Two centuries ago, The Tale of Igor's Campaign was found and published in Russia - a unique ancient Russian poem that turned our understanding of the level and depth of the culture of our ancestors. At the very beginning of her text, an unknown author mentioned the old singer Boyan, and soon the previously unseen name became known throughout the country. As a result, Boyan turned into a brand and almost a trademark, giving his name to the musical instrument bayan.
Who is Boyan
In the text of The Tale of Igor's Campaign, Boyan is mentioned only a few times, and information about him is rather scarce. Here, for example, is a small fragment from the poem translated by Nikolai Zabolotsky:That Boyan, full of marvelous powers,
Getting to the prophetic tune,
He circled the field like a gray wolf,
Like an eagle, soared under the cloud,
Spreading thought along the tree.
The image of the famous poet and singer in Ancient Rus' interested historians, because earlier they did not find any information about him in chronicles or other sources. Unless another literary monument, "Zadonshchina", again casually spoke about Boyan, but this was explained by the fact that the author of "Zadonshchina" borrowed a lot of turns and techniques from "The Tale of Igor's Campaign".
If we assume that Boyan is a contemporary of the author of The Tale of Igor's Campaign, then it turns out that he lived in the second half of the 11th century and performed songs of his own composition at the court and squad of the Kiev prince. He did this to the accompaniment of a stringed plucked instrument such as a harp.
The image of Boyan appealed to the readers of the Lay. Pushkin made him one of the characters in his poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila", and thanks to her, the spelling through "a" - "Bayan" was fixed behind the name "Boyan":
The speeches merged into an indistinct noise:
A cheerful circle buzzes the guests;
But suddenly there was a pleasant voice
And the sonorous harp is a fluent sound;
Everyone was silent, listening to Bayan:
And praise the sweet singer
Lyudmila-charm and Ruslana
And Lelem crowned them.
Controversy and discussion
Skeptics pondered whether there really could be a person about whom only one ancient Russian author spoke. Some scholars have suggested that it was invented for The Tale of Igor's Campaign to decorate the work. Boyan was believed to be a name of Bulgarian origin, which means that it could be borrowed from some story or legend of a kindred Slavic people.
Other critics thought that "bojan" was a kind of synonym for bard and troubadour. They tried to translate the name, for example, as “bashchik”, “krasnobay”, that is, “knowing stories”, “knowing fables”. Accordingly, Boyan is just a generalized name for a fictional character, like the Master in Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita.
Later finds disproved doubts: Boyans lived in Rus', and there were many of them. An inscription was found on the wall of the St. Sophia Cathedral about the purchase of "Boyan's land" (land holdings of some Boyan) by the widow of Prince Vsevolod Olgovich. Several people named Boyan were mentioned in the birch-bark letters of Novgorod and Staraya Russa. And in Novgorod itself in the Middle Ages there was "Boyana Ulka" - Boyana Street. A fragment of this street in 1991 even returned the historical name.
So, most likely, the court singer under the name Boyan really could exist. Unfortunately, the facts about his namesake did not add information about him. But who knows what discoveries historical science will make in the future...
From singer to musical instrument
The popularity of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" and Pushkin's poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila", as well as the opera of the same name by Mikhail Glinka, made Boyan's name famous throughout Russia. If the conditional ancient Russian chronicler was inevitably associated with the name of Nestor, then the ancient Russian musician and singer was associated with Boyan. Antique fashion has turned the name into a brand. For example, several Russian ships were named after Boyan - first a small corvette, and then a couple of cruisers.
At the end of the 19th century, the word "Bayan" was added as the brand name of a manual clarinet harmonica. The name began to be added to different types of harmonicas.
But a full-fledged button accordion as a musical instrument appeared thanks to the St. Petersburg master Peter Sterligov. In 1907, for the talented harmonist Yakov Orlansky-Titarenko, he made a special design of the harmonica, and it was with this instrument, which they began to call simply the "button accordion", that Orlansky-Titarenko began touring the country.
Today, few accordionists think that they owe the name of the profession to the hero of The Tale of Igor's Campaign. However, according to the legends, the talented Boyan would have easily relearned and could perform his songs to the accompaniment of the Russian harmonica.
