One of the great truisms of life is that despite changing times, economic evolution or technological progress human nature always stays the same. Man sometimes tries to subordinate nature to himself or to his inventions, or even to change na-ture’s rules in order to simplify, bypass or neglect anything that might hinder his activities. However, even in his contemporary incarnation, man remains a social and emotional being at least in the depths of his spirit, and he tries cultivating his feelings together with basic values and social needs.

This natural condition also explains a continuous human need to express feelings and thoughts. And one of the most intimate means of such expression is song. Songs can be traditional or modern, secular or religious in character. In principle, any kind of song is possible. We sing at home or in church or at work, alone or with others. All these factors define what and how we sing. Of course, specific moments or time periods also influence our singing repertoire.

In its variety modern reality is quite interesting in this respect. In a way, this bears witness to the fact that traditional songs from the past tend no longer to satisfy the needs of our new lifestyles. At the same time, however, modern freedoms bring an incredibly broad global repertoire of songs suitable for all tastes. And thus we are absolutely free to make our own choices. Luckily, we are also not restrained from looking for new repertoires or from turning back to rediscover the past. Contemporary society suggests various ways in which we can make use of this musical heritage – usually at home, but also, for example, on the stage. Ethnographic groups are created for this very purpose. They perform collections of earlier music in pure or adapted form, they also look to expand their repertoire to include more traditional songs in danger of falling into oblivion. Evidently, fewer and fewer people are able to add any still unknown pieces to an authentic traditional repertoire.

In our modern times, preserving a musical heritage is an important means of safe-guarding a national identity, which is what every nation strives to do. Every oppor-tunity that arises in this pursuit can bring results.

The present publication may be regarded as precisely such an endeavour to rediscover the past. It has a dual objective: firstly, to record the cultural heritage of Kara-im communities in Lithuania and Poland, and secondly to suggest relevant tools not only for experiencing this original heritage as such, but also for using tradi-tional songs in new forms, perhaps so that they can satisfy the new needs of society.

The idea behind this book is based on the conviction that tradition cannot be frozen in time, that it must live and breathe in order to continue being a tradition. The scope of the present publication is limited exclusively to the musical heritage of the Karaim communities in Lithuania and Poland, who were inhabitants of the former Great Duchy of Lithuania and Lithuanian-Polish Commonwealth. Other Karaim communities ethnically related to those in Lithuania and Poland still live in Ukraine and Russia. In several other places around the world existing Karaim communities differ from Central Europeans not only in terms of their geography, cultural environments and traditions, but also with regard to other cultural peculiarities – their ethnic origins, mother tongues, rituals, songs, identity, and their relationships towards others. The only factor that is common to most of these communities is religion and the name ‘Karaim’ they all share. However, even liturgy and religious practices vary from community to community. The cultural heritage of these communities is not discussed in this book.

The importance of singing in the life of every nation and every human being is also evident among the Karaim communities of Eastern Europe. During their long history in this region several major centres of Karaim life and society have existed, namely in the Crimea, Lutsk-Halich and Vilnius-Trakai-Panevėžys. Later, some Karaims from these areas migrated to other places in Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, Russia and France, taking with them their legacy and cultural features. Of course, every community had its own peculiarities, which were not limited to purely linguistic differences in terms of dialects. The different cultures of the Karaims’ neighbours, diverse political situations, and historical circumstances have also influenced their community life, family rituals, emotional style, and of course, their songs. Bearing in mind these diversities, in this collection we have restricted ourselves solely to the heritage of the Karaim communities in Poland and Lithuania.

This book is a collection of 27 songs covering the entire cycle of human life. It includes secular songs (a total of 17 pieces encompassing ritual folk songs, songs about youth and other songs for celebratory occasions), 3 songs connected with the religious wedding ceremony and 7 paraliturgical songs.

These songs make up almost the entire musical heritage of the Lithuanian and Pol-ish Karaims in non-liturgical genres. Most probably these communities never had many songs for everyday life or rituals outside the liturgy. They tended to concen-trate on religion, even at the everyday level. Perhaps this is the reason why far more liturgical melodies have survived (they are not included in this publication) than secular ones. However, bearing in mind the number of people who potentially sang the latter, who can be counted rather in the hundreds than in the thousands, the number of secular and non-liturgical songs does not appear to be that limited. It is also important to underline the fact that those secular songs that have survived cover all the most important periods of human life. This means they were always in great demand and were sung.

