Abstract: Modern practices of establishing good neighborly relations between the people of the South of Russia, implemented through festival projects and various social and cultural events organized by leaders of public organizations and representatives of government structures, are revealed. It is shown how the festival "Peace to the Caucasus", which started in 1996, influenced the establishment of a peaceful dialogue between representatives of Ingushetia and Ossetia, between artists of professional groups from all over the South of Russia; psychologically set people up for general civil unity and a positive attitude towards each other. The expansion of the content of the Festival, the inclusion of exhibitions of arts and crafts and demonstrations "Podvoriy" also allowed to expand the composition of festival participants, to include amateur groups and soloists in its programs. The issues of choosing the locations of festivals, their financing, established traditions and the gradual expansion of the geography of participants are discussed. At the same time, the presence of certain problems associated with the lack of new "life-giving forces" aimed at achieving the general goal of establishing peace and harmony in the South of Russia is emphasized. Other practices of kunakry between creative teams and their leaders (Viktor Zakharchenko and Aslan Nekhay) are also shown, as well as examples of promoting initiatives aimed at highlighting the facts of good neighborliness and cooperation. These include the Kunaki documentary film festival and the Kunachestvo project, implemented by the Ministry for Cooperation with Civil Society Institutions and Ethnic Affairs of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic. The study used a content analysis of information from open sources and expert interviews on the spectrum of reflection and application in the modern culture of the North Caucasus and the South of Russia of the creative potential of the practices of kunakry and good neighborliness

Abstract: The object of the study is the official documents of the Government of Rostov-on-Don and the Rostov region, defining the strategy of state policy in relation to the formation and strengthening of civic identity, as well as the practice of implementing this policy through content analysis of the activities of various civil institutions. More than 150 ethnic groups live in the Rostov region. The population is more than 4 million people. According to the 2020 census, approximately 90% identified themselves as Russians; slightly more than 2% as Armenians, and even fewer as Ukrainians. Rostov-on-Don is today a border city with a difficult social situation, although in the Soviet years it was a large industrial, scientific, educational and cultural center of the country with attractive climatic and economic conditions. The purpose of the study is to reveal the forms of interaction between theorists and practitioners who comprehend and work on issues of building and strengthening civic identity in the region, demonstrating the positive results of this cooperation and discussing the problems that arise along the way. The research methods are content analysis of the websites of the Government of the Rostov Region and its pages on the VKontakte portal, the official websites of the Southern Federal University and the Don State Technological University; the Taganrog News Agency "My Taganrog"; the websites of the Military Cossack Society "All-Great Army of the Don"; the Central City Public Library named after A. P. Chekhov (Taganrog); and others. Summarizing the content analysis, the authors point to the need for closer interaction between representatives of the scientific elite and officials, especially in terms of developing regional strategies on interethnic relations and youth policy; the need to intensify the work of national cultural communities in the region; strengthening responsibility for the reliability of sociological research; ending the practice of assessing the importance of the work done by the number of participants in events; using Internet portals of municipalities are not only used to cover the work of housing and communal services, but also for socially significant events with a patriotic and civic solidarity orientation.
The research is promising both in terms of expanding the scientific field, including data from portals of cities, districts, rural settlements, secondary schools, mass media (including radio and television) in content analysis; and in terms of "deepening" the research, involving the analysis of reporting documentation from various government departments and civil institutions.

Abstract: This article explores the works of the famous Kabardian fashion designer Madina Alisagovna Hatsukova, whose costumes are worn by the guards of the King of Jordan, artists of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, prominent statesmen of the Chechen Republic, popular singers and musicians, and numerous ladies for their wedding ceremonies. The article represents a panoramic overview of the works of Madina Hatsukova, taking into account all aspects of interest of the designer. Description is given to various types of activity of the fashion designer – from hand embroidery and lace weaving to creating sewing patterns and scientific research on decoding of the ornaments in the museum samples of ancient costumes. This publication is inspired by the Madina Hatsukova’s personal exhibition “Princess of the Sun”, held in the North Caucasus branch of the State Museum of Oriental Art in Maykop in September-October 2021. The novelty of this article consists in comprehensive analysis of the works of Madina Hatsukova, which are widely known in North Caucasus and not so much to the Russians audience interested in modern ethnic costume. Although Madina’s works are intentionally limited to the traditional patterns and configuration, she experiments with different types of fabrics, their combinations and color solutions. National costume for a symbol of cultural revival, rather than a symbol of the past; it is the symbol of ethnic identification. Madina Hatsukova contributes to high symbolic load of the traditional costume, forms empathy of not only Circassians, but the entire multicultural population of the Russian Federation.