BOYAN THE THINGS - SINGER AND STORYTORY Boyan or Bayan is an ancient Russian character, which is mentioned in the Word about Igor's regiment. Boyan is an ancient Russian singer and storyteller. In addition, most likely, it was a real person, which we will discuss below, in the Slavic faith, he became practically a Pagan Saint and even a God, the patron of arts and foresight. No wonder. Each religion has its own saints, who after death, for one reason or another, are exalted as miracle workers or people close to God. The same thing happened with Boyan, who during his lifetime composed stories, music and had a prophetic gift. In some places, you can find that Boyan is the God of music, poetry and creativity in general, as well as the grandson of the pagan God Veles. Initially, linguists refer the word Boyan to several variants. Boyan is a common ancient Slavic name that has a double designation: 1. fearsome and 2. witchcraft, spells, sorcerer; Puyan - of Bulgarian-Turkic origin, means - Rich; Bayan - Kazakh origin, meaning - to narrate, tell; Baalnik, baanie - to tell fortunes, to speak; Bayan is a sorcerer, wizard, sorcerer. The image of the poet is associated with both meanings of his name and is understood as a magician storyteller. After the name of the narrator Boyan became mythological, it began to mean exactly the legend, conversations and songs - bayan, bayan, fable, bayat, lull, etc. In the literature of the 20th century, Boyan became a household name for indicating a Russian singer and gusliar. Karamzin introduced Boyan to the Pantheon of Russian Authors as "the most glorious Russian poet in antiquity." The most common point of view of researchers of Russian history is that the ancient Russian Boyan the Prophet was a court singer of the Russian princes of the 11th century (presumably the Chernigov-Tmutorokan princes). The Word about Igor's Campaign says that Boyan sang of three princes: Mstislav Vladimirovich the Brave, Yaroslav the Wise and Roman Svyatoslavich (Yaroslav's grandson). Vseslav of Polotsk is also mentioned, whom Boyan blamed for capturing Kyiv. Here we see a manner typical for court singers of composing songs of praise and songs of blasphemy. He was the author and performer of his songs, he sang and played a musical instrument himself. Here is one of the refrains of his song about Vseslav of Polotsk: "Neither cunning, nor much, nor a bird is far from the judgment of God." Other words that the author of the story quotes: "Begin your song according to the epic of this time, and not according to Boyan's plan", "It is hard for the head except for the shoulder, anger for the body except for the head." However, all the information on this subject is taken from one source, to trust which or not - scientists are still arguing. The author of the Word about the regiment says that Boyan is not only a singer, but also a prophetic person who is capable of being a werewolf - "Boyan is prophetic, if anyone wants to create a song, then he will spread his thoughts along the tree, like a gray wolf on the ground, a shiz eagle under the clouds." The author calls him the grandson of Veles, from whom he was endowed with high poetic abilities. In accordance with this statement, the figure of the ancient Russian storyteller became not only historical and memorable, but also related to the Slavic Pantheon of the Gods, having a Divine origin. Modern pagans and Slavers of the Ancient Gods often honor Boyan at temples and ask him to endow them with creative talent, inspiration, and good luck in various arts. Gusli Slovishi It is worth mentioning that a very old Boyana Street has been preserved in Veliky Novgorod, probably on behalf of a Novgorodian who lived here. On this occasion, there are a lot of assumptions, one of which is that Boyan was the same Novgorod Magus Bogomil. B.A. Rybakov offers us a very interesting study. This story refers to the baptism of Novgorod in 988. The high priest of the Slavs, Bogomil, who lived in Novgorod, actively resisted the planting of a new faith by Vladimir and raised a real rebellion. Unfortunately, Dobrynya and Putyata defeated the resistance of Novgorod, killed many people, crushed idols and temples, and baptized others by force. So, that same priest of Bogomil was called the Nightingale, nicknamed so from his eloquence. Bojan was also called a nightingale. Later, in the Novgorod Land in a layer dating back to 1070-1080, a harp was found with the inscription "Slovisha" i.e. Nightingale, which supposedly belonged to the same priest and sorcerer Bogomil-Nightingale. All this, and also the almost identical time of existence of both of them, gives us the right to make assumptions that Bogomil and Boyan could be one and the same person. photo 3 - Gusli Gusliar Slovishi (drawing) photo 4 - Monument to Boyan in the city of Trubchevsk
All peoples in the world have their own national instruments. For Russians, the button accordion can rightfully be considered such an instrument. He received a special distribution in the Russian outback, where, perhaps, not one event, whether it be a wedding, or any folk festivals, can not do without it.
However, few people know that the oriental musical instrument "sheng" became the progenitor of the beloved button accordion. The basis for extracting the sound of which, as in the button accordion, was the reed principle. Researchers believe that more than 2000-3000 years ago it appeared and began to spread in China, Burma, Laos and Tibet. Sheng was a body with bamboo tubes on the sides, inside of which there were copper tongues. In Ancient Rus', sheng appeared along with the Tatar-Mongol invasion. From here it began to spread throughout Europe.
Many masters had a hand in creating the button accordion in the form in which we are accustomed to seeing it at different times. In 1787, the master from the Czech Republic F. Kirchner decided to create a musical instrument, where the sound would appear due to vibrations of a metal plate in an air column, which was pumped with a special fur chamber. 
