Andrey V. Anokhin

Anokhin Andrey Victorovitch (Russian: Андре́й Ви́кторович Ано́хин; 1867-1931) was an Altai scientist - Turkologist, ethnographer, composer and educator.

A. V. Anokhin was born in a village Right Lamki in Tambov province' Arjan district. In the beginning of 1870 his family moved to Biisk. A. Anokhin graduated Biisk missionary school, continued his training in the Moskow Synodic school, and later took courses in the Saint Petersburg imperial court singing chapel. From 1900 A. Anokhin taught and composed in Tomsk; he joined the Tomsk branch of the Russian Musical Society and the Tomsk Society for Siberian studies led by G. N. Potanin. From 1906 to 1931 A. Anokhin made numerous ethnographic and folklore expeditions across Southern Siberia, Mongolia, and Eastern Kazakhstan. A.Anokhin worked with the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), which stores the materials of A. Anokhin expeditions.

A. Anokhin studied a musical culture of Altaians, recorded and processed more than 500 Altai songs, and about 300 songs of Teleuts, Khakases, and Tuvinians. He produced descriptions of national musical instruments, distinct musical harmonics, tonality and rhythm of the national songs and musical compositions. A.Anokhin wrote a number of research reports, and published works "Bogatyr (Mighty hero) epos", "Buddhist temple music", "Materials about Altaians' shamanism" [Texts/Anokhin-Shamanstvo.pdf] (Leningrad, 1924), "Burhanizm in Western Altai" (collection "Siberian lights", 1927).

From 1918 A. Anokhin worked in a Chemal (Mountain Altai) school, from 1921 he lived in Barnaul, teaching music and singing. He became an initiator of a concert series that included his compositions, a suite "Khan-Altai", poem "Khan-Erlik", an oratorio "Talai-khan". He authored musical compositions on Altai themes "Sary-khan", "Kanza-biy", "Tabyskak", some of his songs developed into folk songs.

In 1923 for his research about the beliefs of southern Altaians, A. Anokhin was elected a Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. From 1926 he lived in Ulal (modern Gorno-Altaisk); one of his students was a future prominent Turkologist professor L. P. Potapov.

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References

Translated from Kunstkamera Museum biographical site [3] in Russian