The present collection of Lithuanian-Polish Karaim songs in this shape is a first of its kind. However, the idea for such a collection and the need to compile it was first put forward in Vilnius in 1989, i.e. before Lithuania’s independence had been officially restored and when efforts had only just begun to revive the cultures of all ethnic groups in Lithuania. It was Lithuanian professional musicians working for the Music publishing house at the time who suggested that the author put togeth-er such a collection. Sadly, financial problems prevented the project from being launched for a long time. Meanwhile, the author of this book has partially used the material she had collected for other scientific publications. Everything has now been updated and complemented in preparation for the present edition. The author would like to take this opportunity to thank all those active Lithuanian musicians3, professional composers and musicologists for their support, courage, help and in-spiration, and especially for their respect for the Karaim musical heritage both then and today.

The songs in this collection are grouped thematically. The three main family rituals presented here (for the birth of a child, a wedding and a funeral) are described separately, underlining in particular the place the songs occupy in them. Each song is provided with a brief description, together with its melody, words, and a translation of the latter.

Secular music occupies a particular place within the Karaim musical heritage. The fact that most of its melodies are musical borrowings from other cultures makes it rather specific. This is also one reason why from an academic point of view we call them ‘sec-ular songs’, and not folksongs, even if in everyday life they are considered to be a part of folklore. This consideration is justified and rather natural. Hence, we would not suggest changing the way these songs are called in their natural environment.

Most of the melodies and words of songs, except those which are ritualistic in character, came into being at the beginning of 20th century. This was a time when in this part of the world the importance and understanding of ethnicity and national identity began to attract much more attention and prestige compared to the earlier standard practice of differentiating people according to their religion. It was also a time when new means were being sought to express Karaim national identity and help it withstand the approaching challenges of secularisation and globalisation. Since the religious canon had been the traditional unifying factor in all aspects of life in Karaim communities and up till that time there had been no need to underline or showcase any elements of secular ethnic culture, calls for a repertoire in the mother tongue grew strongly. As a result, melodic borrowings, even if they were musically not authentic, acquired a new role in supporting community’s sense of itself at the national/ethnic level.

The ‘new’ music was, however, carefully adapted to Karaim words and so immedi-ately took root in Karaim communities, perhaps also thanks to its very appealing and emotional lyrics. It became a badge of identity for Karaims in Eastern and Central Europe, and at the same time it was immensely important in helping the nation to unite and focus as it went through the challenges of secularisation and globalisation while religious feelings and beliefs steadily weakened and faded away. A hundred or so years later, i.e. at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, these songs reasserted their importance when Eastern and Central Eu-ropean countries, Lithuania in particular, regained their independence. The same secular songs proved once against very instrumental in demonstrating the power of social forces. Every concert staged by national minorities included performances of these secular Karaim songs. In this way, the Karaim people presented their cul-ture to others and at the same time rediscovered themselves for their own sake, built up a sense of community and re-confirmed their shared Karaim identity. All 17 secular songs included in this collection are monophonic and are designed to be performed with one voice (solo or in a group), mostly without any instrumental accompaniment. Contrary to liturgical or paraliturgical melodies, which will be discussed later, the Karaims know these secular songs very well. They can be divided into three groups, according to their musical features.

The first group contains 5 melodies for various rituals (a wedding, birth of a child, a funeral): Bir bar ėdi (No. 4) 4, Muzhul kieliń (No. 13), Syjyt jyry (No. 25), Syjyt firjatba tujulat (No. 26), Syjyt jyry sahynčyna kyrančnyn Lietuvada 1710 jylda (No. 27). Compared to the secular songs from other groups, these 5 are the most authentic and can be classified as folksongs or examples of ritualised folklore. They are per-formed freely, in an improvised manner, and the performer can add as many melismas (musical ornamentation) as he or she wishes. The words of each particular song belong solely to that one song.

Consequently, the word-sound interrelation is simple and correct. Both elements are equally important, and each of them has its own role. Melodies are also highly individualised. There is only one song of its kind per ritual, which makes any academic inquiry difficult and a search for any common or systemic features nearly impossible.

