News from the Caravan

Mosaiqa Records Is Up and Running

2008-09-23T21:26:00.005-04:00

Admittedly, it's a bit lame to have two posts in a row on the same topic, especially months apart. Alas, that's how it is. But the good news is . . .The Mosaiqa.com shop is fully up and running -- you can buy either (or both) of two Roksonaki CDs (approx. $20 each including shipping), or if you prefer bits and pieces, individual tracks are available to download at $1.00 each. If you've

Roksonaki CD Update

2008-06-23T14:51:00.003-04:00

The latest word from Roksonaki producer Helen Faller is that all the legalities should be sorted out, and Roksonaki CDs will be available to buy online by August 1, 2008. Check the Mosaiqa Records site, or right here at Silk Road Caravan for more updates.A full description of all the activities and events of the 2008 Nauryz with Roksonaki tour can be found in this report (PDF download).Word is

Genghis: Birth of an Empire: Book Review

2008-06-16T12:30:00.000-04:00

Genghis Khan seems to be the rehabilitated man of the new century. In the past few years, a series of historians (Jack Weatherford's Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World), cinematists (Sergei Bodrov's Russian-Kazakh-Mongolian film Mongol), and novelists have re-written (or re-ridden) the story of Temujin, the steppe prince-done-wrong who grew to become an adept political warrior and

The Little Jockey by Dukenbai Doszhanov

2008-06-06T00:01:00.003-04:00

A couple of years ago a neighbor gave me this book/pamphlet containing two clearly Central Asian short stories. My neighbor is a traveller and a thinker, definitely an internationalist, but I have no idea how she came by it. I wasn't even sure it was Kazakh except for the author's name, which has that certain Kazakh-something about it.Since then I have found out that Dukenbai Doszhanov is

Kazakh Cooking Experiment #3: Plov

2008-05-30T00:43:00.006-04:00

I can't really claim plov as an experiment, since I've been working on getting it right for almost a year. Plov/pilaf/pilau is a rice-and-stuff dish with variations from Asia to South America. I have seen several Central Asian recipes -- fancy dishes with cumin (Uzbek) or apples or dried fruit (wedding plov?) -- but nothing that approximates the plov greatly anticipated and often served at

Urker Releases New CD

2008-05-18T22:29:00.012-04:00

This past Saturday (May 17), KZ "ethno-pop" trio Urker released Tolgau, their first album since 2004's Best of Urker. According to the press release on the group's website, the 11 new songs on the album, including the wholly instrumental title track, are the result of two years of work for songwriting duo Aidos Sagat (music) and Nurlan Alban (lyrics). In the meantime, Aidos has been busy with

Koryo Saram Update:10 Minute Trailer Available

2008-04-14T22:25:00.007-04:00

The recent news of a South Korean astronaut/cosmonaut blasting off from Baikonur to the international space station had at least a couple of news outlets proclaiming a surge of national pride among Kazakhstan's ethnic Korean population.And I've been waiting a long time for the public release of Koryo Saram, a documentary that "tells the harrowing saga of survival in the open steppe country and

Roksonaki on the Air

2008-04-01T22:04:00.007-04:00

Spring has sprung, Nauryz is over, and Kazakhstan's first "experimental neo-traditional ethno-rock" band, Roksonaki, is finishing up their Nauryz 2008 tour in the Washington D. C. area. It's been an interesting tour, very academically oriented. The band has done 3-4 day residencies at several different universities, visited schools, and most of the concerts have been free.Another feature of the

Nauryz 2008!

2008-03-20T22:23:00.012-04:00

After 70+ years of Russian/Soviet holidays, Nauryz has taken hold as a big event in Kazakhstan, and in the international Kazakh/Kazakhstani communities. This poster, for the Embassy of Kazakhstan's Nauryz 2008 celebration in Washington, D.C., certainly is gorgeous. Nauryz, a spring festival with pre-Islamic roots, is also celebrated under varying names across Islamic Asia from Turkey to

When Words Matter

2008-03-11T22:13:00.005-04:00

(EDITED - I found the post I was looking for - thanks to Technorati - and have edited to reflect and include links)I don't usually stray into political matters -- there are far better informed sites for that (and I'm going to add a list of those sites soon). But yesterday I read this post at Window On Eurasia on remarks by Russian President Vladimir Putin about his chosen, I mean elected,

Another Musical Pairing:Sary-Arka

2008-03-08T00:37:00.013-05:00

Kurmangazy's Sary-Arka (Golden Steppe), on solo dombra,by Abdulhamit Rayimbergenov **(from The Rough Guide to the Music of Central AsiaUlytau's folk-metal version of Sary-Arka** Abdulhamit Rayimbergenov is a featured music educator & dombrist in Theodore Levin'sWhere Rivers And Mountains Sing: Sound, Music, And Nomadism in Tuva And Beyond

Adai, 3 Ways

2008-03-02T21:55:00.016-05:00

Kurmangazy Sagyrbaev (Russian)Курмангазы СагырбаевKurmangazy Sagirbaiuly (Kazakh)Құрманғазы СағырбайұлыKurmangazy was a brilliant 19th century Kazakh composer and musician. Various reputable sources give 1806-1879, 1823-1896, 1818-1889, among others, as his birth and death dates. He lived in the western area of what is now Kazakhstan, and is buried just over the border in Astrakhan, Russia.

