The Song of Igor’s Campaign - Epic Slavic Music

Music, video and vocals by Farya Faraji, including recordings of traditional East Slavic instruments. Massive thanks to my friends Étienne Nantel for lending his epic presence as our Igor, and Kayvik Roy for lending us his magnificent armour. Please note that this isn’t reconstructed historical music of the Kievan Rus’ culture--though heavily rooted in that culture’s instrumentation, it remains fundamentally modern music with a historical theme. Also note that resources on Old East Slavic pronunciation are difficult to find at best, so take my pronunciation here with a grain of salt. With this one, I wanted to pay homage to the East Slavic medieval culture of the Kievan Rus’, one of the cultures I am personally most fascinated by. The text which I sing consists of the opening lines (first and fifth stanzas) of the “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,“ an epic poem in Old East Slavic, the common ancestor language of Rusyn, Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian, before they diverged into separate languages. The poem recounts the campaign of Igor Svyatoslavich against the Cumans (called Polovtsians in the text). Whilst during the previous century, there was fierce debate over the authenticity of the text, and whether it was a more recent forgery, current scholarly consensus agrees that it is indeed a legitimate medieval text from the late 1100’s to 1200’s. The poem remains to this date the flagship work representative of Old East Slavic literature. The instrumentation is a mix of modern and medieval East Slavic instruments: first and foremost is a modern gusli, a zither instrument that was the flagship instrument of the Kievan Rus’ culture, and was for a long time the primary instruments of the poet-musician, bard-like figures of this culture. The other instrument used prominently is the zhaleika, a reed instrument similar to the zurna of the Middle-East, once widely used by the East Slavs, and still used regionally in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, although not as prominently as modern instruments like the balalaika or the bandura. A bagpipe, called volynka by the Eastern Slavs, also accompanies the music, as it was a prominent instrument of the area up until recent centuries, as well as a hurdy-gurdy, which was a massively important instrument in the area, and would remain so up until the 1800’s whereas it had mostly died-out in Western Europe. A jaw-harp also accompanies the instrumentation, as it was also widely used back then in the area. Lyrics in Old East Slavic: Не лѣпо ли ны бяшетъ, братїє, начяти старыми словесы трудныхъ повѣстїй о пълку Игоревѣ, Игоря Святъславлича? Почнемъ же, братїє, повѣсть сїю отъ стараго Владимера до нынѣшняго Игоря, иже истягну умь крѣпостїю своєю и поостри (и) сердца своєго мужествомъ; наплънився ратнаго духа, наведе своя храбрыя плъкы на землю Половѣцькую за землю Руськую English translation: Wouldn’t it be best, brothers, to begin the epic story of Igor’s feat, by Igor Svyatoslavich, in the ancient style? Let us therefore, brothers, begin this tale from ancient Vladimir to today’s Igor’, who tempered his mind with will, inflamed his heart with courage and, filled with a warrior spirit, led his valiant hosts into Polovtsian land, beyond the Russian land.