Integrity of one “Dzhangar” epic song across time: the text of the ‘rhapsode teacher’ and that of his ‘rhapsode student’ revisited

The article applies the comparative method to prove differences between versions of one single-plot “Dzhangar” song recording from the prominent ‘rhapsode teacher’ Eelyan Ovla and the famous jangarchi by Teltya Lidzhiev, his ‘rhapsode student’, thus analyzing the diachronical integrity of the text. The taken minor patches of the two texts illustrate acting common and distinct features in the structure of the epic song. The analysis shows that the student’s text retains 34 of 37 compositional elements traced for his teacher’s narrative. Teltya Lidzhiev’s text is characterized by the well reproduced original image or versification structure, while the lexical attributes vary. Close reading of the two texts shows the rhapsode student follows his teacher, making efforts to retain harmonious scheme of the song and traditional stylistic frame. But despite the explicit traditional pattern of the folklore text, Teltya Lidzhiev’s version is specialized by rearrangement of themes, by absence of three typical episodes (‘arrival in the border area’, ‘dialogue between the opposed warriors’, ‘battle between Khongor and Shovto Khara Baatar’), and by essential lexical varieties along the epic poem. The study concludes that the once absorbed key plot and compositional elements of the epic narrative were spectacularly preserved by the jangarchi. Making use of typical descriptions, motifs, and poetic formulas borrowed from his predecessors the taleteller maintained the epic tradition of Eelyan Ovla’s ‘school’. Still, the adherence to compositional schemes and poetic texture did not obstruct emergence of unique features, though demonstrated in the traditional epic ‘school’.