A difficult historical fate befell the Nekrasov Cossacks, a community of the Old-Rite Orthodox Christians who left Russia in the early 18th century. After the escalated religious conflict and the defeat of the peasant uprising on the Don River in 1707-1709, the Cossacks under the leadership of Ignat Nekrasov moved to the Kuban area (which at that time was under Turkish rule), then to the Danube River area and, finally, to Asia Minor. In the adopted land the ideals of the community formed, passed on through history as the precepts of Ignat Nekrasov. The most important one of them was to return to Russia, but to a Russia without a tsar. Following the name of Nekrasov, they started to call themselves the Nekrasov Cossacks.
The Cossacks remember and preserve not only the Russian musical folklore, but also the music of other peoples, for instance, the Turks and the Greeks.
The Nekrasov Cossacks’ singing presents choral monophony and heterophony: the female voices sound in the same register as the male ones, as if weaving in patterns around the core of the chant.
A particular feature of the tradition is in the preservation of the epic genre – the Russian “bylina” heroic epic (“Alyosha, the Son of the Priest and Tugarin the Serpent”, “Ilya from Murom on the Ship”) and historical songs (“On the Blue, Blue Sea the Ship Sails”, “From under the Sham-Mountain it was from under the Stone”).
Another epic genre of the Cossacks’ tradition are spiritual verses in which the experience of communion with Christianity in everyday life, outside of the church, has found its expression. The archaic verse about Feodor Tiron – “How the Ringing Bells Chimed” in performance by A. Ramzayeva and M. Elesyutikova – reminds one of the bylina verse about Yegory the Brave.
The basis of genre in the Nekrasov Cossacks’ tradition is formed by a lyricism of song, which is distinct by a rich melos (as is especially prominent in the song “The Little Pear”). Along with songs with little-known subject matter, found in the milieu of the Nekrasov Cossacks, there also could be found songs with popular plots from the Russian folklore, which are well-known in classical collections (such as “You Blossom, You are My Blossom, Blossom”).
The choral round (or Karagod) songs are timed to the period of the calendar from the Baptism to Shrovetide.
Rare examples of male singing in ensemble have been recorded in the last years (“It Happened Near the High, the Elevated Burial Mound”), which was the result of greater interest towards the Nekrasov Cossacks on the part of youth folklore ensembles. Very popular among the Nekrasov Cossacks are Turkish lyrical and humorous songs and tunes. They were adopted at fairs and in taverns. However, when performing foreign tunes, the Cossacks stretch out the vowels, gradually elevating the melody, which is not in the least customary for Turkish singing. Such novelty of sound greatly fascinated the Turks, who were fond of listening to their tunes in performance by the Nekrasov Cossacks.
Among the various appropriations from the folklore of other nations, there is the harmonica (the gubnushka or muzychka) which entered the Cossack’s everyday musical tradition.
The wealth of timbre colors is intrinsic to the vocal masters among the Nekrasov Cossacks: Semyon Milushkin, Anna Ramzayova, Maria Elesyutikova, Elena Gulina, Anna Chernyshova, et al.