All 5 songs have survived due to their oral transmission; there are no historic writ-ten notes of them. The majority of these songs are traditionally performed in unison by voice only, except Muzhul kieliń (No. 13). This very emotional bride’s lament performed during the engagement ritual just before the bride’s head is covered with the veil is known to have been accompanied by a violin together with a wind instru-ment (e.g. flute or trumpet) between stanzas.
Another three melodies – Ijisi baraskiniń (No. 6), Troch šaharda (No. 7), Jyry ulanlarnyn (No. 20) – fall within the second category of secular songs. We can assume that they were borrowed from Crimean Karaims or Tartars. All of them are well known and sung by Crimean Karaims, as is evident not only in practice, but also in the written source containing the song collection. It is found in a Crimean manuscript, so called medjuma, which is kept in The Wroblewski Library of the Academy of Sciences of Lithuania. However, the actual route taken by these melo-dies is difficult to establish, because many of them are also mentioned in scholarly publications on Tartars in Crimea (Osmanova 1990). It is difficult to determine who borrowed melodies from whom.

However, the borrowed melodies were adapted to words written by Lithuanian-Polish Karaim authors, and this sometimes changes the flow of the melody or its rhythm. These melodies tend to be ‘classical’ in style. There is only one me-lodic feature that gives away its ’Crimean’ or ‘Tartar’ origin, namely the interval of the augmented second in Troch šaharda. This interval is very popular among different peoples in the Crimea, but is non-existent in any other musical example from Lithuania or Poland.

The third group of songs includes melodies that are musical borrowings from Slavonic or Lithuanian sources. They are most probably based on urban folklore rather than having deep roots in the cultural heritage of Ukraine, Russia or Lithua-nia. These are the 9 melodies included in the third group: Jukla uvlum (No. 3), Hej hej kyzhyna (No. 5), Sahyšlar (No. 8), Tojčoch (No. 9), Galvieniń kyryjynda (No. 10), Jonanyn ördiačiegi (No. 11), Uzun kiuńliar (No. 21), Kybyn (No. 23), Utrulamach (No. 24).
Religious ritual songs performed in the kenesa during the religious wedding ceremony constitute a separate category in the Karaim musical heritage. The three songs included here – Kiorkiu kijovliarniń (No. 14), Tabuvču katyn (No. 15) and Kiučliu Tieńri (No. 16) – are the only ones from the entire repertoire that belong to the strictly religious part of the ritual. Their content is religious and they include some biblical quotations. Two of them (No.15, 16) are performed by the religious leader marrying the bride and the bridegroom. From a musical perspec-tive these melodies include features of religious or even liturgical chants, their melodic ornaments are very elaborate, and their melodies highly individualised. Their texts are sung only in this one melody. Being very specific as a result, the melody requires the performer to care not only about the sound, but also to ensure that the words are voiced in a correct way. Similar features are evident in the first category of secular songs.

The final category of songs in this collection is the paraliturgical chant. The name explains its nature – this chant does not form part of the liturgy, but its content is religious6. The paraliturgical chant is usually performed outside the liturgy, mostly at home during various rituals, such as on Saturdays and religious holidays, at betrothals, family meals or when celebrating a recent birth, etc. Very similar types of songs also exist in other cultural traditions (Christian religious songs (Bartkowski 1987), genres of Arab hymnology such as the madih and anachid, the inshad – reciting of hagiographs, even forms of the dhikr and hadra dances (Poche 1994) or the Jewish zemirot (Encyklopedia Judaica 1971), etc.). They all are regarded by researchers as an intermediary type between liturgical songs and folk songs.

The paraliturgical genre is also a very interesting feature of Karaim culture. The fact that as many as 20 Karaim paraliturgical songs (their melodies) have survived until today points to the previous vitality of this tradition. However, since the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th secularisation, globalisation, wars, the displacement and resettlement of different peoples, and the later Soviet regime have all had an enormous impact on the position of the family in society, and even on the very idea of the institution.

They have likewise affected traditional values, including those connected with religion. Karaim communities particularly felt the consequences of these new developments. Unlike secular songs, paraliturgical songs have not been sung for almost a century now. The only reason they have been saved was that some people remembered several melodies and they were recorded on tape in the years 1970–19907. This is also why it was possible to write the mel-odies down and analyse them, and complement the descriptions with information obtained from interviewing ‘tradition-keepers’.

The melodies of the chants and their texts represent two important aspects of the paraliturgical repertoire. Each has its own particularities and values, and until now both domains have been analysed separately (Tuori, Firkaviciute, Kollender). It appears that the time is ripe for a joint investigation. And this is a research challenge of great relevance today.

