Yakut 8/64

August 9, 1964
Armenia
These Yakut songs were collected and given to Alan Lomax by Eduard Alexeev. They were originally recorded in Armenia, U.S.S.R., in 1962. Notes on tape: "Yakut sing only monody or unison in dance—never polyphonically—they sometimes sing with a two-tongued jaw's harp. The shamans have totally disappeared. The Yakut had a 3, 2, 1 stringed fiddle—not a traditional instrument— introduced by the Russian cultures—the one we saw was a yard long held against the belly."