The Song of Igor's Campaign - Epic Slavic Music

Music, video and vocals by Farya Faraji, including recordings of traditional East Slavic instruments. Massive thanks to my friends Étienne Nantel for lending his epic presence as our Igor, and Kayvik Roy for lending us his magnificent armour. Please note that this isn't reconstructed historical music of the Kievan Rus' culture--though heavily rooted in that culture's instrumentation, it remains fundamentally modern music with a historical theme. Also note that resources on Old East Slavic pronunciation are difficult to find at best, so take my pronunciation here with a grain of salt.

With this one, I wanted to pay homage to the East Slavic medieval culture of the Kievan Rus', one of the cultures I am personally most fascinated by. The text which I sing consists of the opening lines (first and fifth stanzas) of the "The Tale of Igor's Campaign," an epic poem in Old East Slavic, the common ancestor language of Rusyn, Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian, before they diverged into separate languages. The poem recounts the campaign of Igor Svyatoslavich against the Cumans (called Polovtsians in the text). Whilst during the previous century, there was fierce debate over the authenticity of the text, and whether it was a more recent forgery, current scholarly consensus agrees that it is indeed a legitimate medieval text from the late 1100's to 1200's. The poem remains to this date the flagship work representative of Old East Slavic literature.

The instrumentation is a mix of modern and medieval East Slavic instruments: first and foremost is a modern gusli, a zither instrument that was the flagship instrument of the Kievan Rus' culture, and was for a long time the primary instruments of the poet-musician, bard-like figures of this culture. The other instrument used prominently is the zhaleika, a reed instrument similar to the zurna of the Middle-East, once widely used by the East Slavs, and still used regionally in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, although not as prominently as modern instruments like the balalaika or the bandura. A bagpipe, called volynka by the Eastern Slavs, also accompanies the music, as it was a prominent instrument of the area up until recent centuries, as well as a hurdy-gurdy, which was a massively important instrument in the area, and would remain so up until the 1800's whereas it had mostly died-out in Western Europe. A jaw-harp also accompanies the instrumentation, as it was also widely used back then in the area.

Lyrics in Old East Slavic:
Не лѣпо ли ны бяшетъ, братїє, начяти старыми словесы трудныхъ повѣстїй о пълку Игоревѣ, Игоря Святъславлича?

Почнемъ же, братїє, повѣсть сїю отъ стараго Владимера до нынѣшняго Игоря, иже истягну умь крѣпостїю своєю и поостри (и) сердца своєго мужествомъ; наплънився ратнаго духа, наведе своя храбрыя плъкы на землю Половѣцькую за землю Руськую

English translation:
Wouldn't it be best, brothers, to begin the epic story of Igor's feat, by Igor Svyatoslavich, in the ancient style?

Let us therefore, brothers, begin this tale from ancient Vladimir to today's Igor', who tempered his mind with will, inflamed his heart with courage and, filled with a warrior spirit, led his valiant hosts into Polovtsian land, beyond the land of Rus.

[faryafaraji]

Music, video and vocals by Farya Faraji, including recordings of traditional East Slavic instruments. Massive thanks to my friends Étienne Nantel for lending his epic presence as our Igor, and Kayvik Roy for lending us his magnificent armour. Please note that this isn't reconstructed historical music of the Kievan Rus' culture--though heavily rooted in that culture's instrumentation, it remains fundamentally modern music with a historical theme. Also note that resources on Old East Slavic pronunciation are difficult to find at best, so take my pronunciation here with a grain of salt.

With this one, I wanted to pay homage to the East Slavic medieval culture of the Kievan Rus', one of the cultures I am personally most fascinated by. The text which I sing consists of the opening lines (first and fifth stanzas) of the "The Tale of Igor's Campaign, " an epic poem in Old East Slavic, the common ancestor language of Rusyn, Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian, before they diverged into separate languages. The poem recounts the campaign of Igor Svyatoslavich against the Cumans (called Polovtsians in the text). Whilst during the previous century, there was fierce debate over the authenticity of the text, and whether it was a more recent forgery, current scholarly consensus agrees that it is indeed a legitimate medieval text from the late 1100's to 1200's. The poem remains to this date the flagship work representative of Old East Slavic literature.

