Article

Name: “I’ll sing for pure-hearted people...”: The musical and poetic legacy of Alexander M. Kotusov

Authors: Konstantin A. Sagalaev

Institute of Philology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

In the section Study of folklore

Abstract:

Understudied and near extinction, the Ket song tradition is vital to a small Siberian indigenous culture, threatened by language loss, assimilation, and the passing of elders. This article presents the first comprehensive scholarly examination of the musical and poetic legacy of Alexander Kotusov (1955–2019), the last outstanding bearer of the personal song genre (il’). The source material comprises field recordings collected by the Institute of Philology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences during the 2005 expedition for the Folklore of the Kets volume. The investigation focuses on two songs documented in 2005, alongside one performance sourced online. Particular attention is paid to Kotusov’s practice of contrafacture: adapting popular Russian and foreign hits into the Ket language while preserving traditional poetics. A comparative textual analysis of one adaptation, a song about ancestral hunting territories set to a popular melody, demonstrates that despite minimal semantic correlation with the original source, Kotusov produced a remarkably original philosophical creation rich in animistic metaphors, cyclical temporal themes, and sacred place names. His lyrics transform borrowed melodies into powerful vehicles for expressing the Ket worldview, wherein nature is animate, death signifies returning to ancestral lands, and birds perform shamanic rituals. While stemming from personal genius rather than communal revival, Kotusov’s episodic oeuvre holds immense scientific value as a unique late testimony to Ket musical culture. Following his death, this living tradition is considered irrevocably lost, though preserved archival recordings offer vital hope for future linguistic and anthropological research.

Keywords: Kets, personal songs, borrowings, translation, song traditions of the peoples of Siberia, current state, fading traditions

Bibliography:

Ayzenshtadt A. M. U ketov i sel’kupov [Among the Kets and Selkups]. In A. M. Ayzenshtadt: k 90-letiyu so dnya rozhdeniya. Issledovaniya. Istoricheskiye materialy i vospominaniya [A. M. Ayzenshtadt: to the 90th anniversary of his birth. Research. Historical materials and memoirs]. Novosibirsk, M. I. Glinka Novosibirsk State Conservatory, 2012, 252 p.

Alekseenko E. A. Dukhovnaya kul’tura [Spiritual culture]. In Narody Zapadnoy Sibiri: khanty, mansi, sel’kupy, nentsy, entsy, nganasany, kety [Peoples of Western Siberia: Khanty, Mansi, Selkups, Nenets, Enets, Nganasans, Kets]. Moscow, Nauka, 2005, pp. 719–732.

Alekseenko E. A. Etnograficheskiye elementy v ketskom fol’klore [Ethnographic elements in Ket folklore]. In Fol’klor i etnografiya [Folklore and ethnography]. Leningrad, Nauka, 1970, pp. 43–51.

Alekseenko E. A. Mify, predaniya, skazki ketov [Myths, legends, fairy tales of the Kets]. Moscow, Vost. lit., 2001, 343 p.

Alekseenko E. A. Predstavleniya ketov o mire [Ket ideas about the world]. In Priroda i chelovek v religioznykh predstavleniyakh narodov Sibiri i Severa (vtoraya polovina XIX – nachalo XX v.) [Nature and man in the religious beliefs of the peoples of Siberia and the North (second half of the 19th – early 20th century)]. I. S. Vdovin (Ed.). Leningrad, Nauka, 1976, pp. 67–106.

Dorozhkova T. Yu. Kety i sel’kupy [Kets and Selkups]. In Muzykal’naya kul’tura Sibiri: v 3 t. [Musical culture of Siberia: in 3 vols.]. Novosibirsk, 1997, vol. 1: Traditsionnaya muzykal’naya kul’tura narodov Sibiri [Traditional musical culture of the peoples of Siberia], bk. 1: Traditsionnaya kul’tura korennykh narodov Sibiri [Traditional culture of the indigenous peoples of Siberia], pp. 103–129.

Galyamina Yu. E. Aleksandr Kotusov – yedinstvennyy spetsialist po poeticheskomu perevodu s russkogo na ketskiy [Alexander Kotusov – the only specialist in poetic translation from Russian into Ket]. In “Narodnaya lingvistika”: vzglyad nositeley yazyka na yazyk. Tezisy dokladov mezhdunar. nauch. konf., Sankt-Peterburg 19–21 noyabrya 2012 g. [“Folk linguistics”: native speakers’ view on language. Abstracts of the intern. sci. conf., St. Petersburg, November 19–21, 2012]. E. V. Golovko (Ed.). St. Petersburg, Nestor-Istoriya, 2012, pp. 16–18.

Kazakevich O. A., Budyanskaya E. M., Galyamina Yu. E. Istorii zhizni avtokhtonnogo naseleniya Sibiri: publikatsiya glossirovannykh tekstov. Publikatsiya 1-ya [Life stories of the autochthonous population of Siberia: publication of glossed texts. Publication 1st]. RSUH Bulletin. Series: History. Philology. Cultural Studies. Oriental Studies. 2008, no. 6, pp. 246–286.

Lebedev S. N. Kontrafaktura [Contrafacture]. In Bol’shaya rossiyskaya entsiklopediya [Great Russian encyclopedia]. Moscow, 2010, vol. 15, pp. 147–148.

Lotman Yu. M. Chemu uchatsya lyudi. Stat’i i zametki [What people learn. Articles and notes]. P. Torop (Pref.), S. Salupere, P. Torop (Comps.). Moscow, Tsentr knigi VGBIL im. M. I. Rudomino, 2010, 416 p.

Sagalaev K. A. Redkiy kadr (Ketskaya foto- i kinoletopis’) [A rare shot (Ket photo and film chronicle)]. Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology. 2023, no. 4 (42), pp. 115–126.

Sheykin Yu. I. Istoriya muzykal’noy kul’tury narodov Sibiri: sravnitel’no-istoricheskoye issledovaniye [History of musical culture of the peoples of Siberia: a comparative historical study]. Moscow, Vost. lit., 2002, 708 p.

Soldatova G. E. Muzykal’nyye materialy k ketskomu fol’klornomu tomu [Musical materials for the Ket folklore volume]. Humanitarian sciences in Siberia. 2007, no. 3, pp. 52–54.

Verner G. K., Verner I. G., Nikolaeva G. S., Nikolaev N. E. O pesnyakh sovremennykh symskikh i imbatskikh ketov [On the songs of the modern Sym and Imbat Kets]. In Skazki narodov Sibirskogo Severa: sb. st. [Tales of the peoples of the Siberian North: collection of articles]. Tomsk, Tomsk University Press, 1981, pp. 3–26.