The archive is a manifestation of fieldwork research in Documentary Linguistics.

Its aim is to describe the way of life and customs of a cheerful tribe, the Kalasha of the Hindu Kush valleys, Himalayas. This has been achieved through audio-visual recordings during my fieldwork research in the valleys where the Kalasha live.

The archive starts with the Introductory part (video 1) where I endeavor a risky trip on the mountains of Bumburet valley, accompanied by my research group of native speakers, with Taleem Khan as the leader. In this first video the description of the stunning landscape is in Greek and occasionally in Kalasha (Kal'as'amon).

The following videos show the three main annual festivals taking place in autumn, winter and spring, preceded by a short description for each one. The videos are shown with subtitles, where necessary (an arduous and time consuming work done by me and Tasos Paschalis).

Following the videos, there is the audio section where Kalasha tales are narrated by the Kalasha people. Actually, out of hundreds, I have selected only a few long tales. I have also included seventeen short ones paralleled to Aesop’s myths. For each tale there is a title. Under the title there is the audio part. In the Details and Transcript there is information about the date of the recording and the narrator, while with Native the reader can see a transcription in Kalasha and with English, a word-for-word translation (the so-called semantic) is provided, therefore missing the equivalent effect in the Kalasha language.

Elizabeth Mela-Athanasopoulou

I gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Ministry of Education, Athens, for funding my trips and stays in the Kalasha valleys, throughout the years 2007 and 2009 of data collection upon which the archive was based.

Thanks are also due to Aristotle University Research Committee for the financial support (Delta program, code 29426) of the fieldwork research regarding the video filming and the audio materials of the Kalasha tales presented in this video-audio book.

The archive would not have seen the light of day without the fruitful assistance of Mr. Taleem Khan, of the Bazik clan, native speaker and teacher of the Kalasha language, for his video and audio recordings, transcriptions of all the tales and his essential contribution in the translation process of the recorded material. Thanks to Taleem Khan the Kalasha way of life and tradition is vividly illustrated in the recordings. During my fieldwork stays in the valleys, it was him to encourage me to climb precipitous rocky mountains on the high pastures of the Himalayas for the sake of coming into contact with the Kalasha customs. Indeed, I owe a huge gratitude to him for standing by my side in this perilous trip. He would sometimes risk his own life to shoot rare photos and videos on the cliffs of the mountains.

I must also express my appreciation and thanks to my Kalasha friends for their kind hospitality and endurance while living with them in Bumburet valley: Mianzar and his wife Zarnisa (Taleem Khan’s parents), Shehinisha, Sehit Sharakat, Istar bibi (Taleem’s wife), Zahir Sha and the singer Puristamsha. I should not miss to thank the narrators of the tales included in this archive: Zarnisa, Ajigul, Mr Jone, Wat' Mast'er and Taleem Khan. Many thanks also to the singers Puristamsha and Taleem Khan.

Last but not least, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Mr. Tasos Paschalis, computer engineer at the School of English, Aristotle University, for his considerable knowledge and inexhaustible patience regarding the arduous work of the archive, especially in the montage and setting the subtitles of the numerous videos.

ELIZABETH MELA-ATHANASOPOULOU is an Associate Professor in Linguistics, Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, School of English, Faculty of Philosophy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.

She has written two books on Morphology and one on Language Documentation. During her academic career at Aristotle University, Prof. Mela-Athanasopoulou attended numerous International and World Conferences in Europe, the USA and Australia, always with a presentation paper, published with the Selected Papers volumes.

Based on direct documentation of personal data collection on the Kalasha language, she showed that the language has certainly been influenced by Ancient Greek. In March 2009, granted a scholarship by the Rectorate, Aristotle University, she participated in the 1st International Conference on Language Documentation and Conservation at the University of Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. The title of her work was ‘Documenting the Kalasha Language: Some Challenges and Solutions’, published here.

The result of her fieldwork research of the Kalasha was the publication of two books on the Kalasha language (Kalasha Grammar), and tradition (The Kalasha of the Hindu Kush valleys, Himalayas).

Prof. Mela-Athanasopoulou, now a pensioner, is still researching on the Kalasha and advising on language documentation.