The instrumentation is a mix of modern and medieval East Slavic instruments: first and foremost is a modern gusli, a zither instrument that was the flagship instrument of the Kievan Rus' culture, and was for a long time the primary instruments of the poet-musician, bard-like figures of this culture. The other instrument used prominently is the zhaleika, a reed instrument similar to the zurna of the Middle-East, once widely used by the East Slavs, and still used regionally in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, although not as prominently as modern instruments like the balalaika or the bandura. A bagpipe, called volynka by the Eastern Slavs, also accompanies the music, as it was a prominent instrument of the area up until recent centuries, as well as a hurdy-gurdy, which was a massively important instrument in the area, and would remain so up until the 1800's whereas it had mostly died-out in Western Europe. A jaw-harp also accompanies the instrumentation, as it was also widely used back then in the area.

Lyrics in Old East Slavic:
Не лѣпо ли ны бяшетъ, братїє, начяти старыми словесы трудныхъ повѣстїй о пълку Игоревѣ, Игоря Святъславлича?

Почнемъ же, братїє, повѣсть сїю отъ стараго Владимера до нынѣшняго Игоря, иже истягну умь крѣпостїю своєю и поостри (и) сердца своєго мужествомъ; наплънився ратнаго духа, наведе своя храбрыя плъкы на землю Половѣцькую за землю Руськую

English translation:
Wouldn't it be best, brothers, to begin the epic story of Igor's feat, by Igor Svyatoslavich, in the ancient style?

Let us therefore, brothers, begin this tale from ancient Vladimir to today's Igor', who tempered his mind with will, inflamed his heart with courage and, filled with a warrior spirit, led his valiant hosts into Polovtsian land, beyond the land of Rus.

[dtjmwwf]

Привіт із Стольного Граду Києва🇺🇦❤️Велика шана і подяка за вашу працю❤️

[kotkas]

Как всегда шикарно и невероятно атмосферно. С твоими видео каждый раз погружаешься с головой в культуру разных стран. Спасибо большое!

[qbdbvgn]

Спасибо тебе друг.... Xорошея песня прямо дух захватывает 😇👍

[albertdittel]

Farya Faraji, будучи по моему Иранцем шагает по всему древнему глобусу, причем качественно, реалистично, с хорошим произношением и с любовью к деталям. Надо бы ему какой-нибудь приз вручить, но он его творчество так уникально, что такого приза наверно не существует!

[khantemujin]

Big thanks to you, Farya, for this work, truly "The Song of Igor's Campaign" is one of the greatest heritages we, Belarusians, Russians and Ukrainians carry :D for the people, who are curious, "The Song" (literally, "The Word") is about the real campaign of Igor Svyatoslavich, the prince of Novgorod Severskiy (modern-day Ukraine), in the lands of Polovtsy (East Slavic name for Cumans, which is still in use) in 1185, who throughout the 11th and 12th centuries almost without stopping continued attacking the Rus' lands, like, for example, the Huns were attacking China or Rome. This campaign wasn't succesful and Igor was even captured by their khan Könchek, but this heroic epic glorifies the courage and selflessness of Igor and the Rus' warriors. It's still considered one of the greatest masterpieces of both Russian and Ukrainian literature, largely due to the fact that it was written on their native language instead of Church Slavonic
Also, I'd like to give some notes about your reading of Old East Slavic text, which I've noticed (I am not a linguist, so, anybody correct me, if I am false)
-letter ѣ, which was used in Russian until 1918, sounds like another Cyrillic letter - "е", possibly you confused it with modern pronounciation of "ь" (old Russian - Половѣц, modern - Половец)
-letters ъ and ь in modern Russian don't have any sound and reflect the "hardness" or "softeness" of the previous consonant letter, at the same time in Old East Slavic they had sounds of "ŏ" (which is like heavily muted "o" or "a") and "ĕ" (which is like heavily muted "e"); I believe they keep such a pronunciation in modern Bulgarian (old Russian - слово о пълкѹ Игоревѣ, modern - слово о полку Игореве)
-also, as somebody already noted, the pronunciation of letters was more literal, without "akanye" which appears in modern-day Russian because of influence of the Muscovite dialect ("Москва" - "mAskva"), most of the ancient Rus' dialects didn't have it ("Москва" -"mOskva")
But in general your pronounciation is very nice and understandable, it's still very nice to hear the speech of our ancestors :D
спасибо and дякую! <3

[ragtimemillionaire]

Just wanna say that you have so much talent and your content is always high quality. As an Eastern Slav, I'm glad to see you have an interest in our culture. Вялікі дзякуй за вашу музыку. Ведайце, што ў вас ёсць слухачы ў Беларусі❤️

[їжакоднако]

Спасибі, це дійсно красиво, і дуже добре передає старовину атмосферу, на Русі були такі люди як "скоморохи", вони займалися приблизно таким переспівом і переказом давніх розповідей.

