Molokan
and
Jumper
Song
In-Progress, Updated June 3,
2010.
As for most religions, song is essential for the religious services
performed by all Russian Spiritual Christian sectarians, including
Molokans and Jumpers. The origin and composition of their Old Russian
singing got attention from ethnomusicologists in the 1980s. A few
scientific papers have been published, listed below,
some
are online. Many songs are now online.
Molokans and
Jumpers comprise 3
different religions and several sub-groups which are too often
confusingly lumped together under the
one label "Molokan". Each claims to be
the real "Molokan" faith. Molokans and Jumper-S&L-users view
each
other as heretics, with Spiritual Jumpers in the middle. In the U.S.,
some Jumper-S&L-users claim Reformed are heretics. All conduct
prayer services and song in Russian, except Reformed which primary
uses English. Each faith mainly uses different songs with some shared:
- Molokans do not
sing
hymns derived
from
Russian folk songs or borrowed from other faiths during worship.
Molokans focus directly on Bible verses.
- Jumpers, who split
from Molokans in the 1850s, adapted
folk dance melodies for the fast beat needed for jumping and spiritual
dance. Jumpers use adapted folk songs and borrowed songs from other
faiths during the second part of worship after prayer.
- Jumper-S&L-users
and Maksimists, who split from
Jumpers officially in the 1900s, depend more on theatrics of jumping
and prophesy. They sing much louder than Molokans, and louder than
Jumpers. They insist
the Book of Sun: Spirit and Life
is a Third Testament to the Bible,
indispensable, place it next to the Bible, sing verses from it,
and some use it for blessing
instead of the Bible.
Research has been skewed by the faith and territory of origin of the
faith encountered. Singing styles differ markedly by pre-perestroika
population location which has never been studied, or noted. In the
U.S., Molokans only hold services in San Francisco, while Jumper
S&L-users
dominate all of California, Arizona, and Oregon except for one reverted
congregation of Reformed, which changed their name to Molokan.
All self-claimed "Molokans" now in Australia are Jumper-S&L-users
resettled from America, since an authentic Molokan congregation in
Sidney has dissolved. Researcher access to services has varied and is
noted in the
time line below.
Here
is an overview summary of accomplishments and plenty of work to be done.
Time Line
Late 1800s — A young Molokan in Siberia with a talent for singing is
sponsored by his congregation to study in Europe. He returned and began
notating their psalms. Dr. O'Brien-Rothe was going to persue this
history but did not. The location of the notations is not known.
1906 — First audio recording. Linyova records
Molokans other sects in
the Caucasus and notates some verses and publishes.
1915 — First published songbook in U.S.
1939 — Second audio recording. San Francisco
1992 — Filimonov,
Centre
of visual Anthropology, Lomonosov Moscow State
University, produced a half-hour
video ""Molokan spiritual
chants/singing"
2005 — 1200 verses in comperhensive Jumper songbook
published in Yerevan, Armenia by Telligin. Unpublished Armenian Jumper
hymns were combined with published Jumper and Molokan hymns in America.
Major accomplishments and
findings
- 100+ years of sample recordings, 1906-present.
- Many recordings online, links
- __ + papers published.
- __ songbooks published
- Dr. O'Brien-Rothe shows American Jumper hymns adapted from
Russian folksongs and melodies.
- Total Jumper hymns documented, 1200+
Unanswered questions
- What is the origin of Molokan psalm singing? O'Brien-Rothe
hyphthesized
it evolved from the Orthodox liturgy permitted when no priest was
present, which subjects could perfom themselves.
- Where is the first songbook? In Siberia?
- Where are the 1800s notations? In Siberia?
- How have Molokan and Jumper styles diverged?
- Do other early recordings exist? Far East, China, elsewhere?
- What caused the regional differences?
- Are the north Azerbaijan psalm melodies adapted from Moslem
stlyes?
- Is the Tambov style the most original?
- Add your question here. Email to administrator@molokane.org
Molokan and Jumper Songs Online
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