Long time ago, according to the legend, Khakass people did not know of throat-singing. When the Master of khai (throat-singing) - khai eezi found out, he came to teach the people. Huge, black, handsome, he met a Khakass at Iskharchyzy (near Kizlas), who was sleeping on the bank of Great Esi river. When the sleeper woke up, he was so frightened at the sight of khai eezi, that he involuntarily exclaimed: "Tatai!" - a magical word, expressing revulsion. The Master of Khai was offended, did not say anything, went to the north and settled between the White and Black Iyus rivers. There he changed his anger into mercy and began to teach his art to the people. This became the homeland of all the famous Khakass khaiji, tellers of heroic epics, stories and legends of the ancient hero warriors…
Visiting a khaiji
…In the years when I was still a schoolboy, the entire Khakassia used to wake up to the sounds of the chatkhan and throat-singing of the khaiji. "Get up, my mother would say, - Kadyshev is singing…" That means - time to go to school. At that time , the radio was the most widespread means of receiving information about the world and the country where we lived. One of my first books was a collection "Khakass folk tales" in a light blue cover, in translation and literary rendition of a young Leningrad writer Boris Balter.
Of course, books and radio were not my only source of information about Khakass culture. My father began his working life as a teacher for lower grades in the Sapogov ulus. In the Fifties, when he built a house in Abakan, his Khakass friends would often visit us. That is where I saw my first chatkhan, in Sapogov, where we used to go to mow hay. That is where I heard throat-singing "live" for the first time, not on the radio. It made a strong impression on me. I could not understand how an ordinary person can produce such unusual sounds. I do not understand it to this day, even though I have listened to the most remarkable performers many times…
For example, Petr Argudayev. In the opinion of Valentina Tuguzhekova, director of KhakNIIYaLI, Petr Argudayev was the last khaiji in the traditional vein. He died in 2000. We visited him in the summer of 1999. Doctor of historical sciences Viktor Butanayev brought his guests from Hungary and Germany to see him. The master welcomed us with apologies. The night before he was digging potatoes, became sweaty, rode back home on a motorcycle and got chilled. So he would try to sing, but he asks for forgiveness if it does not sound full strength. He brought out his chatkhan carefully wrapped in cloth, and began to test the sound of the strings. Sven Grobunder, a specialist in phonetics, rhetoric, logopedia of Berlin institute, turned on his tape recorder. And he started to sing to the thrumming of the strings.
In a way nothing changed in the room, which was full of ordinary things: a TV set, shelf with books, a wall-clock, an iron bed. There were photograph albums on the table, and a large calendar "Khakassia" on the wall. And the master had not changed either - skinny, unhurried, dressed in a light striped shirt and a knit vest. But the room became filled with special, unexplainable acoustic blend of human voice and chatkhan strings. The khaiji was looking out the window, and he seemed to exist in a separate reality, not noticing his surroundings. He sang a part of a heroic epos for us. More exactly, about one of the warrior heroes - Altyn-Zhyus. As Butanayev translated a summary for us later, there once was a warrior like that - he liked to drink. This passion was always interfering with his abilities to perform his predetermined feats…
Petr Gavrilovich asked Sven to let him listen to the recording. He was satisfied. And then he said:
- I will sing some songs that I compose myself, so that you will have it on the tape.
And he sang several takhpakh…
And all this time I was thinking how often we do not value those who are right next to us. People come here from far-away countries, trying to immerse themselves in the atmosphere of ancient times, to learn about the sources of human history, which can be found in Khakassia. Our remarkable musicians Sergei Charkov, Evgeniy Ulugbashev and Vyacheslav Kuchenov get invitations to perform abroad. And we in our everyday life hardly ever appreciate our treasures?
Either sing or die…
One of the best known contemporary performers of Khakass folk music is Slava Kuchenov, sculptor by profession, musician by vocation, and now the artistic leader of ensemble "Ulger". One day during the music festival "Aitys" he told me how it all began…
- My ability to sing wad discovered unexpectedly. Before that I was never involved in music. I am a sculptor, I graduated from Repin Institute of the Academy of Arts in Leningrad. And one day I had a dream I dreamt that I saw a large human shadow and I heard a voice that said: "You must sing epics…"
I was excusing myself that I never sang before, have only a very general idea about epics, in one word, I can't. the human shadow or a spirit was telling me that it will all work out…In the morning I went to my grandfather, told him everything, asked for advice. He told me: "Grandson, now you don't have a choice. You must sing. If you try to get out of it, you will get sick…You could even die…"
- Where did this happen?
