Toorama


Torama is a music group from Saransk, Mordovia in Russia, performing traditional songs and music of Mordvin ethnic groups, namely Erzya, Moksha, Shoksha, and Qaratay.
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History

Created in 1990 by 4 researchers of Mordvin language and traditions across the USSR, Torama was originally a choir of 9 men. Eventually, Vladimir Romashkin, a researcher and documentary film maker, emerged as the group's frontman. The ensemble Finno-Ugric ties eventually brought forward the Latinized spelling of the group's name via "oo" for long "o" instead of single "o" used in its Russian name Torama. In 2002, Vladimir Romashkin died.

Discography

  • 1996 Toorama — Mordvin Songs — Songs from Erzya Mordvin. MIPUCD 502, 1996. Traditional Erzya songs
  • 2000 Toorama — Taga Eriaza Shkai!
  • 2001 MeNaiset & Toorama — Mastorava ; MMCD1; Label: Sterns.
  • 2002 Toorama — Godspeed
  • 2018 Catch Up the Time

Cultural contribution

Polyphonic singing

Finno-Ugric singing tradition is most often described as bivocal, with 2 vocal lines developed in a choir.

Instrumental performance

While choir singing is widely represented across villages of Mordvins and in Saransk, the living instrumental ensemble performance was practically extinct to the point when Toorama started its reconstruction work and developed the instruments anew.