Badania Mikołaja Witaszewskiego (1857-1918) nad kulturą muzyczną Jakutów
Mikołaj Witaszewski’s (1857-1918) Research on the Music Culture of the Yakuts

Summary/Abstract: My article aims to present the research achievements of Polish exile Mikołaj Witaszewski, with particular emphasis on his music studies. The article consists of four sections. In the first (introduction) I present the researcher’s biography and the reasons why he found himself in Siberia. In the second, I discuss the songs reported by the Polish exile, and a systematic classification of oral music tradition. The third part is dedicated to shamanism and the functions of music in the shamanic ceremonies according to Witaszewski’s research. The last part presents his comments on the heroic epic known as "olonho". The paper comes complete with texts of 19th-century Yakut songs in my own translation, and images of the shaman’s drum.

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