Birtalan Ágnes: Kalmyk Folklore and Folk Culture in the Mid-19th Century: Philological Studies on the Basis of Gábor Bálint of Szentkatolna’s Kalmyk Texts.

FOLKLORE GENRES

° kezängk dud "songs of old times"; ° patrioticesk boln grazdansk dänä caga dud "songs of the patriotic (1812) and civil (1917-1923) wars"; ° sin jirylin dud "song of the new happy life"; 0 törskn orn-nutgan xarsltin tusk dud "songs devoted to the defence of the motherland"; 0 xal 'mgudig tülgsna tusk dud "songs about the Kalmyks' exile"; ° ödgä cagin dud "contemporary songs"; 0 dombrt biln keldg dud boln sawasmud "dance songs accompanied by dombr and other jocular short songs". The emic distinction by any Mongolian ethnic group concerning the performing technique is known among the Kalmyks as well: ut dun "long song" (Khal. urtin dvi) and axr dun "short song" (Khal. bogino du). Thematically to the "long songs" belong songs about the family, the motherland, usually sorrowful love, and Buddhist teaching, historical events. The "short songs" chant about the joyful love. Among the Oirats and the Kalmyks improvisatory mocking songs, jocular songs are particularly popular. Another classification of Kalmyk songs - although it is unmarked in Bálint's collection - is based on the political milieu of the 1930s, according to which the songs before the 1917-revolution could be divided into two groups: songs of the oppressing class, the nobles, and songs of the depending class, the poor herdsmen etc. This categorisation reflects the retrospection prevalent in the historical environment of that period A well-known genuine emic genre-definition also appeared in this collection: the so-called castr dün (Oir. sastr dű/diin, Khal. sastir/sastir du) that denotes the songs of historical or religious content.

4 "' 1. The classification attempts in typological or methodological surveys are the followings: 2. korotkije ljubovno-liriéeskije pesni (o ljubvi i razluke, o sőast'

je i toske) 3. geroiőeskije [pesni] 4. protjaznyje zastol'nyje pesni.

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7 Another approach of thematic classification of songs: 1. protjaznyje pesni

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8 2. liriőeskije pesni: ljubovnyje, semejno-bytovyje, gostevyje (zastol'nyje), pljasovyje (äutoönyje).

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1 Most of Bálint's songs are typical concerning the above introduced structural and poetical peculiarities; they belong to the purely lyrical genre,

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0 i. e. epic and dramatic features are missing from or are less significant in their structure. The overview below is a preliminary attempt to identify Bálint's songs in a generic system concerning their content and themes. 4,

5 E. g. Törskn yazrin dud. Here I presented the author's system without any changes. This kind of classification can not be comprehended as a genre system due to its mingled nature (elements of content, performance and the time of appearance are combined into one structure). m' Xal'mg dun. Sbornik kalmyckih pesen. pp. 3-8. "kezänäke őastr düd cugtän noin - lamnrig, bain züsnggudig makt] yarysn düd bila ". Xal 'mg dun. p. 3. The term - quoted also by Vladimircov - is discussed by me in my monograph devoted to Oirat songs: Gattungen und Sprache der Volkslieder der Vladimircov-Sammlung (manuscript) 4,

7 Badmajev, Andrej: Kalmyckaja dorevoljucionnaja literatura. Elista, Kalmyckoje kniZnoje izdatel'stvo 1984 pp. 19-20. To the last category, Badamjev remarked that these songs are performed at wedding and other celebrations. 4'* Here the songs of historical content were meant. 4

W Bitkejev: Svod kalmyckogo fol'klora. pp. 10-11. '""On the attempt to create a generic hierarchy of Mongolian songs, cf. Birtalan, Ágnes: Dsakhchin (West-Mongolian) Folksongs with Buddhist Content. In: AOH 61. (2008) pp. 415^429, with a detailed bibliography on genres of Mongolian songs. 75