Migration of People and Melodies in the Taiga Area of Southern Siberia

The article focuses on the song tradition of the Chalkans – a small Turkic-speaking population living in a taiga zone of southern Siberia. The main objectives are: analysis of archival collections; comparison of the results of this analysis with historical data; and possible reconstruction of the historical process of the spreading of melodies in the area.The introduction examines different concepts of transhumance as applied to cultural artefacts. This concept is then discussed with regard to the Chalkan culture. Natural, social, economic and historical contexts are briefly described prior to the analysis of Chalkan songs. After discussing materials and methodology, historical strata of the song tradition are described, and the category of lyric songs with modal tunes is examined in greater detail. A general description is provided of its grammar as well as the conceptualisation of the songs, followed by analysis of the distribution of two main versions of tunes (3H- or “major” and 3L- or “minor”) according to local and gender criteria.Preliminary conclusions are provided on the presence of two local traditions (Suranash, or Lebed’, and Kurmach-Baigol, or Baigol) and male and female performance styles.


Introduction
outhern Siberia is an area of residence of several small Turkic-speaking communities, some of which still characterized by various forms of semi-nomadism. Since the region is geographically characterized by a combination of steppe -mountain -taiga landscapes, pure nomadism has not been typical of the area. Moreover, even in the predominantly steppe areas seasonal vertical migrations of pastoralist families and their herds within the assigned territories have been the most common type of economy. Such routes can be represented as a form of circle in three-dimensional space with starting and finishing points at more or less stable winter camps, similar to Mongolia (Lugli 2013;. Nowadays this semi-nomadic type of traditional economy in many parts of Southern Siberia -for example, in the Central Altai -is transforming into what could be more correctly defined as transhumance. Usually this term is attributed to a particular type of pastoralism in the Mediterranean zone (Fabietti and Remotti 1997). Considered in a broad cultural sense, it could be applied to a vast number of cultural phenomena. Its main sense, in our opinion, is based on a dichotomy of 'departure -return.' The idea of departure and, then, returning home is probably the most archetypical and essential for any culture at large. The model of 'departure -return' in semi-nomadic cultures is multi-polar, because each of the camps on the annual route can be regarded as a place of both return and departure, with a special role for the winter camps. In the transhumance kind of pastoralism, the 'departure -return' model becomes bipolar. A village or small town is a point of departure as well as a point of return. The same The northern zone of Southern Siberia geographically includes the northern foothills of Altai, Kuznetzkii Alatau and the upper reaches of the River Abakan. It is characterized by taiga landscape and snowy winters that contribute to the development of a special type of economy. Small-numbered Turkic-speaking groups -the Shors, Chalkans, Sagais and others -living in the taiga zone have developed a rather complex type of economy consisting of hunting, fishing, gathering, cattle-and horse-breeding, farming, as well as a variety of crafts. The Northern Altais (Chalkans, Kumandins and Tubas) and Shors were the first to meet Russian colonizers and to start contacts with them. Some cultural phenomena were adopted by both groups of the population -the indigenous and the outsiders -from each other.
The Chalkans represent a typical model of the hunting culture of the taiga zone. 2 They live in the Turochak district of the Republic of Altai in Southern Siberia (see Fig. 1 and 2). The Turochak district is located in the north-east of the Republic of Altai, on the border with the Altai krai, Kemerovo oblast' and the Republic of Khakassia (Fig. 2). Cattle-breeding was predominant among the Chalkans in the 20 th century, due to the abundance of grass in the summer and feeding hay in the winter. Such husbandry is not subject to migrations; moreover, simple herding has no special needs: in many cases the cattle move freely in search of food, fairly close to settlements, with impassable taiga and rivers serving as a natural barrier (Fig. 3). Scientists believe that the Chalkans adopted cattle-breeding from the Russian settlers no earlier than the middle of the 19 th century. Before that, only horse-breeding was known amongst them (Belgibaev 2001).
The importance of the horse in traditional Chalkan culture is regarded as evidence of the nomadic past of their remote ancestors (Belgibaev 2001). This is confirmed by the presence of the sacrifice of a horse of light colour in clan and tribal rituals. 3 Even now motifs of horse-hitching pole are popular in the decoration of houses and fences in the Chalkan village of Kurmach-Baigol ( Fig. 4 and 5).  The lyrics of songs often provide parallels between a horse and a girl (see, for example, the text of the second song in this article).
At the same time, another type of migration process was -and still is -extremely important for the taiga peoples. We are talking about the seasonal migrations of the men of a society for commercial hunting. There is no doubt that hunting has been the basic economic activity of the Chalkans since ancient times. Scientists assign to the hunt a paramount role in the traditional economy (Belgibaev 2001 households -from 1 to 11 in one settlement (typically, 3-5) -registered by the authorities. In 1911, 24 settlements were registered, with 256 households -from 4 to 21 in one settlement (mostly, 6-14). 6 As we see, the number of settlements is almost the same, but the number of households in a single settlement has increased significantly. It may therefore be stated that, at the turn of the 19 th to the 20 th century, a process of growing village-like settlements definitely took place amongst the Chalkans. In 1922 the picture was similar, but several new villages were built along the Turochak -Artybash road (towards Teletskoe Lake) outside proper Chalkan territory (Fig. 6).  The mountain-taiga landscape thus predetermined the traditional way of life of the inhabitants of the taiga area, living in small groups in convenient locations with limited territorial resources. However, all the wealth of the taiga and first and foremost the animals compensated for the lack of opportunity for the unlimited development of cattle husbandry. The settlements were located not too far from each other (normally, 5-10 km), making it possible for people living there to make contact, communicate and exchange. Major rites and feasts provided opportunities for the gathering of the Chalkan clans. Such events usually finished with eating, drinking and performing non-ritual music, songs in particular.
Marriages were another important institution, firstly of mobility within Chalkan society and, secondly, for social gatherings.
What music was performed at these meetings and how were the melodies distributed? What kind of transhumance existed at that time? Are there any methods of reconstructing long-gone processes that have been left without any written evidence? In order to answer these questions we should pass on to musical analysis, but our basic assumption, derived from the preceding analysis, is that the lyrics and melodies of the songs and other genres migrated together with people and were distributed largely over the whole area.

