Irda (Vocal Tradition)
Irda (Iradi: ırda) is the Iradi tradition of unaccompanied songs sung on horseback by herders and travelers, including long historical and genealogical poems. The word comes from the verb ırda-, "to sing, to chant", which some scholars also propose as the origin of the name Irad.[1]
Singers set the rhythm of the verse to the gait of the horse and pace their breathing to it, and the songs are pitched to carry across valleys. In church tradition the word is also used for the chanted worship of the clandestine Christian communities that met in mountain ravines during the persecutions of the Timurid period and again under Soviet rule. Folklorists have noted melodic features shared by the horseback songs and the orally transmitted chant of the Syro-Iradi Catholic Church. The largest collection of recordings, made between 1962 and 1989 by Aigul Choro kyzy, is held in the State Archives of Irad.[1][2]
See also
References
- ^ Central Asian Folklore Society (2021). Epic Cycles and Horseback Chants of the Northern Valleys. Talas State University Press, Talas, pp. 135–158.
- ^ State Archives of Irad (Talas). Sound Collection: Field Recordings of Aigul Choro kyzy, 1962–1989.