Steppe Rider

2008-02-21T08:22:00.006-05:00

The image above is the wallpaper/desktop on my computer. It's from the VladStudio collection of wallpapers offered by young Russian digital artist Vlad Geramisov. The title of this one is Le Cheval. I like it because it reminds me of Wind Rider -- a novel for young adults that imagines the story of an ancient nomadic people from the Northern Kazakhstan steppe, who first tamed and rode wild

Happy New Year!

2008-02-08T20:24:00.001-05:00

It's a grand ol' place that can celebrate New Year's Day not once, not twice, but four times a year. We usually have our New Year's party on "Old New Year" (celebrated in Kazakhstan on January 14, on the Russian Orthodox calendar), and yesterday marked the beginning of year 4706 in Chinese astrological reckoning (though the symbols are a bigger deal in KZ than the date). You may know 2008 to be

On Human Rights & News from Kazakhstan

2008-02-01T20:38:00.000-05:00

Still here, still learning & reading, but alas, not finding time to write.Earlier this week I was fortunate to attend a lunch discussion on human rights in Kazakhstan. The speakers were four human rights activists currently in the United States through a U. S. State Department program. An hour isn't a very long time to cover such a huge and serious topic, so none of the questions could be

Ghengis Khan Rides Again

2007-10-07T22:35:00.000-04:00

. . . on the silver screen, in the newly-released Mongol (links to trailers here), and in the person of a young Australian adventurer and writer named Tim Cope,who recently completed a 3.5-year journey on horseback, from Mongolia to Hungary, on the trail laid down by Ghengis Khan's warriors in the 13th century . A couple of weeks ago, the AP covered Tim Cope’s September arrival in Opusztaszer,

Searching for Kazakhstan: A Book Review

2007-08-02T21:59:00.001-04:00

In June, I broke down and ordered In Search of Kazakhstan: The Land that Disappeared from Amazon.co.uk, hideous exchange rate, international shipping and all. I'd had my eye on it for months, and still no sign of a US edition in sight. It was worth the trouble. Christopher Robbins (author of Air America and The Empress of Ireland) has written a breezy, affectionate travelogue-style portrait

Koryo Saram Premieres in Almaty, July 15 & 17

2007-07-12T12:56:00.000-04:00

Browsing through old news items & links, I just saw that a Kazakhstan screening of the new documentary, Koryo Saram: The Unreliable People, is scheduled for next week, on July 15 (Sunday) and July 17 (Tuesday). This film traces the history of Koreans forcibly deported from coastal Far East Russia to the steppes of Kazakhstan in the 1930s & 1940s. It sounds fascinating, uncovering the history of

Wild Kazakhstan: The Rise and Fall of the Saiga

2007-07-01T23:27:00.000-04:00

This spring brought two news stories about endangered animal species in KZ. One was the massive die-off of Caspian seals (the only mammal in the Caspian Sea), and the other was the creation of an enormous wildlife reserve in NW Kazakhstan, called the Irgiz-Turgay Nature Reserve. Anybody reading an basic introduction to Kazakhstan might get the impression that there are two kind of wild

Schizo: A Movie Review

2007-05-13T00:38:00.000-04:00

I've finally figured out how to squeeze in time to watch movies, and have at last watched Schizo, the only Region 1, English-subtitled Kazakhstani film I know of (Nomad: The Warrior is scheduled for DVD release in July). I’ve had it around for over a year, but was somewhat hesitant to watch it because of the publicized “Fight Club” aspects (I don’t do blood well). So now I’ve seen it, and I’m

Manti, Kaz-Am Style

2007-05-04T22:15:00.000-04:00

This was not exactly a new "Kazakh Cooking Experiment", but more of a repeat with slightly different variables. Like Tex-Mex cooking is basically Mexican, but varied and adapted by influences on the American side of the border, the manti I made tonight are basically Central Asian, but adapted to American ingredients and speed-of life. • Instead of handmaking the dough, I used the biggest

Images of Kazakhstan

2007-04-18T18:00:00.000-04:00

The Land is inside Me, a "creative documentary," is a montage of images from everyday Kazakhstan. From skiing in the Tien Shan mountains to worship at the Mausoleum of Khja Ahmed Yasavi in Turkestan, urban street singers and window cleaners to valenki-wearing horsemen herding sheep. The filmmaker, Jürg Da Vaz, is a Swiss artist who has made several other films in and about Kazakhstan. This

Kazakh Cooking Experiment #2 - Lagman

2007-04-05T23:07:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago a friend asked if I could find information about some sort of Kazakh stew that a young KZ adoptee was missing but didn’t remember much about. The question was never answered entirely, but the two best possibilities seemed to be lagman and zharkoe. Lagman is a thickish soup with noodles, zharkoe is more stew-like.And so, the recipe explorations began. Oh my, the variations seem

Cookbooks for a Cause, Or, Hot Stoves for Warm Hands

2007-03-27T22:50:00.000-04:00

Many of my Central Asian cooking adventures have started with a recipe from Please to the Table: The Russian Cookbook, which covers all the republics of the USSR, not just Russia. One really nice thing about this cookbook, in addition to the recipes, is that almost every one has some sort of history or commentary preceding it, and there are longer sections on cooking in the varied Soviet

A Soundtrack for Your Nauryz Party (March 21,2007)

2007-03-19T09:59:00.001-04:00

First I discovered Project Playlist and started playing with adding tracks from Kazakhstan. Then I made myself a CD mix of Kazakhstani music just for the fun of it. And then, might as well package it up to share. So, just in time for Nauryz 2007 . . .The complete playlist includes 20 good, banal (but good for dancing), and "on principle" tracks (as in, SuperStar KZ winner Almas Kishkenbayev),