Musicology Annotation << Back Vocal polyphony of Karachays and Balkars in the context of folklore and liturgical forms of polyphony Liliya A. Vishnevskaya The article deals with the issues of typology of Karachay and Balkar vocal polyphony. Comparative characterization within early folklore polyphony forms distinguishes common generic (Turkic) and specifi c regional (North Caucasian) features of the vocal polyphony of Karachays and Balkars. Drone presents the intersection axis with the church polyphony; it reveals the prospect for the studies of Karachay and Balkar vocal polyphony within the context of East Christian (Byzantine) liturgical songs. The possibility of this aspect of study, suggested for the fi rst time, is determined by Christianity having been spread among the ancestors of Karachays and Balkars, by the existence of the relics of their Christian past in the present time. Guided by the concepts of musical anthropology, history of the emergence of the Byzantine singing style, and the theory of the early forms of vocal polyphony, the author attempts to explain the profound kinship of the folklore and church forms of vocal polyphony. Their similarity (consonance) is not due to being borrowed but it arises from unifi ed performing and structural canons of «protopolyphony». Keywords: Karachays, Balkars, «protopolyphony», polyphony, dron, ison, diaphony, homophony, «diaphonia basilica». Contacts: E-mail: liliya-vishnevskaya@yandex.ru Pp. 36-41.