The words of paraliturgical chants, even those with a religious content, were usu-ally composed by a single person, known or unknown. These are mostly poems on various topics with humorous, ironic or didactic threads rather than biblical quotations. As a consequence, and unlike liturgical texts, they do not require any use of Masoretic accents9. The majority of recently used texts are included in the 4th part of the Karaim prayer book of 1890–1892 (STMQ IV, compiled and published in Vil-nius in Biblical Hebrew by Felix Malecki (1854–1928)10 with financial support from a Karaim tobacco merchant from Vilnius called Jakub Szyszman.

It contains 230 paraliturgical texts (pages 96–223). As is usually the case in printed Karaim prayer books, all the paraliturgical texts have been put together in a sepa-rate section. In this particular prayer book the texts of paraliturgical chants have also been grouped thematically – chants for Saturdays, for different religious festivals (e.g. Easter, Pentecost), and for happy occasions (e.g. weddings, birth, family meals, etc.). The lyrics of paraliturgical songs included in prayer books were quite often tak-en from previous publications. Felix Malecki exercised his prerogative as editor to include the paraliturgical texts of those authors that he considered relevant. The Finnish author Riikka Tuori analysed in her book (Tuori 2013) both the content and linguistic features of these songs.

Last century Karaims in Poland and Lithuania only sang paraliturgical songs in their native Karaim language, since these songs accompanied home rituals and every- one had to understand the content. The use and knowledge of religious language (Biblical Hebrew) was not necessary. Poetic texts in Hebrew and Karaim as well as translations from Hebrew to Karaim were written down and kept in manuscript form, on separate sheets or in bound books. The majority of the most commonly used songs were even learned by heart.

The prayer book that followed Malecki’s edition was published in two volumes also in Vilnius in 1997–1998 and compiled by a senior priest by the name of Mykolas Firkovičius (1924–2000) (KDJJ t. 1–2). This was the first prayer book published exclusively in the Karaim language. Its second part contains the texts of a number of paraliturgical songs from the previous prayer book. Six of these are paraliturgical songs from this collection: Uvul kajsy tuvdu (No. 2), Ėńdiriuvčiu (No. 12), Onarhej- lar (No. 17), Ojan džanym (No. 18), Jachšy šarap (No. 19), Širiń ėľ (No. 22). Before 1997 these and other texts of paraliturgical songs were also published in various other sources, mostly in scholarly, linguistic editions. More detailed information on all of these songs is given in the description for each entry. 
The genre of the paraliturgical chant in general, not only its texts but also its melo-dies, is a promising research area in which we can expand our knowledge of Karaim culture and language, especially in the case of the Lithuanian and Polish Karaim communities. This mainly concerns the history of the Karaim school of scholars, linguists and religious philosophers, which was very active during the 9th–12th centuries in the Middle East and became both renowned and influential with re-gard what constitutes a correct reading of Biblical Hebrew, Karaim religious exege-sis and the liturgy, etc., and offering a specific Karaim point of view on these issues based on Karaim religious dogmas (Khan 2000: 1; Khan–Gallego–Olszowy-Schlanger 2003: xi). For quite some time now, the prevailing view in the literature on Karaim religious studies is that this specific Karaim perspective disappeared after the 12th century, when the medieval Karaim school declined in influence. Accor- ding to some scholars (Lasker 2001), since that time specific Karaim religious prac-tices and traditions have ceased to exist, and in the following centuries the Karaims took over rabbinical practices, to which they adapted their activities, especially those concerning religion.

These conclusions were drawn from what is known about Karaim communities in the Middle East. The heritage of Lithuanian and Polish Karaims was ignored for a long time and for many reasons was overlooked in different religious studies. In recent decades, however, researchers have discovered not only a still untouched heritage, but also some surviving Karaim traditions in Polish-Lithuanian com-munities, have started forwarding substantial counterarguments to previous conclusions. Research on oral traditions, especially with regard to the pronunciation of Biblical Hebrew (Harviainen 1997, 2013), but recently also on the paraliturgical poems of Eastern European Karaims, has proven once again that specific Karaim features have survived in these domains and highlight their continued existence up to the 20th century. Paraliturgical texts composed in the 17th–19th centuries published in the 1890–1892 prayer book (STMQ IV), are evidence of very particular features of Karaim pietism and religious philosophy, such as religious polemics, Karaim calen-dar calculations, the condemnation of rabbinical habits (Tuori 2013: 3), etc.

