TRADITIONAL MUSIC AND FOLKLORE OF SHIRAK IN A CONTEMPORARY CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The article examines the contemporary manifestations of Armenian folk lullabies and mourning songs and analyzes their artistic, structural, expressive and genric features. The modern manifestations of Shirak folk songs are examined with reference to the fullest possible set of genric characteristics, contextual features, and means of expressiveness. The results of folklore expeditions in the region have demonstrated that these two genres are particularly vibrant in the Shirak region. It should be noted that the genre of dance song is the most well-preserved form of traditional Shirak folklore. However, the recorded materials reiterate as much as possible fully preserved or partially memorized versions of traditional examples of these genres. Regrettably, other genres such as working, ritual or epic songs have hardly survived. In this context, it is noteworthy that lullabies and mourning songs have survived in the contemporary socio-cultural context. As a result of the study, we found out that these genres have preserved the genric functions and the system of expressive means corresponding to them. Here, formulaic word- combinations predominate, both in speech and musical monodic thinking.