Латыши и литовцы: восточные или западные балты?: этномузыковедческий взгляд на этническое происхождение балтских народов
ENAccording to the latest research made by the author, it is evident that the ethnic music of Lithuanians and Latvians has spread into two main directions: monophony and polyphony. Monophony is the most characteristic feature of the ethnic music of Southern Lithuanians and almost all Latvians. In the mono-phonic music, the minor modes are prevailing. Polyphony is spread in the Northwestern Lithuania, as well as in the Southwestern and Eastern Latvia. The major modes are more evident in the polyphonic music. There are three main styles of the polyphonic music of Lithuanians and Latvians: the contrapuntal polyphony, parallelism and bourdonism. The contrapuntal polyphony is spread only in the Northeastern Lithuania. The extremely strong and regular rhythm is a characteristic feature of this kind of ethnic music. Parallelism is spread in the Northwestern Lithuania and in the Southwestern Latvia, bourdonism - in the Western, as well as Eastern Latvia.The monophonical ethnic music of Lithuanians and Latvians has many equivalents in the music of Northern Europe. It is very similar to the ethnic music of Byelorussians, Ukrainians, Russians and North-eastern Poles and it has parallels with the music of Finns in Northeastern Europe. The parallels of the g polyphony of the Baits with the ethnic music of Northern Europe are less noticeable. The contrapuntal polyphony of Northeastern Lithuanians is related only to the polyphony of Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk и regions of Russia and Komi. The parallelism of Northwestern Lithuanians and Southwestern Latvians has no other equivalents in the music of Northern Europe. Very close parallels can be seen in the ethnic music of Central Europe in the Western Carpathians, Alps, and the Northwestern Balkans. According to the conception of linguists and archaeologists, the Eastern Baits are Latvians and Lithuanians, and the Western Baits, most probably, were the Prussians and Yotvings. The hypothesis is suggested that the monophony of the ethnic music of Latvians and Lithuanians could have been the most evident feature of the cultural heritage of the Eastern, while the polyphony - of the Western Baits. The Eastern Baits are the Southern and Eastern Lithuanians, and the Latvians, living in the middle of their country. Western Balts, most probably, are the Western and Northern Lithuanians and the Southwestern and also Eastern Latvians. The Eastern Baits, according to the data of ethnic music, could have been of one and the same origin with the Eastern and also the Western Slavs, while the origin of the Western Balts could have no close relations with the neighboring Baits and Slavs.