As has already been mentioned, 20 paraliturgical songs from Polish-Lithuanian Karaim communities have survived until today. They are all monophonic melodies with no instrumental accompaniment. Traditionally they are sung at wedding rituals, funerals, births or simply at family meals or any other gatherings. The present publication contains 7 paraliturgical chants concerned with family life (No.1, 2, 12, 17, 18, 19, 22). The other 13 chants are intended for different occasions – 6 for Saturday celebrations, 2 for marking the end of Saturday, and 5 are not connected with any preannounced occasion.

In those prayer books or in manuscripts containing paraliturgical poems there is usually a passage at their very beginning indicating what specific melody or which kind of melody it should be sung to, for example, ‘a pleasant melody’, ‘another mel-ody’ or ‘a melody of a certain known song’. These notes and the fact of their author-ship lead us to assume that several texts used to be created for the same occasion, but most probably they were sung with the same melody. Contrary to the liturgical chant, here the priority is given to the melody, and so the texts had to adapt, even if the accent of the words had to be changed so as to follow the tune. Normally, al-though with some exceptions, melodies can be performed with sufficient emotion; they allow for a high degree of ‘musical’ interpretation, which is not the case with the liturgical chant.

However, it is important to note that paraliturgical chants still do not allow for as much ‘freedom’ in their musical expression as their secular counterparts. Paralitur-gical songs emerge from a religious context, they always have a religious content, even if the author is known. Moreover, many of them are performed by a priest or any reputable person specially appointed to this task, usually a man of authority in the family, which lends this chant a certain importance and ‘gravity’.
From a musical point of view paraliturgical melodies differ from liturgical ones. They are more ‘open’ and much simpler. We suggest dividing them into two groups. The first comprises melodies of a more or less ‘classical’ style (13 out of a total of 20 that have been preserved). They have a steady rhythm, have distinct features recog-nisable from classical music, including major or minor scales, as well as forms of a classical period consisting of two usually four-measure musical phrases (melodies No. 1, 18 and 22 in the present collection).

The second group is closer to liturgical melodies (7 out of the 20 surviving songs, melodies 2, 12, 17 and 19 in the present collection). They are less periodic, allow much more freedom to improvise, including by adding musical ornaments and longer melismas in one syllable. Moreover they do not fit the classical meter and only some ‘classical’ features are present.

Two paraliturgical songs were sung by both the Polish-Lithuanian and Crimean Karaim communities.11 They have not been included in the present collection, but are known to the author from recordings produced in 1980 and which include 5 Crimean Karaim melodies.
Even if the melodies of Karaim paraliturgical chants are quite diverse, they show several features typical of classical tempered music. From this we can assume that these melodies were also possibly borrowed from surrounding cultures or simply from urban folklore, as is the case with secular melodies.

The author has published numerous articles on the subject of Karaim liturgical chants, including on their melodies, their typology, their relationship with the lit-urgy, etc. Several of these publications also include examples of melodies. Liturgical melodies have the privilege of being used in their original form, while songs from this collection are more or less open to new interpretation. We would hope, howev-er, that this can be done respectfully and with good intentions so as to facilitate the promotion of Karaim traditional knowledge and its continued vitality.

The Annex to this publication includes six of Katarzyna Dziewiątkowska’s compositions. These are elaborations of traditional Karaim songs that represent one pos-sible way of promoting a musical heritage. The composer herself compiled this rep-resentative selection and included songs from all three main periods of human life: Bolhej bazlych (No. 1), Ijisi baraskiniń (No. 6),Troch šaharda (No. 7), Muzhul kieliń (No. 13), Jachšy šarap (No. 19), Syjyt jyry sahynčyna kyrančnyn (No. 27). The com-poser has not just created a piano accompaniment to these six songs, but she also presented them slightly differently in a musical sense. The original compositions are now more than conventional songs for voice and piano. They go a step further towards offering a new artistic quality thanks to Katarzyna Dziewiątkowska’s creative approach, and inspiration to provide her own musical vision of these songs. The essence of the songs has not changed, however. It is complemented by new nu-ances. Some melodic details have been transferred to the piano part and accentuat-ed both in their melodies and rhythm. Moreover, the general flow of the melodies has been slightly changed, and even the modality of one song (Muzhul kieliń) has been modified. All this creates a completely new sound. Traditional songs become new, and fairly neutral compositions, even if the same words are used.

From a musical point of view, it is quite a challenging endeavour to compose a piece that both safeguards the traditional original melody and at the same time represents a new interesting and personalised composition. Katarzyna Dziewiątkowska responded to this challenge in a very talented way. This is the first time that Karaim songs were elaborated in such a professional and creative fashion.