Abstract: This article analyzes the concept of “ethnic painting”, Russian and Western sources on the topic, as well as controversial approaches towards its interpretation. It is established that the Russian science avoids using the concept of “ethnic painting” to ambiguity of its content. The most commonly concepts in sphere are “national art”, “ethnocultural manifestations”, “territorial-ethnic nature of painting”, “national peculiarities”, and “national distinctness of art schools”. In Western literature, the concept of “ethnic painting” is attributed to both, folk art and professional art. Parallel is drawn between the concept of “national culture” and “ethnic culture”. The research is based on the painting of Circassians (Adyghe) of Russia and Turkey. Using the methods of comparative studies, comparative typology and art analysis, the article explores the works of contemporary Circassian painters of Turkey and Russia, revealing the specificity and universal characteristics of their paintings. The works of professional artists, which meet certain characteristics, should be referred to as “ethnic painting”. The author describes the key attributes and functions of plastic arts that allow classifying it as the concept of “ethnic”: 1) figurative characteristics (visualization of mythological and epic heroes and plotlines, ritual and common culture); 2) translation of ethnic mental characteristics and values; 3) design of ethnic identity and solidarity by means of painting; 4) introduction the art of painting not only to the elite, but other social classes as well; 5) usage of public instruments for proliferation and popularization of painting through education and enlightenment; 6) comprehension of ethnic art as a crucial element of national art; 7) development of ethnic art through various contaminants (ethnocultural content and modernist form or technique; modern content in the traditional genre or form).

Abstract: This article reviews painting and graphics of Adyghe artists, which plotlines and images resemble musical instruments, musicians, and in a certain way, music itself. The author assumes that the entire heritage in this area can be divided into three groups. The first group contains the artworks that are perceived as historical documents testifying to the presence or absence of certain types of musical instruments, ways of playing those, dances, dance positions, moves, etc.; this also includes paintings with ethnographically precise reproduction of the past or present reality, which depicts music and motions. The second group contains the portraits of prominent musicians who significantly contributed to the history of regional culture. The third group is comprised of the musical instruments and dance, which visualize something secret behind the traditional things. Each group has a special technique and means of visualization of music and musical instruments. The novelty of this research lies in examination of the canvases of Adyghe painters preserved in the funds of the North Caucasus branch of the State Museum of Oriental Art (Maykop), and are virtually unknown to the general audience; in articulation of the topic aimed at examination of means of visualization of music, musical instruments and musicians in painting and graphics; in the proposed non-homogeneous classification of painting heritage related to music, musical instruments and musicians, which can be implicated to any other regional culture; in determination of the role of this type of cultural heritage for future generation. It is stated that painting and graphics exhibited in museums are not perceives so much the past as the present, which is included in the cultural and emotional-psychological life of modernity.

Abstract: The author considers one of the five operas performed at the 2019 festival “Archstoyanie” in the village of Nikola-Lenivets, Kaluga oblast. In the natural environment, among meadows, trees, barrows, and basins, artists build art objects in which young composers perform their works. Artiom Pyś, the Moscow Conservatory alumnus, performed an hour and a half opera “teo/TEO/Theo”. 
The article analyzes the idea and the concept of the piece; the author analyzes the music text and raises the question about the future of opera as a music genre. The author uses the method of comprehensive analysis which includes a brief characteristics of the work of a young composer, the structural, compositional and conceptual analysis of the music text. The scientific novelty consists in the first and the only review of one of the projects of the Contemporary Music Laboratory, in the analysis of an original piece of music which can be in the vanguard of Russia’s artistic achievements. Based on the research, the author makes suggestion about the discovery of a new direction in opera art, connected with both narrative moves (the opera’s lead character is virtual Teo/TEO/Theo), and a postmodern mixture of music genres, opera patterns and sound experiments including those involving human voice. 
 

