Features of the spiritual verse genre in the modern era (on the example of the Republic of Tatarstan)

The article deals with the history and current state of the genre of spiritual verse. The aim of the research is to identify the characteristics of this genre now. The article is based on samples of spiritual verses obtained as a result of expeditionary practice of leading specialists of the Republic of Tatarstan. The subject of the research is the peculiarities of the genre of spiritual verses in modern times. The subject - the peculiarities of the spiritual verses currently used in the Republic of Tatarstan. The main methods of research were theoretical methods of analysis, synthesis, and comparative-historical method; among the empirical methods, the most important were observation and comparison. Nowadays the term «spiritual verse» denotes samples of extra-devotional spiritual singing. There are different variants of this term: folk verse, spiritual songs, and songs with spiritual content. In the process of historical development, three varieties of this genre have been formed: penitential, Old Believer, sectarian, as well as heroic-sorrowing, historical-sorrowing poems about the greatness of the state, heroic military exploits and biblical themes, lyric poems. It turned out that such a variety of poetry as penitential verse is the most popular at present. Field researches carried out by teachers of the Kazan State Cultural Institute, leading ethnographers and ethnomusicologists in the regions of Tatarstan (Tetyushsky, Elabuga, Chistopolsky, Laishevsky) revealed a number of preserved examples of spiritual verse. It is noted that the collected examples represent textual and melodic invariants of the earlier ancient examples of this genre. It is proved that this genre has been preserved in the Republic of Tatarstan due to the change of ideological paradigm in Russia.