Another shot of Astana Day. In the park, a group of Uzbeks set up a little circus which is my second favorite part of Astana Day. They’re usually there at other times over the summer too, so you may not have missed them. Pretty good for traveling carnival workers. They make their money by asking for donations periodically, and I’ve noticed that the audience thins out nicely whenever they make their pitch.

Dzhigitkovka or perhaps Kyzkovka? at the Central Park in Astana on the 6th of July, which is both Astana Day and the birthday of Nursultan Nazarybayev.

While Kazakhstan is famous for hosting three Congresses of World Religion and bringing together representatives of various sects of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Shintoism, Hinduism, Taoism, even Zoroastrianism, I do not believe that there have ever been any pagans or animists, despite Kazakhstan’s own shamanic roots. So this should be very interesting. In my experience, new and alternative religions have not taken a strong foothold in Kazakhstan’s society the way they have in Western countries. While there are self-proclaimed witches or magicians, they tend to be seen not as a religion per se but as practitioners of magic or fortune tellers (or frauds). So it will be interesting to see how Kazakhstani take the participation of Mr. McCollum.

Jimmy Carter, Prince Charles, Al Gore, Mikhail Gorbachev, Nelson Mandela and Kofi Annan have all been invited. The goal of the Forum is ”to find a solution to the systemic crisis of the modern civilization by realizing the priority of spirituality and culture above all other public values.”

Via NewEurasia

Unfortunately, even ten days before the festival opens, there’s still no schedule posted. It looks like movies will be shown in Keruen and Mega and Sara Araka theaters. There will also be round tables and seminars and press events, but I don’t know if those will be open to the public. If anyone has or gets any information on this, please leave a comment.

According to this YouTube Video:

His name is Ernar Kaldynov, was born in Karoi, small village in Western Kazakhstan.

in 2007 he took part as singer with dombra(Kazakh National Instrument) in SuperStar.KZ show (Kazakh version of American Idol), but did not progressed (sic) to the final stage. However he became popular after the video of his performance was posted on YouTube and millions of users became his fans.

He currently performs as a sole(sic) artist of an orchestra in a small town Kalbatau.

Ernar is married and is going to be a father of his first son in May 2010.

This video was recorded by local journalist from regional newspaper in Kazakhstan

And this entry on Youtube with the same video adds some details and gives a link to the interview:

Having done with a casting on teleproject “superstar” (Pop Idol in Kazakhstan) he returned back to his city Oskemen.. Later on when his videos began to roll wave on the youtube domestic producers became interested in him. He was found through local forum of his city where was written about him. Now he sings to reporters of this resource.

Ernar Kaldynov originally from village Karoy of Tarbagatay District, a graduate of the regional boarding school named after Zhambyl. Married in 2009, has a child and works in the district House of Culture as a soloist of Kazakh instruments.

They also link to an interview with him from the local Ust-Kammengorsk paper: http://yk.kz/news/show/6737

In any case here it is, Freestailo 2010:

So he is still alive, still making music, aware of his fame, and he is going to be a father soon. Congratulations Ernar and please make a techno-dombro album soon! Although if the interview is any indication, he seems content working for the local orchestra and doesn’t have any plans for a more ambitious career. Which is too bad. As one commenter on YouTube said, “I’ll gladly trade Lady Gaga for Ernar.”

I remember when I first arrived in Kazakhstan being very surprised to occasionally see adults sniffing their children. I remember seeing a grandfather lean down to his 5 year-old grandson put his nose close to his forehead and inhale quickly before moving his head away, much as you might kiss a child on the forehead. When I asked about it, I was told that it was a widespread habit and no one really knew why, just a tradition. One person told me that they felt that kissing small girls was okay but it was better to sniff small boys, that it was more masculine than being kissed. And the gesture is not limited only to children. It wouldn’t be uncommon for parents to sniff their older children or for lovers to sniff each other.

Interestingly, this comes up in The Secret History of the Mongols, an account of the life of Chinghis Khan allegedly written by a contemporary, possibly a close family member or member of the court. In section 55, when the mother of Chinghis Khan is about to be stolen from her husband by Tatars, she gives her blouse to her husband and says he can keep her smell. According to Jack Weatherford in Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World where he comments on this action, the Mongols believed that the smell of a person was a part of their soul. So sniffing a person was like feeling their soul, a deeply intimate gesture.

Personally I’ve grown to sort of like the idea of smelling as an alternative to kissing or hugging, not that it can’t be done in conjunction with hugging or kissing. Presuming the person has bathed recently!

And Mashina Vremeni is a fun band to see live. They play around on stage. The guitarist, Margulis, often looked up at the video screen and mugged at the audience when he saw himself. Kutikov had fun encouraging the audience to clap, snap and sing along and I think Makarevich smiled 60% of the time. They were playing with a trumpet player/percussionist/back-up singer who did a fair amount of playing around with Margulis and the other band members. Overall it looked like they were having a great time which was contagious. I’m not overly familiar with their songs–the language barrier and the fact that radio time usually goes to pop projects make it a bit difficult–but I’ve tried to put together a partial set list, and if anyone else was there, please feel free to comment and add songs:

Кастёр
Улетай
Мой друг
Марионетки
За тех, кто в море
Шанхай блюз
Эти веки нечиво не хлынуть (I think that’s what it was called; it was a new song and really, really good!)

Encore:
Однажды мир прогнётся под нас
Поворот