The Volga-Ural Region minorities of Russian Federation  

The easternmost region of the Europe (west from the Ural Mountains, the natural border between the Europe and Asia), the Volga-Ural region consists of the big group of peoples, who speak on different language families (Finnish branch of Finno-Ugric languages and Turkic branch of Altaic languages), have different religious beliefs (pre-Christian, Christian, Moslem) and different traditional cultures. Unlike the North Caucasia, Volga-Ural region is not riddled with high impenetrable mountains, and the migration processes were very active here, resulting in a complete or partial change of languages, physical types of the populations, and cultures.
Finnish branch of Finno-Ugric family of languages are represented in this region by Mordvinians, Komi, Mari and Udmurts, and the Turkic branch of Altaic languages are represented by Tatars, Bashkirs and Chuvashs. Few of the peoples (or the part of the people) of this region practice various forms of traditional polyphony. Now we are going to have a closer look at the polyphonic traditions of the different peoples populating the Volga-Ural region.

North Caucasia comprises peoples living on the northern slopes of the Great Caucasian Mountain Range (neighboring with Georgia on the other side of the Caucasian mountains). Linguistically North Caucasia is one of the most diverse regions of the world. Speakers of three language families live here: (1) Indo-European family of languages (Ossetians), Turkic family of languages (Balkarians and Karachaevis), and indigenous Caucasian family of languages (Abkhazians in Georgia; Adighis, Chechens, Ingushes, and Dagestanians in Russia). Islam, introduced in 17-18th centuries, is the leading religion of the region (interrupted in the middle by mostly Christian Ossetians). Vocal music is dominating in all North Caucasian traditional cultures. Tradition of vocal polyphony is widely spread throughout the whole North Caucasia.

Although the island Madagascar is situated off the southeast coast of Africa, the population and the culture of this island (or the Republic of Malagasy) have very strong historical, ethnic and cultural contacts with the outside of Africa regions. Austronesian-speaking peoples of the Southeast Asia are supposed to be the first settlers here. Their initial settlement of the island (presumably about A.D. 500) was followed by the migrations (from around A.D. 1000) from the Arabic counties and the continental Africa, and later – from the Europe. Islam spread on the island from around A.D. 1500 and created the basis for the emergence of hierarchical kingdoms among the Malagasy. The island has been a scene of the struggle between the three major forces: the kingdom of Sakalava (western coast of Madagascar), the confederacy of eastern coastal ethnic groups, and the kingdom of Merina (central part of Madagascar).

Musical traditions of the republic of Malagasy are as diverse as the ethnic origins of its population. Same is true about the vocal polyphony of different regions of the island. Let us listen to the expert of the music of the Republic of Malagasy, Mireille Rakotomalala: “At present, the mixture of African and southeast Asian influence is visible in all genres of music among the Malagasy, though some genres reflect one influence more strongly than others. Gilbert Rouget, for example, called the choral polyphony of the central island Merina, with its intervals of thirds and sixths and rapid rhythms, “oceanic” (1946:87), and found a more pronounced African influence among the Sakalava, with genres in call-and-response style, appearing more rhythmic than melodic (p. 88).

As I have already mentioned, Sahara is traditionally considered as a part of North Africa (or a buffer zone between the North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa). My suggestion is to distinguish Sahara as a separate region. This suggestion is based on the unique polyphonic traditions of   Berber-Tuareg populations, unknown neither among North African Arab populations, nor among sub-Saharan African peoples.

The name Tuareg was given by the outsiders to the fearful militant tribes of Sahara desert. Berber is a generic and wider external name (possibly from Latin barbari (“those who speak a foreign language”). Term Imazighen (self-name, meaning “free men”) is increasingly used.
Berber-Tuareg populations are believed to be the earliest inhabitants of the North Africa, joined by Phoenician traders about 1200 B.C. Together they built a Carthage and for centuries were the fierce competitors of the Rome for the dominance over the Mediterranean basin. Berber warrior Hannibal came even through the Alps to defeat Rome, although the Rome eventually wan the competition and destroyed Carthage in 202 B.C. Drastic demographic changes for this region came much later, after the 688 A.D. with the first waves of Arabic invasions. Part of the Berber-Tuareg population was assimilated, but another part of the Berber-Tuareg population retreated deep into desert and mountain areas, where they fought for centuries to maintain their identity and traditional culture. Some populations of Berber-Tuaregs were not affected much by Muslim religion until the latter part of the 19th century (Wendt, 1998:533). And even today, although Berber-Tuaregs consider themselves Muslims, few unique “non-Moslem” features of their religion (such as matrilineal kinship and very high status of unveiled women, or the tradition of the veiled men) are well known in the anthropologic literature.

It would be quite safe to say that sub-Saharan Africa is the biggest and the most active polyphonic region of the world. Although generalizations are always volatile and it is always better to avoid them, I would say that there is hardly a musical tradition is sub-Saharan Africa that does not employ a vigorous group musical activity.
“All African melodies are constructed upon harmonic background” declared arguably the first influential native African musicologist George Ballanta (Ballanta, 1926:10). Of course, the bold generalizations like this are almost always to be found incorrect, and these words are often cited in ethnomusicological scholarly publications as one of Ballanta’s obvious inaccuracies (Nketia, 1998:20).