- In Safronov aal, earlier it was the Molotov artel. In Askiz district. So I started to study epics. And if I tried to get out of it, or just got lazy, I had dreams that I was being chased by horse-riders through the steppe, beaten with whips. Sometimes it even happened that I had whip-marks on my body when I woke up. It was a torment. I ordered the instrument, and right away I was able to play. It was amazing! Many people did not believe that I was only a beginner when they listened. But it was true. Not just the texts, but the way of performing them have been coming to me as if outside of normal consciousness. And not just in dreams, but during the day also, when I was fully awake…I remember that once I was home alone and I did not even understand the text, I played the chatkhan and was saying some words from six at night until morning… that is how it was. I was receiving the text by some unknown way that I could not even remember entirely. But parts of this story about one of the warrior heroes came to me several times later…
- And how do you explain this?
- It is difficult to explain. Before that I was an atheist, I studied at a Soviet school, I never paid any attention to any mysterious phenomena, but when it began to concern me immediately, when even my health was involved, I had to submit to something or somebody higher…
- So you developed a need for this?
- I do not have a need for it. It is more of a necessity. For example, you miss the ritual feeding of the spirits - tyos - and you think - oh well, OK. But no, suddenly there are incomprehensible pains which disappear when you keep to the established ancient rituals…
- How do you relate your art to the art of the famous khaiji - Kadyshev, Argudayev?
- I can't call myself a khaiji. Possibly I will be able to consider it as I get older. But there are weird phenomena that happen to me, and I have to keep them in mind…I am simply trying to stick to the norms preserved in our traditions…
- I had occasions to hear from famous research workers, that contemporary music art contains elements of estrada…
- That is simply the influence of these times, an attempt to adapt our music to contemporary rhythms. But there are limits. If you are speaking concretely about me, I associate my future with serious search in the ethnic direction. At the same time I try not to pay any attention to reproaches of musicologists, who consider the absence of musical education a serious deficiency. In my opinion, an ethic musician can only be hindered by the canons of formal musical education. I see that in the example of those kids who received a conservatory education. Their music has changed very strongly. They create music that is very far from our traditions. Even their chatkhan does not sound the Khakass way, but to a certain degree like a harp or bayan…
Tradition will not disappear
- Can it be said that in a relatively short time-span on the historical scale the connection between generations of khaiji the traditional sense..- Slava continued pensively. - professor Ted Levin from Washington visited us once. He was involved in studying such phenomena as I described to you, when texts come kind of out of nowhere, in a dream. They do not exist just here. Young people in Tuva and Altai unexpectedly start telling epics. In his opinion, there is a genetic memory in our region that somehow, by energy, shows up among representatives of the native people. Because of that, I am inclined to think that the tradition of telling epic stories and of throat-singing will not disappear. Contemporary musicologists consider my performances in the epic style as my authored compositions, which I composed myself. Yes, it happens, but the core layer of my performances I can't call my own because of my age. After all, I am not so wise (he smiles) to pretend to authorship…When I heard, for example, Arzhan Kuzerekov from Gornyi Altai, he is even younger than me, I sensed that his gift is came form above. And he told me the same thing about my singing…
Research of a famous scholar Larisa Anzhiganova bears witness that the social status of khaiji was very high in the past, because they received their gift from sacral powers and were in constant communication with them. Any human activity (reason, existence, cultural-artistic and such) was in traditional perception connected with supernatural reality: there was always another, invisible partner right next to you - spirit-master of the word, the object, natural element, ancestors… In her opinion, chatkhan has always been an emotional sacral mediator of horizontal communication (between generations) and vertical (with all of the three worlds). And that is how it remains to this day…
A writer and a brilliant expert in Khakass folklore Galina Kazachinova answered my direct question: "Who are the contemporary performers of Khakass epos?" just as directly: "They are Khaiji."
- In general, - as Slava Kuchenov told me, - there are very few of those with a gift from some spirit. We are still very far from the mastery of performance of such great khaiji as Kadyshev, Dobrov, Argudayev and Kurbizhekov. Sometimes, listening to their recordings, you are totally stunned: how, in what way, did these musicians achieve such high level of performance? They were remarkable improvisers and even though they adhered firmly to the main story line, they were always inventing various new moments to cheer up their listeners, or, on the contrary, to make them think…I can always differentiate among the throat-singing performers who is singing his own song and who got a present from a "master spirit".
You can feel it immediately.
Centuries have passed, yet the traditions of throat-singing are alive in Khakass country just like before, performers of the heroic epics and takhpakh are revered. The fact that international symposiums in chatkhan music and khai throat-singing, taking place in the capital of Khakassia have become traditional.
The most honorable place is ready for our contemporary khaiji during the celebrations of 20th anniversary of the founding of our republic as well.