Song tradition of the Chalkans: sources and methodological issues
The intonational culture [интонационная культура] (IC) (Kondratieva, Mazepus and Sychenko 1999) of the Chalkans is described in general (Kondratieva, Mazepus and Sychenko 1999;Kondratieva and Sychenko 1997). Some genres -shamanic and epic music, tales with songs, lyric songs and lullabieshave been studied (Gorbacheva 2017;Kondratieva 1998;2002;Mazepus and Sychenko 1992;Sychenko 1990;1997;2005;Sytchenko 2009). The IC of the Chalkans is thus now known on a primary level. Currently, the song tradition of the Chalkans has become the subject of advanced and more detailed studies. It forms part of the current research project by a group of Siberian scholars, focused on a comparative study of the local song traditions of the Turkic and Slavic peoples of Siberia. 8 No documentation exists about the musical culture of the Chalkans before the 20 th century. 9 We do not even know whether or not they performed lyric genres, and if they did, what kind of songs they were. 10 It is clear however that they may have done so and that the distribution and migration of songs -both texts and melodies -could have taken place in the cultural context discussed above. traditions and with whom we -students and young researchers -worked in the 1980s until the 1990s has now been replaced by a more modern generation. 14 Tab. 1 demonstrates this situation rather clearly.  almost disappeared from everyday practice. It is very difficult nowadays to find experts within the Chalkan community who can discuss related anthropological issues. On the other hand, it is not a 'mute' collection, like so many other archive collections. It is well documented, we know a lot about the performers: their names, clans, phratries, 16 years and places of birth, educational level, profession and occupation, and so on.
What kind of research can be done and what information can we extract from these materials?
In my opinion, in this particular case we may combine three different approaches. First, traditional musical analysis will allow a classification of the song tradition and lead to an understanding of how it was arranged in the recent past, as well as reaching conclusions about its typological position in the circle of other Turkic cultures of the Altai-Saian region. Second would be an indirect contextual analysis of ideas and concepts about songs, including linguistic analysis of song terminology. Third, the historical approach: meaning the juxtaposition of analytical and all available historical data. Together, this should make it possible to trace at least the relative chronology of the process of distribution of melodic patterns in the studied area.

