A
Duma is a sung
epicAn epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...
poem which originated in
UkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev is both the capital and the largest city of...
during the
HetmanateThe Hetmanate or officially Viysko Zaporozke was the Ukrainian Cossack state in the central and north-eastern regions of Ukraine between 1649 and 1775...
Era around the sixteenth century, possibly based on earlier Kievan epic forms. Historically, dumy were performed by itinerant
CossackCossacks were originally members of military communities in the uninhabited borderland areas in the steppe that lies North of Black Sea...
bards called
kobzarA Kobzar was an itinerant Ukrainian bard. Kobzars were often blind, and became predominantly so by the 1800's. Kobzar literally means ‘kobza player’, a Ukrainian stringed instrument of the lute family, and more broadly — a performer of the musical material associated with the kobzar tradition.The...
i, who accompanied themselves with a
kobzaThe kobza is a Ukrainian folk music instrument of the lute family , a relative of the Central European mandora...
or a
torbanThe torban is a Ukrainian musical instrument that combines the features of the Baroque Lute with those of the psaltery. It was invented ca...
, but after the abolition of Hetmanate by the Empress Catherine of Russia it became the domain of blind itinerant musicians who retained the
kobzarA Kobzar was an itinerant Ukrainian bard. Kobzars were often blind, and became predominantly so by the 1800's. Kobzar literally means ‘kobza player’, a Ukrainian stringed instrument of the lute family, and more broadly — a performer of the musical material associated with the kobzar tradition.The...
appellation and accompanied their singing by playing a
banduraBandura refers to a Ukrainian plucked string folk instrument. It combines elements of a box zither and lute, as well as to its lute-like predecessor, the kobza....
(rarely a
kobzaThe kobza is a Ukrainian folk music instrument of the lute family , a relative of the Central European mandora...
) or a relya/lira (a Ukrainian variety of hurdy-gurdy).
Dumas are sung in recitative, in the so-called "duma mode", a variety of
Dorian modeDue to historical confusion, Dorian mode or Doric mode can refer to two very different musical modes or diatonic scales.- Greek Dorian mode :...
with raised fourth degree.
Dumy were songs concerned with historical events, many dealing with the military in some fashion.
A
Duma is a sung
epicAn epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...
poem which originated in
UkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev is both the capital and the largest city of...
during the
HetmanateThe Hetmanate or officially Viysko Zaporozke was the Ukrainian Cossack state in the central and north-eastern regions of Ukraine between 1649 and 1775...
Era around the sixteenth century, possibly based on earlier Kievan epic forms. Historically, dumy were performed by itinerant
CossackCossacks were originally members of military communities in the uninhabited borderland areas in the steppe that lies North of Black Sea...
bards called
kobzarA Kobzar was an itinerant Ukrainian bard. Kobzars were often blind, and became predominantly so by the 1800's. Kobzar literally means ‘kobza player’, a Ukrainian stringed instrument of the lute family, and more broadly — a performer of the musical material associated with the kobzar tradition.The...
i, who accompanied themselves with a
kobzaThe kobza is a Ukrainian folk music instrument of the lute family , a relative of the Central European mandora...
or a
torbanThe torban is a Ukrainian musical instrument that combines the features of the Baroque Lute with those of the psaltery. It was invented ca...
, but after the abolition of Hetmanate by the Empress Catherine of Russia it became the domain of blind itinerant musicians who retained the
kobzarA Kobzar was an itinerant Ukrainian bard. Kobzars were often blind, and became predominantly so by the 1800's. Kobzar literally means ‘kobza player’, a Ukrainian stringed instrument of the lute family, and more broadly — a performer of the musical material associated with the kobzar tradition.The...
appellation and accompanied their singing by playing a
banduraBandura refers to a Ukrainian plucked string folk instrument. It combines elements of a box zither and lute, as well as to its lute-like predecessor, the kobza....
(rarely a
kobzaThe kobza is a Ukrainian folk music instrument of the lute family , a relative of the Central European mandora...
) or a relya/lira (a Ukrainian variety of hurdy-gurdy).
Dumas are sung in recitative, in the so-called "duma mode", a variety of
Dorian modeDue to historical confusion, Dorian mode or Doric mode can refer to two very different musical modes or diatonic scales.- Greek Dorian mode :...
with raised fourth degree.
