SESENS OF THE GAFURIYSKY LAND

Abstract

The article analyzes creativity of sesens from the Gafuriysky district of Bashkortostan from the beginning of the 20th century to the present. The names of some improvisers of the district, such as Valiulla Kulumbetov and Sayfulla Sagitov, got the national publicity, and their creations were published and studied by folk scholars to some extent. The galaxy of sesens of Gafuriysky land is also made up by Fauziya Kutlugildina and Ilgam Baibuldin, who were awarded the honorary title of “People’s Sesen”, revived only recently. However, despite the quite significant achievements in the field of Bashkir folklore, the work of some people worthy of being called sesens was practically not studied for the simple reason that the handwritten records were kept in the family archives for years due to excessive modesty or the reluctance of the authors to flaunt their creations. And only after many years, some names of sesens improvisers were made public thanks to the initiative of people close to them. Such sesen was, for example, Khashiya Maskova, whose poetry collection was published only for her 85th birthday at her granddaughter’s insistence. The need for timely scientific study of creativity of sesens determines the relevance of this article.