Song traditions of the Chalkans: historical strata
The recorded materials, from an historical point of view, can be divided into three groups: 1) the 1960s; 2) mid-1980s until early 1990s; 3) the 2000s. The first group contains three of the earliest samples representing disappeared genres. The second group includes the main part of the Chalkan collection. The third group contains materials demonstrating its rapid destruction and disappearance.
The earliest examples were recorded by two prominent representatives of the epic tradition: two songs by Manakop Denisovich Kandarakov (end of the 19 th century until 1972), and one song by Karylep Baiakovich Pustogachev . The three songs are very similar and can be considered as two versions of the same melody. Taking into account the dates of birth and death of the performers, and the fact that the songs were recorded in the 1960s, it is possible to associate them with a period at least from the last quarter of the 19 th century up to the 1970s. The melodies of these songs differ both from the epic tunes recorded by the same performers, and from the main body of lyric songs recorded in the second period.
During the second period of collecting materials on the musical culture of the Chalkans almost all genres were recorded, including most of the lyric songs. There are several stylistic groups amongst them, which we also may attribute to different historical periods. Thus, the majority of songs belong to the group of so-called songs with model tunes (Sychenko 2013), which were considered by all performers as 'traditional Chalkan songs.' This group -traditional lyric songs -includes a relatively small number of tunes of other types. Taking into consideration the years of birth of our informants (1900s-1930s) and their reference to the previous generation, from whom they adopted these songs, this stylistic layer of the songs could be correlated with a period of more than one hundred years -from the end of the 19 th to the 21 st century. It is quite likely that this chronological border could be pushed back at least another generation or two.
Chastushka 17 is reliably present in Chalkan culture at least from the 1930s. In this case its appearance could relate to a new Soviet reality: collectivization and the creating of the kolkhozes. But it could have appeared earlier, before the revolution, because contacts with Russians started much earlier than the revolution. The adoption of economic forms could have accompanied the adoption of musicalpoetical genres, among which chastushka is one of the most likely candidates. This question requires careful study. On the contrary, songs of the Civil War, of course, could not have appeared earlier than the end of the 1910s.
All these groups of songs coexisted for a considerable period of the 20 th century. Nevertheless, we may arrange them in a chronological sequence; their progressive disappearance from Chalkan culture correlates with this list.

Lyric songs with model tunes
In the 1980s the most popular category of songs were lyric songs with so-called universal model tunes (UMT). Practically, all people born between 1900 and the 1930s could perform this kind of song (Sychenko 2013;. It should be stressed that this kind of melody in particular was connected with 'Chalkan-ness,' i.e. played an important role as an ethnic marker.
The songs were performed by men and women solo with no accompaniment. Their performance requires no special abilities or professionalism. Most songs reveal the theme of love, family and kinship relations. The modality of discourse ranges from the philosophical to the humoristic.
As in all other cases for model tunes, free connection between the topic of the song and its melody is typical. Both temporal and pitch parameters of the songs are determined by a sort of generative grammar which allows a creation of the 'right' melodies (Mazepus and Sychenko 1997;Sychenko 1997;. A very short description of the main traits of the grammar is provided below on three important aspects: versification, rhythm and pitch. 17 The term chastushka (rhyme, couplet) refers to Russian short songs (short ditties) based on quatrain, or couplet composition with 7/8 syllable verse and typified melodies. For more details see Adonyeva (2004); Alexander (1976); Morgenstern (2007;2011;2015); Zemtsovskii (2000), and others). This genre was largely distributed amongst different peoples of the former Russian Empire and, lately, USSR.
Versification in Chalkan lyric songs with UMT is of the free-syllabic type with a stable postcaesura part: n + 3. Normally, n = 4, 5 syllables, therefore, one verse contains 7-8 syllables, but in some cases it may vary up to 11 syllables. In most examples, only the pre-caesura part of the verse varies.
Rhythmical organization is based on the combination of three musical feet per line (corresponding to verse). 18 Pre-and post-caesura parts are almost identical in length (usually minim); the first part consists of two feet, also equal in value (usually crotchets): foot 1 foot 2 foot 3 Melodies are based on the diatonic scales, mostly of octave diapason. They belong to two types: major and minor alike. 19 Previously, I determined them as 3H-and 3L-scales (Sychenko 1997). 20 Actually, there are different variations of major and minor scales: parallel major-minor; eponymous major minor; Dorian; scales with a diffuse value of the steps; uncertain scales. However, the contrast between melodies in 3H-and 3L-scales seems to be an important stylistic determinant.
Below are two examples demonstrating this kind of melody. 21 Both belong to the category kyska saryn 'short song.' The first example is based on the 3H-scale, the second on the 3L-scale. 22 18 See Sychenko (1998) for a list of binary and ternary feet and their combination; the generative grammar is described in Mazepus and Sychenko (1997). 19 These and following terms are used figuratively, because the major-minor tonal system is not relevant for the oral musical culture of the Chalkans. 20 The definitions 3H-(with major, or 'high' third) and 3L-(with minor, or 'low' third) scales are used instead of 'major' and 'minor' scales. It is necessary to stress an importance of the quality of the 3 rd tone of the octave scale and ambivalence of the quality of the 6 th tone, which can be represented by any variant, for distinguishing of the melodic repertoire. 21 Examples are taken from Sychenko (2013). Texts in Chalkan language and Russian translation by Aiana Ozonova, notation and English translation by Galina B. Sychenko, computer music set by Ekaterina Tiron. Texts for the present publication are given in another transliteration; some corrections have been made in notation and translation of the text.    Kas palazy kakyldap (7) Kamyshtu sasta uiam, diit. (8) Kys palazy kymnanyp (7) El aimakta t'urtym, diit. (7) Goose's child cackling, In a reed marsh his nest is, says.
Girl-child whispering, In a middle of a people her home is, says.
With black eyes, hey, my child, Turning back, don't grieve.
The rhythmical structure of these songs is based on the combination of musical feet consisting of 2 or 3 elements. In the odd lines of the second song the last foot ends with a short element: 23 It seems that this process took place unconsciously.

