David McAlmont and Michael Nyman perform ‘The Coldest Place on Earth’, a new song written specially for Paul Morley’s Showing off…

“So here we have That Instrumental from the movie The Piano (you know the one) overlain with David McAlmont’s new, exquisitely sung lyrics inspired by the extremely chilly Siberian city of Yakutsk. Genuinely lovely.” That’s what I found at Metro.co.uk together with the last rumours about Lady Gaga. Fantastic! Read the rest of this entry…

Misha Maltsev is from the Republic of Sakha, North-Eastern Siberia and belongs to the Yakut-Sakha tribe, of Altaic-Turkic speaking peoples.

Misha Maltsev

In the mid-eighties, when most people in the former Soviet Union were listening to state approved music, Misha 19s curiosity and passion led him to establish underground connections with international experimental musicians from around the world. By the early nineties he worked on TABYK Ethno-Music Festival with a group of like-minded producers and musicians. Today, the Tabyk Festival continues to be one of the leading Indigenous Music festivals in Siberia.

Misha then moved into radio and music production, launching a series of innovative radio shows for Yakutsk State and FM Radio and collaborated with some of the leading performers like Stepanida Borisova, Chyskyyrai and others. After the fall of the Soviet Union, he was instrumental in bringing Siberian musicians to the west for the first time.

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The popular Dutch travel show “3 Op Reis” is currently featuring the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). It dedicated two TV Show series to our region, one to Yakutsk, another to Verkhoyansk, the coldest town in Yakutia. The TV crew visited Yakutia in early October 2009. Hehe. Remember I recommended them to go to Verkhoyansk.

See a video further. Read the rest of this entry…

Famous Yakut singers and musicians, Legentej, Klavdia and Guerman Khatylaevs, Albina Degtyareva, Ayarkhaan and others, decided to support the Olympic Games movement. They performed Scorpions’ hit “We are the champions!” in the Yakut (Sakha) language. The video was shot in the ice tunnel “The Kingdom of Everlasting Permafrost” in Yakutsk, Yakutia/Siberia in January 2010.

Hope YouTube Read the rest of this entry…

Yakutia/Siberia Adventure Weblog Screenshot

I am very glad that my friends, Artyom (aka Werwolf) and Katya (aka Mirakly), have launched their own weblog dedicated to travel across Yakutia. Read the rest of this entry…

I have an US-based friend on Facebook. His name is Sid Korn. A few days ago he informed me that he created the slideshow using my pictures of the recent road trip to Oymyakon, the Pole of Cold. Here it is. Read the rest of this entry…

In the previous post “Welcome to Yakutia Photo Exhibition at Warsaw University, Jan. 25 – Feb. 5, 2010” I have already written about Polish students, Agata Fedotov and Lukasz Grajewski, whose photographs are currently displayed in the exhibition “The Sakha Republic Photographic Guide” at Warsaw University Library till this Friday. So… hurry up!

Here is another good news from Warsaw. Read the rest of this entry…

A popular German newspaper RP published Doris Heimann’s article dedicated to Yakutsk under the title “Jakutsk – kälteste Stadt der Welt. Minus 45 Grad sind normal” (Yakutsk, the coldest city in the world. Minus 45C is regular temp.)

I remember Doris Heimann, Moscow-based RP reporter. She was in Yakutsk two years ago. A year ago she published her story. And only now I digged out her story.

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Live Webcams in Yakutsk

There are two active live webcams in Yakutsk. They are installed at the TV tower by TV & Radio Broadcasting Technical Center.

Here are links: Read the rest of this entry…

Olesya Malevanik, a Miss Virtual Yakutia 2009 finalist (left), Anastasia Sanitarova, Vice-Miss Virtual Yakutia 2009 (right).

This is the Pavlov & Pavlov creative studio’s promo posters for the online beauty contest “Miss Virtual Yakutia 2010″, that started officially on Novermber 27th, 2009. The final “battle” will take place on March 6th, 2010. The motto of this year’s online beauty pageant is “The Battle for the Crown!” Read the rest of this entry…