Kirchner even designed the first models of his instrument. At the beginning of the 19th century, the German F. Bushman made a mechanism for tuning the organs he served. In the 2nd quarter of the 19th century in Vienna, an Austrian with Armenian roots K. Demian, taking Bushman's invention as a basis and modifying it, produced the first prototype of the button accordion. Demian's instrument included 2 independent keyboards with bellows between them. The keys on the right keyboard were for playing melody, the keys on the left keyboard were for bass. Similar musical instruments (harmonics) were brought to the Russian Empire in the first half of the 19th century, where they gained great popularity and distribution. In our country, workshops began to be quickly created, and even entire factories for the manufacture of various types of harmonicas.
In 1830, in the Tula province, at one of the fairs, the master gunsmith I. Sizov bought an outlandish foreign musical instrument - an harmonica. The inquisitive Russian mind could not resist disassembling the instrument and seeing how it works. Seeing a very simple design, I. Sizov decided to assemble his own version of a musical instrument, which was called the "accordion".
Tula amateur accordionist N. Beloborodov decided to create his own instrument with a large number of musical possibilities in comparison with the accordion. His dream came true in 1871, when he, together with the master P. Chulkov, designed a two-row accordion. 
The accordion became three-row in 1891, thanks to the master from Germany G. Mirwald. After 6 years, P. Chulkov presented his instrument to the public and musicians, which made it possible to receive ready-made chords with one press of a key. Constantly changing and improving, the accordion gradually became an accordion.
In 1907, the musical figure Orlansky-Titorenko made an order to the master P. Sterligov for the manufacture of a complex four-row musical instrument. The instrument was named "button accordion" in honor of the storyteller from ancient Russian folklore. Bayan improved after 2 decades. P. Sterligov creates an instrument with an elective system located on the left keyboard.
In the modern world, the button accordion has become a universal musical instrument. When playing on it, a musician can perform both folk songs and classical musical works transcribed to him.
Boyan or Bayan is an ancient Russian character, which is mentioned in the Word about Igor's Campaign. Boyan is an old Russian singer and storyteller. In addition, most likely, it was a real person, which we will discuss below, in the Slavic faith, he became practically a Pagan Saint and even a God, the patron of arts and foresight. No wonder. Each religion has its own saints, who after death, for one reason or another, are exalted as miracle workers or people close to God. The same thing happened with Boyan, who during his lifetime composed stories, music and had a prophetic gift. In some places, you can find that Boyan is the God of music, poetry and creativity in general, as well as the grandson of the pagan God Veles.
Initially, linguists refer the word Boyan to several variants. Boyan is a common ancient Slavic name that has a double designation: 1. fearsome and 2. witchcraft, spells, sorcerer; Puyan - of Bulgarian-Turkic origin, means - Rich; Bayan - Kazakh origin, meaning - to narrate, tell; Baalnik, baanie - to tell fortunes, to speak; Bayan is a sorcerer, wizard, sorcerer. The image of the poet is associated with both meanings of his name and is understood as a magician storyteller. After the name of the storyteller Boyan became mythological, it began to mean exactly the legend, conversations and songs - button accordion, bayan, fable, bayat, lull, etc. In the literature of the 20th century, Boyan became a household name for indicating a Russian singer and gusliar. Karamzin introduced Boyan to the Pantheon of Russian Authors as "the most glorious Russian poet in antiquity."
The most common point of view of researchers of Russian history is that the ancient Russian Boyan the Prophet was a court singer of the Russian princes of the 11th century (presumably the Chernigov-Tmutorokan princes). The Word about Igor's Campaign says that Boyan sang of three princes: Mstislav Vladimirovich the Brave, Yaroslav the Wise and Roman Svyatoslavich (Yaroslav's grandson). Vseslav of Polotsk is also mentioned, whom Boyan blamed for capturing Kyiv. Here we see a manner typical for court singers of composing songs of praise and songs of blasphemy. He was the author and performer of his songs, he sang and played a musical instrument himself. Here is one of the refrains of his song about Vseslav of Polotsk: “Neither cunning, nor much, nor a bird is far from the judgment of God.” Other words quoted by the author of the story: “Start your song according to the epic of this time, and not according to Boyan’s plan,” “It’s hard for the head except for the shoulder, anger for the body except for the head.” However, all the information on this subject is taken from one source, to trust which or not - scientists are still arguing.
