Khomus in the historical memory of Yakutia

Gogolev Anatolii Ignatevich ORCID: 0000-0002-9694-7826 Doctor of History Professor; Department of World, Russian history, ethnology, archeology; North-Eastern Federal University named after M.K. Ammosov 677000, Russia, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Yakutsk, ul. Belinsky, 58, office 612 cafvi1990@mail.ru Egorov Aleksandr Fedorovich ORCID: 0000-0001-8644-0602 Senior Lecturer; Department of World and National History, Ethnology, Archaeology; Northeastern Federal University named after M.K. Ammosov 677000, Russia, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Yakutsk, ul. Belinsky, 58, office 612 alfegor1@gmail.com

Rufov Dmitriy Evgenevich Postgraduate student; Department of World, Russian history, ethnology, archeology; North-Eastern Federal University named after M.K. Ammosov 677000, Russia, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Yakutsk, ul. Belinsky, 58, office 612 dmitriy_rufov@mail.ru

The formation of a new historical memory with the transformation of commemorative practices in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) can be called modern changes in the historical memory of the regions of Russia, which is primarily aimed at rethinking old practices and introducing new memory mechanisms. This process began at the end of the twentieth century throughout the entire territory of the Russian Federation. It should be noted that in addition to the beginning of the formation of a new all-Russian historical memory, local manifestations of memory associated with local peoples and their culture are being formed. The first of them is the state factor, how the state and its representatives try to preserve the memory of the past, whether it is normative documents, registers of cultural heritage or events dedicated to anniversaries. The second factor is a private one, characteristic of the formation of the so–called cultural memory, when society itself, in isolation from the state, tries to preserve the past in the memory of a village, city, republic or country. In this article, we will try to consider this process of changing historical memory with one of the clearest examples of commemoration – the Yakut khomus, which can be considered one of the national symbols of Yakutia.

The Yakuts do not have such extensive musical instruments, compared with the peoples of Altai and Central Asia, the Yakuts are rich in oral folk and song creativity, which makes the khomus one of the main musical instruments of the people. The khomus, being a harp instrument, one of the oldest types of musical instruments, has passed through the centuries and has practically not changed its appearance. This instrument consists of a rounded body with two straight ends and a tongue, the ring of the body is called tierbes, two straight ends of the sonahtar, having the edges of the inner cheeks - is iedester and the outer cheeks - tas iedester, the tongue is the rear, has a knee - hohuora and a rounded tip of the chychaah.

In cultural and historical memory, we can trace the preservation of the khomus as a place of memory since ancient times, so the archaic prototype of the khomus was a tree split by lightning, which vibrated from the wind, which was perceived by people of the past as the phenomenon of the host spirit of the tree and here the connection of magic with the tree is traced, among the Turkic peoples lightning had the purifying property of expelling evil spirits. In fairy tales and epics, it is said about the special love of the hunting spirits for harp music. For example, according to the custom of the Yakuts during hunting: in the evenings it was customary to tell fairy tales and play musical instruments, for good luck in the trade: the spirits – owners of the taiga or their daughters, after listening, dancing, gifted prey or missed their "cattle" – animals. And this instrument often accompanied love confessions, when the most intimate feelings were expressed through it. Yakut khomus was especially popular among women – there was even a special genre of khomus songs. The Yakut khomus served as a kind of peculiar method of communication, people through it told about the events that had happened, conveyed thoughts and secrets. ^[1] These traditions and rituals speak about the consolidation of the khomus in the cultural and historical memory of the region, represent the khomus in three hypostases, material, symbolic, functional ^[2]

In the old days, the Yakuts had various types of harp, up to the XIX century, such as kuluhun khomus (reed khomus), mas khomus (wooden khomus), unuoh khomus (bone khomus), timir khomus (iron khomus), but gradually the iron khomus displaces other species, this is explained by the role of the khomus in the life of the Yakuts, Since at first this instrument performed the function of an accompanying instrument and possibly replaced a shamanic tambourine, thus the image of the khomus as an instrument made of iron was tightly preserved in the historical memory of the region.

It is worth noting that one of the important forms of preserving the memory of khomuses are the notes of researchers of the XVIII-XX centuries, so A.F.Middendorf, who compiled the most complete natural-historical description of the territory, testifies to the existence of the Yakuts khomus and the string-bowed instrument kyrympa and expresses an opinion about their origin: "... the only musical instruments that I met them, there were... violin and harp. Both, obviously, were borrowed from Russians" ^[3] The most detailed information about the khomus harp and the shaman tambourine was left in the XIX century by a researcher of the material and spiritual culture of the Yakuts and other residents of the Verkhoyansk district, political messenger I. A. Khudyakov writes about the presence of wooden and bone khomuses among the Yakuts, about group performance on the khomus. "... The Yakuts hum and play their songs with the help of their favorite musical instrument khamys, which they take in their teeth..." ^[4] V.L. Seroshevsky and E.K. Pekarsky also mentioned such an instrument.

