THE CALL OF THE KALNI
Antonina Vasilievna Shkaligina entered the museum and immediately
hugged me as if we already knew each other (hugging is not very
typical amongst the Nivkhs). In 2004 we had waited for her at
Ensemble XXI’s Pacific Rim Music Festival to play the Kalni - an
instrument, which is made from the stem of Giant Hogweed.
Unfortunately she was unable to come at that time. This time I had
especially asked my host, Lydia Romanovna, to organise a meeting
with Antonina Shkaligina (right) who is the former leader of the Kekh
(Seagull) Folk Music and Dance Ensemble. There she performed
alongside the famous and skilful Brevno soloist, Ulyana Sergeevna
Bagrina as well as the beautiful low voiced folk singer Anna Stepanovna
Khadzigan, both of whom have unfortunately since died. Antonina
herself possesses a beautiful low voice, but at first was too shy to sing
to me. She said that a bear had stepped on her ear (a Russian saying,
which means that a person doesn’t have a musical ear). She was full of
praise for her former colleagues with whom she had travelled to Japan
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and even to New York. She recalled Manhattan, ‘When we walked and
looked up at those buildings, our heads were spinning’.
It was hard to believe that this slightly bent over old lady who was
standing in front of me had seen the world so widely. Maybe her almost
childlike openness came from the fact that she had performed a lot. It
took a great deal of persuasion on my part for her to agree to sing for
me, but finally she did. The style of her singing was clearly related to
the way in which Tatiana Ulita or Lidia Muvchik sing. The recitative like
singing and the gentle, constantly changing rhythms with the large
tremolo at the end of phrases is characteristic for all singers from Chir-
Unvd. This demonstrates the music’s ancient origins. For centuries
these Nivkhs have been more isolated than those who live in the North
and therefore their music has been less effected by outside influences.
After this Antonina (below) also took the Kalni (the Nivkh trumpet)
and sang into it. Her voice strengthened remarkably. The range of her
tremolos was made up of major seconds and major sixths. When she
had played together with Anna Khadzigan in former times, Antonina
always started from a higher note in the range of about an octave,
changing the intervals in a slower tempo. Khadzigan started from a
lower note and stayed “inside” Antonina’s range, which reached an
augmented fourth as she changed her intervals more frequently in
order to take regular breaths, since singing through the tube is very
strenuous. It created a most interesting and melodically rich structure.
In Nogliki I had also heard a Kalni duet. The intervals and rhythms,
both individually and between the players are random, depending on
each person’s voice range and breathing technique. The final result
however, was always harmonious and reminiscent of the honking
sounds made by flocks of swans or cranes. I have experienced the
same sensation in Orthodox Churches, when the choir sings in one
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tonality and tempo and the Priest responds in another tempo and in
random intervals, regardless of what the choir is singing.