Summary: Folk traditions in the early modern world were fluid and passed easily from one culture to another. Thus, it is common to find links between old songs or stories throughout wide regions and diverse communities; however, recent intercommunal tensions associated with the rise of nationalism have resulted in conflicting claims of purported ownership and origination of such shared traditions. "Sar0131 Gelin," a song which is found among various communities in the Middle East and Caucasus, is one such piece of folklore that has been hotly contested alongside recent violence, border disputes and population exchanges between Azeri, Armenian and Turkish communities. In this episode, Chris Gratien discusses the variations of the "Sari Gelin" folk song, not through the lens of these present-day disputes, but rather, within the song's historical context, focusing on the shared elements between its different versions in the Azeri, Turkish, Armenian and Persian languages (this podcast includes audio samples).
