The fate of the song "Port Arthur"

The song "Port Arthur" is a little-known gem of Crimean Tatar musical creativity outside of Crimea. The aim of the research is to showcase the phenomenon of transforming a song about a war in the distant and unfamiliar Port Arthur into one of the most iconic folk songs of the Crimean Tatars. In the course of the research, the authors set out to accomplish the following tasks: dating the emergence of the song, understanding the circumstances of its creation, conducting a linguistic analysis of the text and a musical analysis of the score, and tracing the fate of the song in the life of the Crimean Tatar people. The theoretical foundation primarily draws on the works of domestic art scholars M.P. Fomenkov, R.F. Hakimov, and R.I. Khalitova. The practical part of the research is based on the analysis of all available texts and scores of the song, previously little-known memoirs of participants in the defense of Port Arthur, as well as the recollections of witnesses of the song's performance in the Crimean Tatar cultural community during the conditions of life in deportation. A comparative analysis of Bashkir, Tatar, and Crimean Tatar texts, as well as the score of the song "Port Arthur" of all three peoples, has been conducted. As a result of the research, it was established that the song emerged after the capitulation of the fortress, but before the defenders were sent to Japan as prisoners of war. The presumed author of the song is a Crimean Tatar who served in the 7th Company of the Kwantung Fleet. The text and melody of the song are original and have no analogs. In the conditions of life in deportation, the song "Port Arthur" received a completely new impetus and became the main song that expressed the longing for the lost Crimea. The previously published translation of the song into Russian by an unknown translator is inaccurate. For the first time in the context of the song, the hero mentioned in the 7th verse, Lieutenant Tapsashar, of the defense of Port Arthur is discussed. The versions of the song "Port Arthur" that have become folk songs for the Bashkirs and Tatars are completely independent works with their own destiny. Currently, the song remains in demand and is performed by choral groups, but now as a tribute not only to the musical culture of the Crimean Tatars but also as one of the most vivid events in the history of the people. The song "Port Arthur" has become one of the artifacts of Russian history.