Music in the Nart epic and Nart songs

The article is devoted to the Abkhazian Nart epic poetry, presented in three types: prose, folk songs-tales, accompanied by a two-stringed bowed instrument – apkhyartsa, as well as in a special epic musical form, when song are inserted into prosaic texts. The music and dance in the Nart epic poetry is evidenced by such sections as: “The Song about the mother of the Narts”, composed in a round dance form, “How the hero Sasrykva was born”, written in a prose-poetic form, including elements of a lullaby, the lullaby “More amazing than amazing”. In a mixed prose-poetic form, the “Incomparable Daughter-inlaw of the Narts” is presented, referring in structure to a circular song and dance action. The chapter “How the narts got a pipe and a song” is mostly musical. It is fully set out in verse form, which gives reason to assume that it will be accompanied by a traditional two-stringed apharza. The music is also mentioned in the chapters “One Hundred Brothers of the Narts”, “Narts of Black-faced People”, “How the Dyd got Married”, “Unusual Transformation”, “The Courage of the Avenger” and many others. The last mention of the song can be found in the final chapter of the epic poetry piece – “The Death of Sasrykva”. In the Abkhazian Nart epic, the life of Narts is impossible without music: babies sing lullabies, heroes return from wars with a song, dance, create music instruments, play the apkhyartsa and acharpana, etc. However, in the few recordings of Abkhazian folklore made in the twentieth century, the musical component is poorly represented. The same is with the scientific research, in which the musical part is presented only in general words. The article offers a reconstruction of the musical component in the key works of the Abkhazian epic folklore.