The first tape recordings of Yakut folklorist Vasily Illarionov

Abstract

This paper discusses the deciphered records from the field materials of the folklore expeditions of the Yakut folklorist Vasily Vasilyevich Illarionov. He was the first in Yakutia to use technical means of recording oral folk art and is the first folklorist who completely recorded the performance of olonkho. Field materials of the folklore expeditions of Professor Illarionov are stored in the archives from 1967 to 1991. He recorded 81 field folklore records. Of these, we will consider five deciphered folklore records. The purpose of our work is to fill the gap in research on the history of the Yakut sound recording. This work is an attempt to highlight the decoding of the audio recording of the Yakut folklore. The history of the study of the phonographic record of the Yakut folklore in the framework of the study of the traditional culture of the Yakuts is little studied and so far it has not become the subject of a special study. And with the advent of sound recording, a new information space arose in the field of Yakut culture, requiring scientific coverage. For modern researchers, phono recording can serve as an important and valuable source for a comparative study of folk art and the folklore heritage of the Sakha people.