Nart Epic Song: Ashemez's Melody, I [«АШЭМЭЗ И ПШЫНАЛЪЭ, I»]

From the Circassian Nart Epos:

"Ashemez's Melody, Part I"

«АШЭМЭЗ И ПШЫНАЛЪЭ»
Япэ Iыхьэ

Sung by Vladimir Bereghwn (Baragunov) and Valentina Sosmaq (Sosmakova) in the Kabardian dialect of Circassian

From an album by Vladimir Bereghwn issued by Melodiya in 1973.

Translated by Amjad Jaimoukha

Produced by Sanjalay Jaimoukha

Part II of this legend is found at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqD91a9Pk58

This is a story of murder and revenge that goes back for three millennia, as the archaic features of the words of the song indicate. While playing a game of knuckle-bones with his Nart friends, Ashemez started to bully them. "If thou art such a valiant man, do not spare thy father's murderer!" said one boy. When he inquired about the name of his father's slayer, the boys said that his mother would better tell him. Ashemez went back home weeping. "May God curse the home of whomever made thee cry, Ashemez!" his mother exclaimed. Pretending to be hungry, he asked her to make him bajina [Circassian porridge of cooked whey and maize flour]. Ashemez asked his mother to sit and eat with him. When she said that that was counter to proper etiquette, he insisted, and she obliged. He grabbed her hand and thrusted it into the hot bajina. As she screamed, "Woe unto me, my dear child, the porridge is scalding my hand, Ashemez!" He retorted threateningly, "If thou disclosest not to me the name of our father's murderer, I shall burn thee!" When she told him that it was Lhebitse Zchach'e who killed his father, Ashemez resolved to slay him. His mother tried very hard to dissuade him from going, saying, among other things, that he was too young and that Lhebitse Zchach'e lived in the lands beyond the sea. However, our hero's resolve was not shaken. He put on his father's battle accoutrements, led his father's steed out of the dark vault, which had a massive stone (abremive) for a door, and went after Lhebitse Zchach'e.

In other versions of the epic, the name of the murderer, who also slaughtered Ashemez's six elder brothers, who had gone to seek revenge for their father before the birth of Ashemez, with whom his mother was pregnant at the time, is rendered "Lhebitsezchey".

Stop reading here if you don't want to know the end of this tale now and want to wait for the next episode.

For those who crave closure, (after a long and arduous adventure) the story ends with Ashemez casting the severed head of Lhebitse Zchach'e into his mother's lap and fetching his enemy's wife Bidixw with the spoils. In this tale, and in many others, the protagonists manage to prevail not through brute force, as their opponents were, more often than not, very much more formidable in terms of size and strength, but through ruse and the supernatural intervention of people close to the foe, in our case, Lhebitse Zchach'e's spouse, who must have taken a shine to our handsome hero once she laid eyes on his shredded body.

Jaimoukha, A., Circassian Culture and Folklore, London: Bennett and Bloom, 2010.

http://www.bennettandbloom.com/circassians.htm

Jaimoukha, A., The Art of the Circassian Minstrels, London: Desert Hearts, 2011. [CD collection]

http://www.deserthearts.com/circassianmusic.html

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Circassian
• Song
• Nart
• Epos
• Epic
• Chant
• Ashemez
• Revenge
• Kabardian
• Vladimir
• Bereghwn
• Baragunov
• Valentina
• Sosmaq
• Sosmakova
• Amjad
• Jaimoukha
• Sanjalay
• Culture
• Folklore
• Нарт
• Псысэ
• Пшыналъэ
• Ашэмэз
• Ашэ
• Адыгэбзэ
• Владимир
• Бэрэгъун
• Валантина
• Сосмакъ
• Амджэд
• Жэмыхъуэ
• Сэнджэлей

[MarschallNullpunkt]

Can't wait for the next part :) great work

[CircassianMinstrels]

@MarschallNullpunkt Thank you for your kind words and encouragement! Part II of the legend of Ashemez has already been published on this channel.

[MarschallNullpunkt]

Amazing