I had a sort of schedule… of what and when to publish… but Vitaly Toko ruined everything. He regreted that he didn’t make it to Yakutia’s Kolyma this autumn. He worked here for many, many, many years. Actually, he spent all his best years in Yakutia and he’s got a lot of photographs of the biggest Siberian region.

Two days ago Vitalya created a video slideshow using his pictures of Yakutia and Vyacheslav Butusov’s song «Moya Zvezda» (My Star). Why does he love this remote Northern area? What does he feel to it? Everything can be seen in that video.

Hope he will come the next year and we’ll have a drink together

Further find my rough translation of V. Butusov’s song lyric into English.

MY STAR (Moya zvesda)
By Vyacheslav Butusov

My star is always with me.
My star lights inside me.
And says to me, Wait,
Wait a little, wait a little bit more,
A long road is waiting for us.

My star sounds in the night.
The fire burns inside me.
But its light doesn’t brighten at all.
Its rays do not give me warmth.

It leads me to the utmost North
And never says, Yes,
Does not give hope for a miracle,
Does not give a drop of light.
Does not give its warmth
And I love it for that,
I love it for that.

But my star is unrequited.
My star shines on my breast.
It draws a circle after a circle.
We both fly together.
We sing a song about this and that,
About how we fly… over the North

And all seals and all whales
Cry loud, when they see the star
It does not give anyone warmth
It does not shine anyone
It leads all to the cherished goal

And says, Forgive and farewell!
I am leaving this land,
And every time repeats
Its same long story,
How it flies away from me,
And leaves me forever.
That’s how my star buries me.