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PART I. VIDEO RECORDINGS

Chapter 1. Introductory

Narrated in Greek by Elizabeth Mela-Athanasopoulou and occasionally in English or Kalasha by Taleem Khan

1. August 2009. Bumburet valley …
2. The Kalasha live primarily from livestock …
3. We continue our trip by jeep …
4. We are noiw at the top of the mountain …
5. The Birir man continues his tale …
6. I have moved to another Kalasha house …

Chapter 2. UCAW /ʊʧau/. The Autumn Annual Festival (18-22 August) in Bumburet valley

1. The watermill
2. Long line fast dances
3. Dancing in threes, fours or individually
4. Long line slow dance (the drazahilak)
5. Dancing individually
6. Kalasha emotional songs
7. Kalasha love songs and poetry

Chapter 3. CAWMOS /ʧaʋmɒs/ The Winter Festival

1. SARAZARI (9-10 December) The burning of freshly cut cedar branches
2. CUINARI (13 December) Dancing the hus'at'ik, “spiral-like circular dance”
3. SHARABIRAYAK (14 December) Making goat-like statuettes, called kut'amrũ, from dough
4. MANDAHIK (15 December) The ritual of “feeding” the spirits of the dead
5. SAWEL'IK HARI (16 December) Having fun dancing in disguise
6. S'IS'AU ADUA (18 December) The day of women’s purification with s'is'au (pure bread)
7. CHEL'IK SAMBIEK/GOS'NIK COPA (19 December) The morning a child is dressed the Kalasha uniform entering the Kalasha community
8. SUDON ISTONGAS (18 December) The ritual of men’s purification with male goat blood sprinkled on their heads
9. GROHONYAK (20 December) Women making conical baskets (the grohonyak) while singing to Balimahin (one of their gods, cf Greek Apollo)
10. C'ANJ'ARAT (20 December) The night of lit torches

Chapter 4. The Spring Festival The Zhoshi festival (13-16 May) and the Mrac'waki Zhoshi (27-31 May)

1. Bisha: yellow flower decorations, (May 13)
2. C'hirik pipi “the milk offering day”, (May 14)
3. Dancing 1. (May 14)
4. C'hir histik “the milk sprinkling day”, (May 15)
5. Dancing 2, (May 15)
6. Prayers, (May 15)
7. The kazi, (May 14-15)
8. Chel'ik sambiek -Getting dressed the Kalasha costume, (May 15)
9. Ghona Zhoshi “the big Zhoshi”, (May 16)
10. Mrac'waki Zhoshi “the mulberry harvesting festival”, (May 27-31)

PART II. AUDIO RECORDINGS

A. KALASHA LONG TALES

1. Joari pacik zhe, warek moc azhuaw (When the corn was ripe, another man ate it)
2. Sharaas som mhasta ne shial'a (The markhor had no brain)
3. Prus't' Bayas (The good brother)
4. Istrizhagu'ak to behestani pishtyak halaw (The girl brought him back from heaven)
5. Khaca babas (The wicked sister)
6. Tasa nom Shuragal'i (Her name is Shuragal'i (A Bashali tale))
7. KAL'AS'A GHÕ' Kalasha songs (i)
8. KAL'AS'A GHÕ' Kalasha songs (ii)

B. KALASHA SHORT TALES (similar to Aesop’s myths)

1. Bo kushush kareli hiu saw ishnyaharian. (Be very careful with everything.)
2. L'awak mai aau ki, “Drac' cruka hul'a”. (The fox and the unripe grapes.)
3. Zemindaras ponj putr asta. (The farmer had five sons.)
4. Tan putrasi kai mai aau ki “abi pe tiphakuna apow pral'i haw, moc mimi chinik ne bhaan”. (He said to his own sons: “If you stay united, people will not be able to defeat you”.)
5. L'awakas raw kas asta mon homa kõ' ne kareli hiu. (We should not listen to the words of a shrewd person.)
6. L'awak ka'ga'as lawala. (The fox lied to the raven.)
7. Ek wal'moc sagash pashil'a. (A shepherd saw an eagle.)
8. Gras s'is' kuchala. (The wolf scratched its head.)
9. May jhan shishoyak. (My spirit is beautiful.)
10. Sagash zhe l'awak. (The eagle and the fox.)
11. Shõ'a wakda khilawi araw. (The dog broke its promise.)
12. Narkũ'kũ', l'awak zhe shõ'a. (The rooster, the fox and the dog.)
13. S'e'a moc. (The blind man.)
14. Gras ishpõ'i banjala. (The wolf that played the flute.)
15. Ek moc malan som tijarat kada. (A man made a deal with animals.)
16. Saman zhe gardhok hãshas hatya pharala. (He loaded the horse with the donkey and the donkey’s load, too.)
17. Shõ'a uguna kai mos pashtya. (A dog saw a piece of meat in the river.)