tells us about our past through music, through folklore. This is incredibly interesting, I’ll definitely take it to read,” said the ASU student Mramza Simonia.
The circulation of the study is 150 copies. The book is not for sale, however, those who wish can get familiar with it at the Papaskiri National Library in Sukhum.
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