Article Dans Une Revue Oral Tradition Année : 2022

The Yezidi Religious Music: A First Step in the Analysis of the Acoustic Shape of Qewls

La musique religieuse des Yézidis : une première analyse de la forme acoustique des Qewls

Résumé

While the Yezidi religious textual tradition, including its collection, translation, and analysis, has already become a separate subject of investigation in the field of Yezidi Studies, its 1 religious music remains largely unstudied. Based on the analysis of Yezidi religious vocal performances, this contribution aims at understanding the concept and uses of kubrî ("melody"), as well as the relation between text and music. The meaning of a particular oral "genre," or a category, depends not merely on the text and its verbal performance, but also on rich nonverbal features, such as music and the special role of instruments, ritual ceremonies, the interaction between the reciter and his audience, and so forth. This exploratory study is a first step towards an understanding of the acoustic shape of the Yezidi religious hymns, Qewls, based on two religious hymns. We will compare their words and acoustic shape in order to find out the parameters of changeability of the variants in performance. The soundtracks analyzed, which can be found in the eCompanion to this article, were recorded by the authors during fieldwork conducted in Armenia, Iraq, Russia, and Germany between 2006 and 2010. Five of the recordings are variants of one Qewl: two were performed in a ritual setting and three were recited at our request in the houses of the informants. In the same period, moreover, Khanna Omarkhali recorded two variants of another Qewl. This second Qewl is known to be uttered using two different "melodies" (kubrî/kubir). We will analyze the differences between the two melodies of the second Qewl and compare them with the five variants of the first Qewl. A few aspects of music among Yezidis have already been studied. Estelle Amy de la Bretèque conducted research on melodized speech among the Yezidis of Armenia, where mourning, exile, and heroism are expressed through a specific system of melodized utterances. Combining ethnographic and linguistic approaches, as well as acoustic analysis, she showed in her book Paroles mélodisées (2013) that this use of the voice constructs a form of ideal life, Most of Yezidi religious texts were published in the following collections: Celîl and Celîl 1978a and 1

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hal-03929673 , version 1 (08-01-2023)

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  • HAL Id : hal-03929673 , version 1

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Estelle Amy de la Bretèque, Khanna Omarkhali. The Yezidi Religious Music: A First Step in the Analysis of the Acoustic Shape of Qewls. Oral Tradition, 2022, 35 (2), pp.309-330. ⟨hal-03929673⟩
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