Conceptualization of songs and melodies
Returning to our archive collection, we may formulate some questions about the mobility of the melodies within the Chalkan community. How are melodies distributed? Does their distribution correspond to gender, age, clans, phratries, places of birth, villages? In other words, is this distribution connected with personal, social or spatial models?
We are unlikely to find all the answers, but some we may find. First of all, it is important to understand how the Chalkans themselves conceptualize their songs. From field diaries and comments on songs we learn that songs are sometimes connected with persons ("This is a song of my uncle/grandfather, and so on"). Songs can be associated with the circumstances of life ("We sang this song when we came back from the field after work"). Melodies are often associated with places ("This melody is from my village"). In general, the group of lyric songs with UMT is associated with belonging to the ethnic community ('Chalkan-ness'). The last two points are both connected with space: either the territory of a small home area, or all Chalkan territory. It is quite likely therefore that the spatial model is more relevant in the distribution of melodies.

Scales of lyric songs with UMT and their distribution in the Chalkan territory
Now we will go on to analyse the distribution of scales or, to be more exact, modal-scales. We will use not only scales as such, but also some modal parameters, which is important for the melos. Thus, we take into account the final tones of the lines as well as the different quality of the tones: tones not appearing in the first position of a league are regarded as weak. Every scheme is thus a sort of projection of the melody. Each unit refers to one strophe, regardless of whether it is a separate song or not.
Below I give a complete list of all possible modal-scales with their frequency in the material available. 24 In Tab. 2, capital letters mark the final tone of the strophe, underlined letters show temporary stops (final tones of lines), weaker tones are in brackets. Here terms 'modal-scale,' or 'scale' are used as synonyms. They refer to concrete pitch structure extracted from one particular song, while term 'mode' refers to a more generalized category, which may include several similar scales. 25 In the Tab. 2-6 -is means 'sharp', -es means 'flat.' 1 D-e-f-g-a-b-c 1 -d 1 1131 1  As we can see, major scales are almost twice as many as minor ones. 26 Exceeding the octave limits is more typical for the latter. Besides this, the minor scales include more steps and are therefore fuller, or more complete. In the major scales very often one or two steps are missing and the core of the mode reveals itself rather clearly: D-fis-g-a-h-d 1 (steps found in all variants of 3H-scales are in bold type). It is very similar to the epic mode: d-fis-G-a-h. Minor scales also have a common part: D-e-f-g-a-c. As far as the 6 th step is concerned, in the minor scales free alternation is typical (b/h).