Dumy were songs concerned with historical events, many dealing with the military in some fashion. Embedded in these historical events were religious content. There is content about the struggle of the Cossacks against enemies of a different faith or the event occurring on religious holidays. The story of the dumy mainly revolves around war, but the dumy itself does not promote courage in battle. The dumy imparts a moral message that one should perform the proper behavior toward the relationships with the family, the community, and the church. However, the kobzari did not play only religious songs and dumy. They also played “satirical songs; dance melodies; either with or without words; lyric songs; and historical songs”.
The relationship between the military and religion with dumy originated because of the Cossack rebellion of 1648. The Ukraine fell under the power of the Roman Catholic Church, and forced the disbandment of the Eastern Orthodox Church. This revolution was followed by “partition and eventual subjugation of the Ukrainian lands and the Ukrainian church. The Cossacks rebelled due to the religious oppression and the lands were eventually taken. This causes a great dilemma in church because the Cossacks were defenders of the faith, and since they lost, and the faith is infallible, the Cossacks themselves must have done something sinful. This is why dumy has a great religious undertone and is a song that tells of death and defeat, not of victory..
Textual characteristic
Dumy, as an epic, in comparison to other epic forms do not contain elements of fantasy.
Linguistic characteristics
The dominant element of dumy is language. Rhythm is rhetorical, often falling on a verb placed at the end. The use of parallelisms is widespread, epitets are standard, the use of specific numbers is also widespread. The use of archaic forms of language are also popular as is the use of retardation.
Melodic characteristics
The melodies of dumy consist of
- repetitive recitative-like passages on one note, changing to a different tone with lingual accent, usually stepwise and occasionally by a 4th
- melodic recitative-like with a falling scallic passages
- melodic closed and semi-closed cadences with characteristic melizma
- a zaplachka based on the word "hey" often very ornate with many melizmatic features paralleling the stylistic features of the melody.
- a slavnoslovia (verbal glorification) at the end of the piece. A summation of the work which in some regions is spoken rather than sung.
Almost all traditional dumy from the
PoltavaPoltava is a city in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Poltava Oblast, as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Poltavskyi Raion within the oblast. The city itself is also designated as its own separate raion within the oblast. The current estimated population...
and Slobozhan traditions use a dorian mode with occasionally raised 4th degrees and subseptatonium. The raised 4th often is used as a secondary leading note to the dominant. The appearance of the augmented 2nd between the 3rd and 4th degrees gives the duma an eastern sounding flavour and is used by the performer to add "zhal'" (pity) to the work.
Accompanment
Dumy are traditionally sung to an instrumental accompaniment, usually that of a
banduraBandura refers to a Ukrainian plucked string folk instrument. It combines elements of a box zither and lute, as well as to its lute-like predecessor, the kobza....
,
kobzaThe kobza is a Ukrainian folk music instrument of the lute family , a relative of the Central European mandora...
or
liraLira is the name of the monetary unit of a number of countries, as well as the former currency of Italy, Malta, San Marino and the Vatican City ....
.
In the Slobozhan tradition the bandura would play most of the notes of the melody with the voice apart from chromatic accidentals and melizma with occasional chords on I, IV and V degrees of the
Dorian modeDue to historical confusion, Dorian mode or Doric mode can refer to two very different musical modes or diatonic scales.- Greek Dorian mode :...
. The instrument would also be used for instrumental preludes, interludes and postludes.
In the
PoltavaPoltava is a city in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Poltava Oblast, as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Poltavskyi Raion within the oblast. The city itself is also designated as its own separate raion within the oblast. The current estimated population...
tradition the instrumental accompaniment is much sparser with the player not playing the melody but rather occasional chords based on the tonic and dominant of the Dorian.
In lira accompaniment from Poltava, no melodies are played with the voice during the performance of the duma. Melodic instrumental playing is confined to preludes, interludes and postludes.
No transcriptions or recordings of authentic duma performance by members of the
ChernihivChernihiv, , also known as Chernigov , is a historic city in northern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Chernihiv Oblast , as well as of the surrounding Chernihivskyi Raion within the oblast...
tradition have come down to us.
Discussion regarding other traditions of duma recitations have shown a significant amount of contamination in the 20th century from non-traditional sources which has rendered many of their recordings atypical and unauthentic according to the traditional style in which the kobzari performed dumy.
See also
Print sources
- Clegg, D. “Philaret Kolessa’s Classification of the Ukrainian Recitative Songs” Studia
Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 7 (1965): 247-251.
- Kononenko, Natalie O. “The Influence of the Orthodox Church on Ukrainian Dumy.”
Slavic ReviewSlavic Review is a leading international peer-reviewed journal publishing scholarly studies and book reviews in all disciplines concerned with Russia, Central Eurasia, and Eastern and Central Europe...
50 (1991): 566-575.