Since the Soviet period of studying musical instruments in the national republics, their own research has begun, including on khomus, among them the works of M. N. Zhirkov "Yakut folk Music" and A. I. Chakhov "Sakha bylirgy musical instrumentara" can be distinguished. In his work, written back in the 50s of the twentieth century, composer M. N. Zhirkov conducts the first classification of Yakut folk musical instruments. Since the 50s, there have been partial changes in commemorative practices, A. I. Chakhov and G. A. Grigoryan begin experiments to enhance the sound qualities of the khomus, which leads to the creation of the so-called khomus with a ring, but it will not receive strong distribution. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, interest in harp music began to grow again, which was associated with the beginning of the process of revival of ethnic cultures and the development of commemorative practices, with new hobbies of esotericism. In Yakutia in the 1970s, the khomus harp became popular thanks to the efforts of the Yakut performer Ivan Alekseev - Khomus Uybaan. A major step in preserving the historical memory of Khomus was the holding of the I All-Union Conference "Problems of harp music in the USSR" (1988) and the II International Congress "Harp (khomus): Traditions and Modernity" (1991) in Yakutsk. ^[5] Separately, we note the initiatives to preserve memory, which developed the concept and creation of the Khomus Museum in Yakutsk (Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Yakut-Sakha SSR No. 612 "On the establishment of the International Center for Harp Music"). and on the recommendation of the II International Vargan Congress, at the end of the twentieth century, the Museum and the Khomus Center of the Peoples of the World opened in the republic.

At the present stage, international and republican events dedicated to harp music and the Yakut khomus are taking place in Yakutia, decree No. 769 of the head of the republic Egor Afanasyevich Borisov dated June 27, 2011 on the establishment of Khomus Day on November 30 in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) was issued (Decree of the President of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) dated June 27, 2011 No. 769 "On the announcement of Khomus Day in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)") – this holiday was adopted to preserve ancient cultural traditions and a sign of world recognition of a national instrument and is a manifestation of the state principle in the commemorative practices of modern Yakutia. As examples of private commemoration, we highlight that in November, on the Day of the Khomus, actions such as “Khomus dictation”, conferences, contests between musical performers and collectives, contests for khomus makers are held.

Also important examples of the interaction of private and public initiatives in the field of harp music is the fact of simultaneous playing on the khomus during the celebration of the “Ysyakh-Tuymaada” in Yakutsk on June 24, 2011, which was attended by 1,344 performers from different regions of Yakutia and guests from different countries, which entered the Guinness Book of Records as the most massive synchronized performance of music on the harp.

Let's focus on such a moment that at the present stage there is a struggle of memory in the methods of production of the khomus, we will highlight two opposing opinions on the methods of making the khomus. The first of them is the traditional method of forging a khomus, but still, even in the traditional forging method, a number of modern tools or materials are used. for example, in the village of Verkhneviluysk, blacksmiths retain the method of forging by hand, but as the master manufacturer Borisov Panteleimon Mikhailovich said, now the harp is made not from ore, but from thick metal wires or other iron products left after the USSR, while noting it is important to choose the right metal, for example, from stainless and alloyed metals, the khomus does not work. ^[7] The second group notes that at the moment, the methods of manufacturing Yakut khomuses are also undergoing changes, due to the spread of new technologies. So, for example, I.F. Zakharov - Kylyady uus developed the ideas and creative experience of his predecessors. He introduced innovative methods for making a khomus, replacing hand-forged metal with the technology of casting the tool body from other metals (brass, silver and iron) and in the end, he settled on the optimal version of the khomus body made of brass with iron impurities. Kilyady uus is a master manufacturer of souvenir khomuses dedicated to memorable dates such as the 40th anniversary of Victory, the 350th anniversary of the city of Vilyuysk, and the accession of Yakutia to the Russian state. And in 1997, another blacksmith, Gotovtsev I.N., developed the author's machine tool technology for manufacturing the housing of the khomus from sheet steel. Its technology consists in working on metal-cutting machines: cutting rectangular plates of sheet steel on a guillotine, drilling and re-drilling on lathes of the ring of the housing of the chomus, cutting on a milling machine of the central channel under the tongue. And the final shape of the body of the khomus is made with an electric sharpener or with a hacksaw. At the same time, each cutting surface requires additional processing: filing, grinding, polishing. In this regard, the surface cleanliness is adjusted manually using files and abrasive skins of various grain sizes. ^[8]

But we still note that this struggle is inherently purely technological in nature and modern Yakut blacksmiths use innovative materials and master new metalworking technologies. But they do not forget the ancient canons of forging and metalworking and the craftsmen observe them in the manufacture of Yakut knives and khomuses. Nowadays, Yakut blacksmiths participate in exhibitions and take part in competitions of various levels.

Currently, certain results have been achieved in the ordering and systematization of many varieties of harps of the peoples of the world. The local features of the existence and functioning of harps are more clearly outlined, and in recent years the Yakut khomus has undergone serious changes, both in terms of external structural elements and in terms of musical qualities. Various circumstances contributed to this, firstly, virtuoso performers dramatically expanded the range of performing skills in a relatively short period of time, secondly, blacksmiths began to reveal the technological secrets of old artisans, thirdly, khomus art is reviving in an atmosphere of increased interest in folk folk music.

 All this leads to the fact that we can say that the ideas about the khomus as a place of memory are preserved in the society of Yakutia and are developing. There is a simultaneous process of preserving the traditional idea of the khomus and the opposite modernization of the khomus in memory, the introduction of new production technologies, methods of playing the khomus.

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