Abstract: This is the review of a monograph written by a Soviet Kazakhstan academic writer and Doctor of Arts Saule Utegalieva 'The World of Sound of Turk Music: Theory, History, and Practice' (the Case Study of Instrumental Music Traditions of the Central Asia' pulished in Moscow by the Composer Publishing. In her review Sokolova underlines the importance of this 30-year research that covered a major layer of instrumental music cultures of Central Asian Turk nations and revealed in-depth features of instrumental sound. From inside the culture, the author of the monograph explains conceptual and axiological meanings of Turk sound timbres and demonstrates the integrity of Turk world of sound both horizontally (in relation to different Turk nations), vertically (using the same principles of making sound by different musical instruments) and diagonally (construction of a musical form of an instrumental music composition). To write the review, Sokolova has applied the method of critical analysis and principles of hermeneutics to interpret the origin of particular ideas represented by the author of the monograph. The monograph was published in Moscow in 2013 but has not been presented to the general Russian reader. This review is intended not only to attract attention to a serious research of Saule Utegalieva but also outline the most nettlesome problems of modern instrumental music research. In addition, taking into account the new cultural policy of Kazakhstan and adoption of Latin alphabet by Kazakhs Russian-Kazakhstan research communication has very little chance. Saule Utegalieva's research is one of the recent fundamental researches devoted to traditional music that has been published in Russia.  

Abstract: This article argues the need for joining the efforts of the scholars of various disciplines aimed at examination of liturgical practices and cults arts of different confessions. The main challenge of such goal-setting serves the fact of inextricable connection between the social and confessional life of the society, presence of the universal issues regarding the existence of the liturgical canons, methods of their renewal, capabilities and status of the cult arts included into the ritual activities. The relevance of solution of the artistic problems is substantiated by the increasing number of temples being built, as well as emergence of the new forms of ritual practices. Describing the diverse approaches and methods necessary for cognizing the nominated humanitarian sphere, the authors point at certain advantages in acquiring the new knowledge upon the condition of the synchronized and complex examination of the liturgical practices and cult arts of various confessions and comparative-typological approach in studying the sacral and secular arts. The scientific novelty consists in declaring the new area of humanitarian research – hieroartology, which is the study of art included into the liturgical practices that forms and assists the sanctity and sacredness of these practices. The new research area will allow revealing the common and specific in using the canonic texts in the religious and secular arts; overcome the inconsistencies in studying the liturgical practices of different confessions; initiate research of the modern liturgical canon and cult arts of the Buddhist, Judaists, and Muslims that are currently have been studied fragmentary; acquire new knowledge about the authors engaged in the sphere of cult art or referring to it as private method in the contexts of secular.

Abstract: The object of this research is the culture of Kurdish migrants that currently comprise over 13% of the population of Krasnogvardeysky District in the Republic of Adygea. The subject of this research is the prevention and overcoming of conflicts exercised within the ethnic group as one of the adaptive forms of the “nomadic nation” and simultaneously as a method of self-defense, acquisition of relative social stability in the accepting community. Based on “cultural portrait” of the Adygea Kurds, the author examines the forms of prevention, overcoming or solution of the ethnic conflicts that are defined by the traditional culture. The adherence to it, preservation of canons make the life of an ethnic group well-ordered and predictable. The scientific novelty of this work consists in the scientifically authentic description of the modern status of the ethnic group of Adygea Kurds, comparative analysis of the archetypical and contemporary sociocultural images that bring new colors to the ethnic picture of the world. The author determines the two forecasting scenarios of the development of ethnic group. The first claims the increase of Kurds who attend high school, obtain higher education, demonstrate reasonable Russian language skills, as well as oriented towards the intercommunal and interethnic resolution of conflicts. The second possible scenario is defined by the diasporic status of the ethnic group, readiness to move to Kurdistan in case of the official proclamation of such state. The author believes that the responsible explanation of the cultural values, symbols, and behavioral codes of all national cultures that are the part of the Republic of Adygea will result in fewer conflicts.

