TURKMEN VERNACULAR MUSIC CULTURE AS A SUBJECT MATTER OF THE ALMANAC “AYDING-GYUNLER”

Abstract

The paper considers the representation of Turkmen music culture in the Soviet almanac “Ayding-Gyunler” (1934) and aims to recognize the patterns of including vernacular culture into the Soviet literary field. The analysis of the texts’ content and the archival sources, including unpublished ones, sheds a light on the processes of incorporation of the so-called “national” culture into the Soviet context, such as declared decolonization and an attempt to “understand the new Turkmenistan”. The analysis is put into historical and cultural perspective of recognizing the typical Turkmen traits of the music culture in the texts of the almanac. Th e archival sources include unpublished notes on the Turkmen folklore, which is considered as one of the sources of the writers’ work. Th e texts of the almanac represent the view of the Europeans –members of the writers’ brigade who provided materials for the almanac. The poem by Turkmen author Durdy Klych is strongly connected with vernacular culture, but being put into the context of the almanac, it gains a new use for the aims of the Soviet literature. The view of the Turkmen culture in the almanac remains oriental, which dissonates with the proclaimed “deexotization” of the Soviet policy. However, further investigation into the next almanac “Turkmenistan” should be made. It is probable that the integration continued and the view of the writers changed according to the contemporary Soviet policy.