The Nenets' Song: A Microcosm of a Vanishing Culture.(Review)

The Nenets' Song: A Microcosm of a Vanishing Culture. By Alla Abramovich-Gomon. (Ashgate Studies in Ethnomusicology.) Aldershot, Hants: Ashgate, 1999. [xii, 166 p. ISBN 1-84014-603-6. $74.95.]

Alla Abramovich-Gomon's recent book on Nenets culture is an examination of the musical praxis of these inhabitants of Russia's western Arctic region, and a compelling attempt to link the changes that have occurred within their singing tradition with broader, more disruptive shifts in their culture. According to Abramovich-Gomon, the Nenets' retention of an archaic epic song repertory and the value still placed on performers of this unique genre are not simply indexes of the physical isolation of these populations, but also mark their tenacious desire to keep their traditional expressions intact, despite the efforts of first czarist Russia and later the Soviet state to bring the region under its domain.

Abramovich-Gomon's approach to these issues necessitates a good deal of historical reconstruction, and the author's choice of this particular framework has merit on at least two fronts. First, it provides readers with a good introduction to both the region and its peoples; as such, it is a welcome addition to the sparse collection of resources in this field available in English. Second, this structure invites cross-cultural comparisons with other Arctic cultures (e.g., Scandinavia's Saami or North America's Yup'ik and Inuit peoples), for the Nenets' struggles against the forces of colonization appear markedly similar to those of other circumpolar inhabitants. Unraveling the Nenets' history within this broader perspective points up the shared threat of outside cultures and the specificity of the Nenets' responses to these conditions.

In the past, the Nenets' song tradition was intimately linked with shamanistic ritual, and the author goes to some lengths to describe this activity, drawing again from historical sources. As Christianity spread through the region, these spiritual practices succumbed to the will of the new order, and one of the primary contexts for performance disappeared. Yet the Nenets have clearly retained their singing tradition, despite this development. According to Abramovich-Gomon, the key to understanding this phenomenon lies in the role these heroic stories have also played in maintaining important aspects of Nenets culture, such as reindeer herding and exogamy. The ...