BRONISLAW PILSUDSKI - FROM THE MUSICAL NOTES OF THE SIBERIAN DEPORTEE (Bronislaw Pilsudski - z muzycznych zapisków zeslanca syberyjskiego)

The text aims to present musical descriptions drawn from the many accounts of Bronislaw Pilsudski (the brother of Marshal Józef Pilsudski), a Polish researcher who, as a deportee by the Russians, was studying the life and culture of the Ainu people - the ethnic minority who in the past lived in Sakhalin, in the region of Tohoku, in the Kuril Islands, and today are mostly living on Hokkaido Island. In the first part of the article the Pilsudski's life and his interest in ethnography is described, with a particular emphasis on his investigation of the Ainu people and his characterisation of them, in the light of his notes. In the second part of the text, based on reports by Pilsudski of the bear feast-day among the Ainu people, and musical descriptions, which he provided, he gives precious information about the function of music in the ceremonies of the Ainu, and these show Pilsudski's deep insight of into the life and culture of these people. The article is illustrated by some photographs taken in Sakhalin by Pilsudski himself.