Our Yakutia photo exhibit in Brooklyn, New York City. Photo by Gale Krylova.

Thomas Ross Miller, the curator of our joint “On the Road of Bones” photo exhibit in Brooklyn, NYC, informs that a couple of major New York newspapers have listed this Friday night’s open house reception at the Kris Waldherr Art and Words Studio Gallery in their events pages. Woo hoo! Many visitors and reporters are expected to come to that event on October 15th, 2010.

More NY exhibit details are available in the previous post. You might also wish to check out the exhibition schedule at http://ontheroadofbones.com/.

Meanwhile, hereby I present our curator Thomas Ross Miller’s statement in regards to the exhibition. What you are going to read further, convinced NYC-based culture editors to do what they did. Read the rest of this entry…

UPDATE, March 03, 2011: Join us for a last look at this stunning photo exhibition. The curator will be on hand to answer any questions you may have about the coldest place on earth. We’ll also have refreshments. Children are welcome! More details on the facebook event page.

Oymyakon Boy from the exhibition On the Road of Bones: Ghosts of the Siberian Gulag Along the Old Kolyma Highway

Proud to announce the opening of the photo exhibition On the Road of Bones: Ghosts of the Siberian Gulag Along the Old Kolyma Highway featuring my, Nastya Borisova and Ajar Varlamov’s winter photographs of this year’s Journey to Oymyakon, the Pole of Cold.

The preview of the Road of Bones winter photographs collection will take place today at Kris Waldherr Art and Words Gallery in Brooklyn, New York. The event will last till December 5th, 2010. All fans of Siberia’s Yakutia and the Kolyma Highway are welcome!

Further, please, find more event details. Read the rest of this entry…

 The Linden-Museum Stuttgart is presenting in cooperation with the Russian Museum of Ethnography (Saint Petersburg) the exhibition Shamans of Siberia. This exhibition highlights the ancient belief systems of Siberian peoples to deal with the world beyond.

Shaman Feder Poligus and his helper spirits. Evenks. Yenisei Province. 1907/1908.

(Copyright: The Russian Museum of Ethnography St. Petersburg
Photo: I. Sacharov / A. Dreyer)

Siberia is known as a land of diverse climates and extraordinary landscapes. Its widely unknown wilderness and the fascinating cultures of its indigenous peoples have always attracted researchers and visitors to learn more about that part of the world. This exhibition highlights the ancient belief systems of Siberian peoples to deal with the world beyond.In their view, spirits choose humans to become shamans to act in altered states of mind as intermediaries between the spirit realm and the human world in times of anxiety and crisis.

Read the rest of this entry…

Yakutsk State University / North-Eastern Federal University

Summer School: 9.08.10.-28.08.2010

 (for German Students)

Spiritual legacy of the Northern peoples has attracted anthropologists from all over the world including researchers from Germany. Their exploration of the Arctic region made a major contribution to development of the science in Yakutia, particularly in the Humanities. History of the peoples inhabiting the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), their culture, traditions and customs can be of great value for students as well as for young scientists from Germany.

Read the rest of this entry…

The “AskYakutia Team” is en route to Oymyakon: The coldest place on earth.  The Pole of Cold.

We eagerly await more news and a lot of photos !

Read more: AskYakutia.com

Google map: Oymyakon

 ________________________________________ 

Oymyakon (Russian: Оймякон, Sakha: Өймөкөөн, Öymököön) is a village  in Oymyakonsky Ulus of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located along the Indigirka River, 30 kilometers (20 mi) northwest of Tomtor on the Kolyma Highway. The population is 521.

Read the rest of this entry…

Shaman music of Siberia meets Western Club Music

No.3 at World Music Charts Europe 2001
Nominated “Best of WMCE 2001″

Intensive interpretation of shamanistic singing from Sakha (Siberia), combined with todays western club-culture | from tradtional and mystic essays, ritualistic ceremonies to modern urban forms .. with shamanistic singer Stepanida Borisova from Siberia.

 …………………………………………………….

“It’s mystical, it’s modern, it’s low beat danceable, it sounds sacred and at the same time sounds urban…. it’s great!!!” (DJ Tonyy Sao Paulo).

“The music of Sakha (Yakutia) originates 3000 Years before Christ. It has relations with Sankrit music from India , which is thought of as one of the earliest musics of this earth.” (P. Amrod/N.Y.C.)

“THROAT SONGS OF THE SIBERIAN SHAMAN – This is a unique opportunity to gain some insight into this ancient and powerful means of vocal expression and to receive training from a performer of renown in both the folk and theatre worlds.” THROA

…………………………………………………….

Read the rest of this entry…

Stepanida Borisova, shamanistic singer from Siberia

Shamanistic singer Stepanida Borissova was born in 1950 in the District of Megino-Khangalaas in the Siberian Republic of Yakutia. After her studies at the famous Shepjin School of Acting, she started in 1974 an acting carrier at the Ojunski-Sakha-Theatre.

She received, as well, the Ojunsky prize from the USSR and is a celebrated actress since this time. As a singer and performer Stepanida mastered many different styles of the traditional Sakha singing.

In the entire Russian Federation and abroad, Stepanida Borissova won her special place in the world of music mainly as a singer of “tojuks” (improvised, epic songs). Stepanida sings “ugadan kurduk” as a shaman. In Kamlania female shamans are considered more powerful than male shamans. Though it is difficult to prove, it is said that her voice has healed people

Read the rest of this entry…