Kai Donner (1888–1935)
Kai Donner (1888–1935) Title of Docent in Uralic linguistics, explorer and activist
Kai Donner made a career as an explorer visiting the Siberian people, as a linguist and ethnologist and as a key activist in Finland’s independence movement.
In 1911–1913 and 1914, Donner made two expeditions to the Samoyedic people of Siberia along the Yenisei and Ob rivers. In his memoirs, Donner describes his meeting with the Kamasin people as follows:
I have previously mentioned that in 1912, with the help of my friend, I. I. Berdnikov, I discovered a few people who spoke the Samoyedic Kamas language in a small forest village named Abalakovo. And so I made my way to that village. […] After a fiery troika horse carriage had carried its weary travellers for half an hour, I already felt as if my insides had been ripped out, and sadly my phonograph could not withstand such a journey – it had gone completely out of order. The machine was thoroughly filled with dirt, making it quite difficult to clean.
I quickly won over the children by giving a piece of sugar for each butterfly or other insect. […] The older townspeople were amazed to listen to my phonograph, which could sing their songs and tell tales in their language as well as they could. Thus, my stay with them turned out to be quite amusing.
Kai Donner: Siperian samojedien keskuudessa. Otava 1923
Šamaŋka in Abalakovo village in Siberia in 1914
In his trip to Siberia in 1914, Donner met Šamaŋka – a female shaman of the Kamasin people. Šamaŋka sung various songs in the Kamas language.
Šamaŋka, kamasin shaman. SKS KRA FON Donner, Kai 1914:19.
The license for the sound recording is CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 You can share this work with others as long as you cite the author. The work may not be modified in any way, nor may it be used for commercial purposes.
Old Greek man in the Abalakovo village in Siberia, 1912
In Abalakovo, Donner also met an old Greek person, who had been exiled to Siberia. The old man sung as Turkish song to Donner, which he stated to originate from Istanbul.
Turkish song from Constantinople (in Turkish). SKS KRA FON Donner, Kai 1912:
The license for the sound recording is CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 You can share this work with others as long as you cite the author. The work may not be modified in any way, nor may it be used for commercial purposes.