[astroliric]

Красота! Интересно было бы услышать полную версию "Слова о полке Игоревем", наложенную на музыку с инструментами того времени...

[AurorainAurora]

Epic. I am always blown away by your music. Pure respect from Japan.

[javikus]

Не лепо ли ны бяшет, братие, начяти старыми словесы трудных повестий о полку Игореве, Игоря Святославлича! Начати же ся той песни по былинамь сего времени, а не по замышлению Бояню! Боян бо вещий, аще кому хотяше песнь творити, то растекашется мысию по древу, серым волком по земли, шизым орлом под облакы. Помняшеть бо речь первых времен усобице, - тогда пущашеть 10 соколовь на стадо лебедей; который дотечаше, та преди песнь пояше старому Ярославу, храброму Мстиславу, иже зареза Редедю пред полкы касожьскыми, красному Романови Святославличю. Боян же, братие, не 10 соколовь на стадо лебедей пущаше, но своя вещиа персты на живая струны воскладаше; они же сами князем славу рокотаху.

Почнем же, братие, повесть сию от стараго Владимера до ныняшнего Игоря, иже истягну умь крепостию своею и поостри сердца своего мужеством, наполнився ратнаго духа, наведе своя храбрыя полкы на землю Половецькую за землю Руськую.

[sal]

As always right on time farya! I was thinking how cool it would be of you to release an epic Slavic composition today, and here you go! I was thinking about Tsar Dušan, but Kievan Rus' is such a fascinating and mythical period for the East Slavs, and this song captures that ancient glory so beautifully!

[OneFlyingTonk]

The video is an excellent addition to the musical feel, if you told me before reading the description that it was reconstructed drawings of Igor I would've believed it, excellent quality

[НаталияЧернышева-ом]

Как же красиво ! Благодарю, благодарю безмерно за твою прекраснейшую музыку!

[kostiamarich]

це дуже гарно і атмосферно. переслуховую та передивляюся знов і знов. спасибі за вашу творчість!

[Loginor]

Скрупулезный и методичный подход к работе, как всегда, дает прекрасные результаты. Спасибо за песню, Фарья).
A scrupulous and methodical approach to work, as always, gives excellent results. Thank you for the song, Farya).

[OrlandoStanciu]

GREAT SONG BROTHER ❤️ BIG HUG FROM 🇷🇴 TO ALL SLAV BROTHERS✊🏻🫳🏼🫳🏼🫳🏼

[grib_Luny]

Привет, я должно быть первая, кто оставит здесь комментарий, поэтому надеюсь ты его заметишь и прочитаешь. Очень давно хотела тебе об этом сказать:
Однажды я по счастливой случайности наткнулась на твоё видео "Sons of Mars", думала, очередная музыка, которую я перестану слушать через несколько минут, но буквально с первых же секунд я пребывала в душевном восторге... Боже, с тех пор я влюбилась в твой канал и каждая твоя музыка или песня западает мне в душу моментально. Вот сейчас слушаю очередное произведение искусства, ведь ты подходишь к своей работе с душой, а не делаешь всё ради денег и это действительно чувствуется, даже через экран. Не понимаю, почему у тебя до сих пор нет миллиарда подписчиков, ведь твой канал просто находка для любителей культуры древности. Тебя интересно слушать и ты создаёшь настоящие шедевры! Прошу, продолжай в том же духе, у тебя всегда будут преданные фанаты и я в том числе, ты и твой канал навсегда останутся в моём сердце, спасибо, что создаёшь такой контент, его очень не хватало в моей жизни❤

[VolodymyrHnatiuk-wq]

This is beautiful, thank you Farya, my ancestors would have loved this. Greetings from Ukraine!

[greendalf]

I love this! Cheers from Hrvatska! I hope you do more Slavic and Balkan songs!