Last weekend, friends of mine, Oe Karpov and Andrey Dyakonov, arranged the great event. It was a BIG city event, but done in a TINY manner. They rented a wooden house in the wooden part of Yakutsk City, invited close friends and let the rock music sound in all power and authenticity.

Yeah, it was the “103″ rock band performing the unique ethno Siberian heavy music. It was utterly awesome!

Frankly, I am a big fan of “103″. Like its story. It is a little group of young people, who arrived into the city from a little Yakutian village called Khatassy by the public bus “103″ a few years ago. This village is mainly known as the producer of pork & beef. Nothing special could appear over there, apart from the delicious meat.

And here they are. Authentic ethno rock music! Delivered by guys, who learned to play musical instrument themselves in a little wooden village hall. By the way, they use the sound of the khomus, Yakut Jews-harp instrument.

Immediately they became popular in Yakutsk. They are one of the most respected bands in the city. And you know what? It’s hard to see them performing currently, as the rock music is their hobby. They are ordinary guys, who have ordinary jobs and who, apart from one guy, still live in the village. The singer, for instance, works in a store as a customer manager. Why? They need to feed their kids.

When they take instruments, they became extremely extraordinary!

Check below the event’s photographs & videos. See their official videos (think, they’ve got two only) and download mp3 tracks for free.

Please, tell your friends around the world about the existence of the great Siberian band “103″!

Andrey Dyakonov and Oe Karpov. They arranged the event.

The second man of Yakutia, Vice President of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) Dmitry Glushko.

Yakutsk khomuses.

Below see 103 performance photographs by Wanda Queen:

103 VIDEOS

103 – Sakham Sire (My Yakutia)

103 – “Osuokhai”

Osuokhai is a Yakut national circular dance.

The list of the event’s videos:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=240472782673826

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=271366726233727

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=271376339566099

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=191361997610623

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=191369044276585

The following ones are official videos:

103 – Tyal Baarun Tukhary (While The Wind Is Blowing) ft. Varya Maxima:

103 – Butekhik Pioner (The Last Pioneer):

Now enjoy the above-shown songs in mp3:

103 – While The Wind Is Blowing

103 – The Last Pioneer

Friends, I am pretty eager to let the world know about this great Yakutian (Siberian) rock band “103″. Please, share the post and refer people to it.

They deserve attention!Similar Posts:

• “103″ Ethno Rock Band – Ohuokhai
• The World’s Coldest Road. Kolyma Highway in Yakutia, Siberia / Russia [video]
• Yakut children in Roman Sofronov’s great black-n-white 8 mm videos
• Sid Korn’s Slideshow: The Journey to the Pole of Cold
• The World Music: Albina Degtyareva & Ayarkhaan

Enjoy khomus (Yakut Jew’s harp) music and images of Yakutia in the amazing video slideshow created by Marianna Leontieva in 2008. The author lives in Moscow and she called the video “Khomus… A Yakutian’s Nostalgia…” Think, no additional info is required.

By the way, Yakutsk will host the 7th International Jew’s Harp Society Congress on June 23-26, 2011. It will be held right before the Yasyakh national holiday celebration in the area of Ys Khatyn near Yakutsk. My god, my fingers are crossed, don’t want to miss this must-be-awesome event.

Download the Congress Program (pdf, 525 Kb).Similar Posts:

• Yhyakh, the Yakut national holiday, celebrated in the 1960s [history videos]
• Video: Georges Méliès’ silent films with the Yakut khomus (Jew-s Harp) music in Yakutsk
• Announcement: International events in Yakutsk, June 2010
• Parade on May 1st in Yakutsk, Russia. 45 photos.
• Photos: 2010 Etigen Khomus Music Award Ceremony

Kolyma in Yakutia by Alexander Mekheda

Eight years ago I made the website for Guerman Arbugaev, director of the Arctic Travel company. Unfortunately, it doesn’t exist anymore. The site owner failed to renew the domain name arctictravel-yakutia.com. By the way, it was my first website about Yakutia done in English.

Praise god, I saved some of its content, including Yakutia nature wallpapers. Here I am posting them. You may download and use them free for your computer desktop. The collection is small, but it is based on the works of my first favourite photographers, Evgenia Arbugaeva (Central Yakutia, the Lena River), Alexander Mekheda (Yakutia’s Kolyma) and Nikolay Zavodsky (South Yakutia, mainly the area of Peledui).

See further 17 nature photo wallpapers. To download, choose the tumbnail, click on the right mouse button and use the function “Save the link as.”

• The Lena River wallpaper. View from Tabaga Cape. Put Yakutia on your desktop!
• Tiksi in Winter. Photos by Evgenia Arbugaeva.
• Evgenia Arbugaeva’s photographs of Tiksi on CNN Photos
• Evgenia Arbugaeva’s Following the Reindeer & her Blurb photo prize
• Photos: Yakutian laika puppies / Siberian husky puppies

The Kolyma Highway (known also as the federal automobile highway ‘Kolyma’ and the Road of Bones) connects Yakutsk and Magadan.

Distance:
- 2032 km (through Ust-Nera)
- 1197 km (by the old roadway via Tomtor near the Pole of Cold).

Item details:

- PDF, 7 pages, A4, 17 Mb.
- In English.
- Available maps for…

(1) Republic of Sakha (with the Kolyma Highway),
(2) Yakutsk,
(3) Nizhnyj Bestyakh – Churapcha,
(4) Churapcha – Khandyga – Razvilka,
(5) Kyubyume – the Pole of Cold, Tomtor – the border of the Magadan Oblast,
(6) Kyubyume – Ust-Nera – the border of the Magadan Oblast.

- Information on distances, marks for petrol/gas stations, tyre repair stations, car repair garages, pharmacy, hotels, cafes, airports, river ports, etc.

+

BONUS
Kolyma Highway Short Guide

Item detals:

- a PDF file, A4, 43.7 kb.
- Information on:

1. time to drive,
2. best and worst periods to drive,
3. settlements and places to pass,
4. security measures,
5. road conditions in summer and winter,
6. rivers crossing tips and info,
7. ice roads descriptions,
8. etc.

Quick info: The road via Ust-Nera is maintained and passable all year around. In Ust-Nera travelers tend to stay for night in so-called truckers’ guest house. No reservation is needed, but recommended. In winter Ust-Nera is the only option, as the part Tomtor – Magadan Oblast is abandoned, not used at all, no tracks and remains under the thick snow cover.

Two PDF files are included in one eyakutia_product_01.zip file. The total size is ~17 Mb.

To download the Kolyma Highway travel map, click here.

If you think it was a good idea to put this map for downloading, please, consider donation:

Thank you!Similar Posts:

• The World’s Coldest Road. Kolyma Highway in Yakutia, Siberia / Russia [video]
• Video: Driving the Road of Bones (Kolyma Highway) in winter
• Snowboarding in the Land of Stalin’s gulags… Oymyakon, Siberia / Russia
• Mamont Yakutsk Off-Road Club on Jack London Lake
• 2010 Yakutia Photo Exhibition in New York + Opening Day Photographs