Tambourine Functions in Kamchatka’s Koryak Culture in the 20th - Beginning of the 21st Centuries
The article presents the analysis of the change in tambourine functions in the culture of Kamchatka’s Koryaks during the 20th century. At the beginning of the 20th century the tambourine playing was an integral part of sacral and shaman rituals in the traditional Koryak culture. The fight against shamans started in the imperial time, and it became even more intensified with the Soviet Union. The decade 1930-1940 was the time of the tambourine’s forced oblivion in Kamchatka. At the beginning of the 1950s the tambourine was not considered a musical instrument yet. It was legalized as a musical instrument only in the 1960s during the stage revival of the national choreographic culture. Existence on stage was one of the natural steps in the traditional culture development. In the second half of the 20th century the functions of tambourine were desacralized (not connected with shaman’s practices). At the beginning of the 21st century tambourine functions as a shaman instrument were completely lost, yet tambourine’s popularity as a musical instrument made it a symbol of Kamchatka’s ethnic culture.