Abstract: The concept of "sacred thinking" is examined in the context of terminological problems of contemporary science and the phenomenon of sociocultural practice of modern Abkhazians. The subject of this research is the sacred thinking in the discourse of national and foreign science. The authors suggest a hypothesis of the existence of distinct "sacred gene" as an ontological feature and sign of formation of the value-normative social markers of any human community. The conducted analysis allows determining the two components of "sacred thinking of the Abkhazians: religious and sociocultural, oriented towards preservation of ethnos and its adjustment to any historical metamorphoses. The article applies the method of comparative analysis of the notions of “sacred” and “sacred thinking” used in the contemporary scientific practice, as well as the method of generalization of empirical data that actualize the sacred thinking. The scientific novelty lies in assertion of the purposefulness of using the concept of “sacred thinking” in the modern scientific discourse due to its reference to the scientific subject. Therefore, the notion of “sacred thinking” manifests as a functional term that explains and specifies the examined phenomenon (action). At the same time, the present material can be perceived as a call for active collaboration of the experts of various “disciplinary fields” in search for the so-termed “sacred gene” participating in formation and development of any culture.

Abstract: The subject of the study is Zaur Tutov's book "Melodies of My Destiny" published in the author's edition in Moscow in 2016. It has 7 sections (Childhood, Adolescence, Youth, Becoming, Hopes for Restructuring, Troubled Nineties, Work in the Government of the CBD, Friends in Life and Afterword). The book is supplemented with dozens of photos, reprints of interviews and speeches of the famous singer, reviews of people who know him, Internet links to sites where you can listen to music in his performance. The reviewer has used the method of analytical dissection of the author's text through the prism of his creative and public-state work. She gives an assessment of his attitude towards friends and colleagues, characterizes the civic position of the artist, his attitude to titles and awards, the role of the singer in the development of Soviet and Russian pop music. One of the first responses to the book of Zaur Tutov can make others be interested in the book and at the same time make the reader think about the history of the Russian stage which is not limited to a small number of names constantly "flashing" on the blue screens. Zaur Tutov's book is a confession of his soul, an indicator of the fate of an ordinary rural boy who rose to the musical Olympus because of his talent and diligence. At the same time, the book reveals the nature of the Adygeyan man, proud, fair, for whom ethnic values are in the forefront, but patriotic moods are also strong. He is Adyg and citizen of Russia, and he is proud of this as an artist and as a person.

Abstract: The object of the research is the dance culture of Western Circassians living on the territory of modern Adygeya. The subject of the research is dance genres as combinations of musical-instrumental, plot-shaped and plastic components. The author examines such aspects of the topic as the cause of the deformation of the old system of dance genres, reasons, conditions and channels through which "forgotten" or other ethnic genres come into the dance culture generating new meanings in the reconstructed genres. Particular attention is paid to the problem of artistic values in the process of reproduction and generation of new artistic products. The author has used the methods of comparative-typological and systems analysis and empirical methods of participant observation and informal interviews with cultural figures. The scientific novelty of the research is caused by the fact that the author brings forth the problem associated with the attempt to define the genre-style dance music model of Western Circassians and analyzes causes and conditions of social and cultural changes that caused the formation of the new system of dance music. The main conclusion of the research is the statement of the fact that the gendre model of dance music of Western Circassians was renewed by developing the forgotten, borrowing and processing other ethnic artistic heritage. Noteworthy that people usually accept something new if it is perceived as succession or inheritance, i.e. what is understandable for the modern society, promotes spiritual potentials of the society and expresses social collective unconscious.