Scale
All this suggests that tunes with minor scales appeared in the Chalkan culture later then the major ones. In order to prove this thesis, we try to trace the distribution of scales a) across settlements and b) in accordance with the gender of performers. Among

Kurmach-Baigol
D-e-fis-g-a-h-d 1 1121 1 D-e-f-g-a-b-c 1 -d 1 1111 2 D-e-fis-g-a-h-c 1 /cis 1 -d 1 -e 1 1111 1 D-e-f-g-a-b-c 1 -d 1 1131 1 D-e-f-g-a-b/h-c 1 -d 1 1111 4   This means that the number of melodies with major scales is higher for the Lebed' settlers, while melodies with minor scales are more typical for women from the Baigol area. Another picture is revealed when we analyze the data for men. The proportions are 0/3-5/3 (Lebed') and 6/0-9/0 (Baigol). That means that in general men perform melodies with major scales regardless of their places of birth or where they live.
The negative result for the village Suranash may be an accident because records made for men are fewer than for women. Each village is represented by one man and more than one (2-8) women.
Men's preference for major tunes may therefore correlate with a different style of performance.
Men prefer energetic march styles, while women prefer more relaxed lyrical styles. As a result, minor melodies with an abundance of passing notes and more complete scales are distributed amongst women much more than amongst men.
Returning to the distribution of major and minor melodies, a very intriguing and simple question might be: Why is there any such distribution? What kind of transhumance of melodies and modes took place in the past? The answer could be found in the geography of the territories. Thus, the basin of the Lebed' is much more impassable than the Baigol basin. There were not and still are not any roads except the winter road on the River Lebed'. The first stable villages were created on the River Baigol in the 19 th century. In Soviet times there were several villages, connected by country roads, whereas Suranash was accessible only by river in summer, winter road and by helicopter. Naturally, this caused a much larger influx of people into Kurmach-Baigol than into Suranash, where only local people migrated. On the contrary, in Kurmach-Baigol not only the Chalkans lived, but also the Kumandin, Tubalars, Russians and other nationalities.
The presence of each of the listed peoples could contribute to the process of transhumance and forming differences in song performance styles. Thus, melodies similar to the Chalkan ones are also characteristic for the Kumandins. Kumandin melodies belong almost exclusively to the minor scales, so it is reasonable to assume that this is how they appeared in Chalkan culture. The modal structure D-f-ga-c is also typical of the Tubalars, with whom the Chalkans had close marriage relationships. Russian influence also could have taken place, but this question needs more careful study.
Another observation concerns the nature of modal-scales in mixed villages built along the main roads. As we can see in Tab

Preliminary conclusions
At the present stage of the research, we may formulate some preliminary conclusions about the migration (or transhumance) of the melodies and, warily, about the history of this process. Traditional Chalkan society was based on the mobility of small family groups within a prescribed territory. They were mainly attached to the rivers Lebed' and Baigol, and the basin of the second one was more open to the influx of people from outside. The Chalkans made different contacts and would therefore adopt song melodies from each other, but local micro-traditions -if they existed -were rather mobile. The way of lifescattered over the taiga -and solo character of the performance did not allow stable local traditions to form. With people's migration to the taiga zone, their melodies migrated too. Only the establishing of new and bigger villages was favourable to the process of forming local traditions. We may assume that melodies with major scales were more characteristic of the Chalkans in the past. They are closer to epic tradition; they are better kept in the more isolated village Suranash and, last but not least, they are better kept by men than by women. So, women might adopt the new minor style of performing in settlements with mixed populations. It could have happened as early as the end of the 19 th century. Now we may speak about two local traditions: Suranash, or Lebed', and Kurmach-Baigol, or Baigol.
Outside the Chalkan context, we find similar kinds of melody among the neighbouring Turkic cultures: the Kumandins, Tubalars, Shors, Teleuts and Sagays. All these cultures use them in a very limited quantity. Only in the Kumandin culture have they the same position as in the Chalkan one, which again poses the question about the historical relationships between the two North Altai ethnic groups and, possibly, about transhumance of musical artefacts from one group to another.