Конски опашки и бесовски песни. Историко-типологически етюд
Horse Tails and Songs of Furies. Historical and Typological Study

Summary/Abstract: The study is an attempt at a historical, typological and interpretative analysis of the musical culture of the Bulgarians in the Early Middle Ages. Historical documents are scarce and therefore the culturological method is used, based on past studies of the shaman culture of the Bulgarian ethos in the period around the adoption of Christianity, and on the traditional culture of those tilling the land (agricultoribus - according to Latin sources). The starting point is the three-functional structure, typical of the Indo-European peoples, the Bulgarians included, viz.: priests (shamans, and later Christian clergy), warriors and workers. The broad religious and cultural context, in which there is information about music, as well as the typological similarities and comparisons with the traditional culture of agricultura which have come down to us, make it possible to draw scientific inferences, going beyond the laconic specificity of the historical document. The documents used are the Answers of Pope Nicholas I to the Bulgarians, the Talk of Presbyter Kozma Against the Bogomils, the Syndic of Tsar Boril and some other documents. The author's main thesis is that under the existence of a three-functional social structure and of an enlightened literary elite, a reflection emerges of the educated culture of the "other", the traditional culture. Initially, the reflection has a neutral and searching nature (Knyaz Boris), but subsequently it becomes emotionally saturated with negativism and rejection (Presbyter Kozma). In this respect it is contrary to the strikingly positive evaluative reflection of folklore, engendered in the bosom of European romanticism, which was manifested during the National Revival Period in Bulgaria. Despite the historical distance of ten centuries and the internal differences between its two historical forms of manifestation (Early Medieval and Revival Period), it is claimed that what is meant is one and the same phenomenon - a reflection of the traditional culture on the part of the enlightened elite, taking an abstract and non-analytical approach to the culture of "the other" (in the first case rejecting it, in the second - idealising it). Both the differences and the similarities between the two historical types of reflection have been pointed out, whereby according to the author the second type predominates. This brings us to the conviction that what is at hand is a uniform, though historically discrete (interrupted in the temporal chronology) cultural and historical phenomenon.

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