Mordovian Instrumental Traditions in the Work of N. I. Boyarkin: Problems and Directions in Research

This article is devoted to a review of the ethno-instrumentological research by the outstanding scholar Nikolai Ivanovich Boyarkin, who gained fame as a ethnomusicologist and ethno-instrumentologist and as a leading specialist in Mordovian song and instrumental folklore. In Boyarkin’s bibliogrqphy, which continues to be augmented with new works, ethnoorganological issues occupy an important place and are closely related to other areas of his research on Mordovian folk music. This article, based on a review of Boyarkin’s work published from 1977 to 2019 — articles, monographs, textbooks, and academic publications of instrumental music — highlights the main directions and problems of his musical and ethnographic research. These include: 1) description of the ritual and more broadly ethnocultural context of instrumental musical genres; 2) identification of systemic connections between instrumental and vocal traditional music in their functional, ceremonial and musical-stylistic aspects; 3) research and description of traditional Mordovian instruments and music; 4) consideration of the problems of instrumental music’s interethnic relationships; 5) study of the problems of classifying musical instruments and genre systems of instrumental music; and 6) research on musical archaeology.