The author of the Word about the regiment says that Boyan is not only a singer, but also a prophetic person who is capable of being a werewolf - “Boyan is prophetic, if anyone wants to create a song, then he will spread his thoughts along the tree, like a gray wolf on the ground, a shiz eagle under the clouds.” The author calls him the grandson of Veles, from whom he was endowed with high poetic abilities. In accordance with this statement, the figure of the ancient Russian storyteller became not only historical and memorable, but also related to the Slavic Pantheon of the Gods, having a Divine origin. Modern pagans and Slavers of the Ancient Gods often honor Boyan at temples and ask him to endow them with creative talent, inspiration, and good luck in various arts.
It is worth saying that a very old Boyana street has been preserved in Veliky Novgorod, probably on behalf of the Novgorodian who lived here. On this occasion, there are a lot of assumptions, one of which is that Boyan was the same Novgorod Magus Bogomil. B.A. Rybakov offers us a very interesting study. This story refers to the baptism of Novgorod in 988. The high priest of the Slavs, Bogomil, who lived in Novgorod, actively resisted the planting of a new faith by Vladimir and raised a real rebellion. Unfortunately, Dobrynya and Putyata defeated the resistance of Novgorod, killed many people, crushed idols and temples, and baptized others by force. So, that same priest of Bogomil was called the Nightingale, nicknamed so from his eloquence. Bojan was also called a nightingale. Later, in the Novgorod Land in a layer dating back to 1070-1080, a harp was found with the inscription "Slovisha" i.e. Nightingale, which supposedly belonged to the same priest and sorcerer Bogomil-Nightingale. All this, and also the almost identical time of existence of both of them, gives us the right to make assumptions that Bogomil and Boyan could be one and the same person.
Boyan or Bayan is an old Russian character mentioned in. Boyan is ancient Russian singer and storyteller. Boyan is considered the patron saint of music, poetry and creativity, as well as the grandson of a pagan god.
The name Boyan is translated by linguists in different ways. Boyan is a common Old Slavic name that has a double designation: 1. fearsome and 2., spells, sorcerer; Puyan - of Bulgarian-Turkic origin, means - Rich; Bayan - Kazakh origin, meaning - to narrate, tell; Baalnik, baanie - to tell fortunes, to speak; Bayan is a sorcerer, wizard, sorcerer. The image of the poet is associated with both meanings of his name and is understood as a magician storyteller. After the name of the narrator Boyan became mythological, it began to mean a legend, conversations and songs - accordion, bayan, fable, bayat, lull, etc. In the literature of the 20th century, Boyan became a household name for indicating a Russian singer and gusliar. Karamzin introduced Boyan to the Pantheon of Russian Authors as "the most glorious Russian poet in antiquity."
The most common point of view of researchers of Russian history is that the ancient Russian Boyan the Prophet was the court singer of the Russian princes of the 11th century (presumably the Chernigov-Tmutorokan princes). The Word about Igor's Campaign says that Boyan sang of three princes: Mstislav Vladimirovich the Brave, Yaroslav the Wise and Roman Svyatoslavich (Yaroslav's grandson). Vseslav of Polotsk is also mentioned, whom Boyan blamed for capturing Kyiv. Here we see a manner typical for court singers of composing songs of praise and songs of blasphemy. He was the author and performer of his songs, he sang and played a musical instrument himself. Here is one of the refrains of his song about Vseslav Polotsky: “ Neither cunning, nor much, nor a bird is much judgment of God". Other words quoted by the author of the story: Start your song according to the epic of this time, and not according to Boyan’s plan, “It’s hard for your head except for your shoulder, anger for your body except for your head". However, all the information on this subject is taken from one source, to trust which or not - scientists are still arguing.
The author of the Word about the regiment says that Boyan is not only a singer, but also a prophet who is capable of shapeshifting - “ Boyan is prophetic, if anyone wants to create a song, then he will spread his thoughts along the tree, like a gray wolf on the ground, a shiz eagle under the clouds". The author calls him the grandson of Veles, from whom he was endowed with special poetic abilities.
It is worth saying that a very old Boyana street has been preserved, probably on behalf of the Novgorodian who lived here. On this occasion, there are a lot of assumptions, one of which is that Boyan was the same Novgorodian. B.A. Rybakov offers us a very interesting study. This story refers to the baptism of Novgorod in 988. The high priest of the Slavs, Bogomil, who lived in Novgorod, actively resisted the new faith of Prince Vladimir and raised a real rebellion. Dobrynya and Putyata defeated the resistance of Novgorod, crushed idols and temples. So, that same priest of Bogomil was called the Nightingale, nicknamed so from his eloquence. Bojan was also called a nightingale. Later, in the Novgorod Land, in a layer dating back to 1070-1080, a harp was found with the inscription "Slovisha" i.e. Nightingale, which supposedly belonged to the same priest and sorcerer Bogomil-Nightingale. All this, and even the almost identical time of existence of both of them, gives the right to make the assumption that Bogomil and Boyan could be one and the same person.
