Tuva.Asia / The New Research of Tuva

Every year, for one week, shamans from various regions of Russia and from other countries gather in Irkutsk region, which borders on Tuva, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Yakutia, Chita and Buryatia. They perform the most powerful of all existing rituals. And the goal is nothing more or less than to save the world! A correspondent of “Vesti” visited the convention this year…The place where the shamans meet is the Olkhon Island in the middle of Lake Baikal. This lake is called “the heart of Siberia”. According to legend, it was here where, long ago, the god of Heaven, Tengri, through his oldest and strongest son Khan Khute-Baabai, divulged the mysteries of shamanism to people.  He chose the sacred Olkhon cape Burkhan as his dwelling place, tamed three eagles, and they carried the mystical knowledge to humans.

The 7^th Congress of Eastern Studies scholars of Russia took place from 13^th to 16^th September in the “Zvenigorodskiy” pension of the Russian Academy of Sciences near Moscow. The leading Russian scholars involved in eastern Studies were invited. About 150 of esteemed guests and also participants who sent in their theses gathered. Tuvinology was represented by Doctor of culturology, chief scientific worker of TIGI of government of RT, Valentina Suzukei, and by Candidate of philosophical studies, the editor-in-chief of the “New Research of Tuva” scholarly journal, Chimiza Lamazhaa. During sectional meetings, various relevant matters of Eastern Studies were discussed, including problems of development of Eastern Studies, teaching of this subject in the colleges and universities of the country, the conditions in regional centers of Russia and countries of SNG, as well as special research problems of various subdivisions of Eastern studies.

During the “KAMWA-2010”  ethno-futuristic music festival, the Tuvan group Huun-Huur-Tu gave a performance which was astonishing with its authentic energetics. Our correspondents met with the members of the group – Radik Tyulyush and Aleksei Saryglar, and discussed ethnic music, national character, and shamanism. - Your group has become one of the most famous Russian groups in the West.  How would you explain the reason for your success? - Radik Tyulyush: If you consider the West, the musical tendencies there have long followed artificial directions. The instruments have become modernized. They left their roots. Then they became oversaturated, and the audiences started wanting to go back to nature. People want to understand their roots, and people showed up who became interested in places where civilization did not reach; the search for the forgotten started.  These seekers found it interesting to hear Tuvan melodies, our instruments, our language. They were surprised by our throat singing. For Western musicians, this was an untried experience.

To capture an irbis and to mark him with a satellite collar – that was the task that the scientists from A.N. Severtsov Institute of problems of ecology and evolution of RAN (IPEE RAN) set themselves. The zoologists worked in the protected zone of the Mongun-Taiga part of the “Ubsunur depression” nature preserve from June to middle of August. Vyacheslav Rozhnov, the leader of the project, deputy director of IPEE RAN, shared his impressions with the staff of the Russian Geographic Society site. This expedition is the first step in the development of a large program for study of the irbis population in the south of Russia, - he said. This is the first time that field studies were conducted in this part of the Altai-Sayan region.

There are many kinds of great musical artists in the world, and they come with different skills and gifts, bringing with them both individual talents and the flavors of their native cultures. Some are great technicians, dazzling listeners with their sonic acrobatics; others compose intricate and lofty musical architecture, and still others impress with their inventive improvisations. Kaigal-ool Khovalyg represents one of the most unique types of artist: He has the ability to go straight to the heart of the listener, to move people. Of course, there is his sound, and this applies equally to his singing and igil playing. Take for example his gorgeous khoomei style, with its pulsating, shimmering harmonics, an aural equivalent to the Northern Lights. Similarly, his mastery of the igil, seemingly but deceptively effortless, conjures up a two-stringed symphony of tones, overtones and rhythm.

Dear friends! We are presenting our second special issue of our journal – Mongush M.V.:  Indian mosaics  // “New research of Tuva” www.tuva.asia , series “Special issue”, 2010, in Russian language. This educational-popular book represents the author’s attempt to examine the experience of her own stay in India from her point of view both as a researcher of Eastern science and as an ordinary person. The work combines two different genres, which, at first sight, might seem incompatible, but which nevertheless turn out to be an excellent representation of two hypostases - that of a research scientist observer, and that of a disciple receiving instruction from a spiritual tutor. As a result, the reader finds in equal proportion a combination of ethnographic sketches and travel notes, and discussions and interviews with interesting people. This presents an image of India as seen through the eyes of an ethnographer-tuvinologist, who observes the country and another culture with personal interest and offers parallels in both Russian and Tuvan cultures. Chapters from the book were published in our journal, Numbers 1-3, 2010.

The exhibition “The World of Art in the Drawings of Nadia Rusheva” from the collect ion of National Museum of Tuva  is going to Omsk. In the first days of September, it will be shown at the State regional museum “Liberov-Centr”. This exhibition of the drawings of the young genius-artist explores several of  Nadia Rusheva’s favorite themes. This exhibition includes 68 original works from such famous series as “Early drawings”, “Ballet, Dances”, “Tales and Fantasies”,  “Ancient World”, and ”Heroes of Literature”, which are executed in various techniques and materials. The artist’s graphics illustrate her astonishing gift – to draw from imagination.

The territory of today’s Tuva has survived many bright historical epochs, many changes of civilizations. In the present day traditional understanding, Tuva is a country of nomads. However, it has not always been inhabited by nomadic tribes. A long time ago, a settled, and by all appearances quite well developed civilization thrived here. This civilization left an inheritance to the descendants – a grandiose system of irrigation canals, which covers the entire Tuva with the network of its veins. Millennia ago, people who lived here were settled agriculturalists.  The scale of the work and the skill with which these canals were constructed inspired Tuvan geologist Tatiana Prudnikova to undertake the study of this magnificent phenomenon.

“God of fire, give us happiness, please, fire, give us happiness and prosperity in the yurt…” – the rhythmically bewitching voice of a St. Petersburg actress sounds throughout the conference auditorium of the National Museum. On the screen is a photograph of the shamaness in ecstasy of the “kamlanie”. When on the background of the sound of her drumming, an image of Tuvan steppe materializes through the flames of the fire, it seem that you, the spectator, are also departing on a journey about which the intermediary is chanting:  We will swim over the river that is forbidden to cross, we will force the pass which it is forbidden to ascend”. This is the first time that the algyshes of Tuvan shamans sound in Russian language in this hall. The first time that a photograph, thanks to elegant montage is transformed into a video film, which starts with the text: “In our huge Russia, there is an extremely mysterious and beautiful country. Its mighty mountain ridges with eternal snow touch the heavens. Between the ice and the deserts tower the mountains, covered in virginal forests.”

Dear Friends, The Editorial Board of the electronic journal The New Research of Tuva welcomes you to the journal’s English-language website. The New Research of Tuva presents the current state of Tuvan studies — a branch of the humanities that investigates the history and culture of the Republic of Tuva (Russia). Our contributors are among the most widely recognized specialists in the field of Tuvan studies, both in Russia and abroad. The website came on-line in July 2009, and the first issue of the journal appeared at that time as well. As of September 2010, we have published seven issues of The New Research of Tuva, all of which are available in electronic format on the website. The journal and the website are supported by a grant from the Russian Scientific Fund for the Humanities. At this point, we can only offer English abstracts of articles written in Russian, but we hope to be able to offer more English-language content in the future. We hope you will find our journal and website useful, informative, and above all, entertaining. We welcome any comments you may have on the design of the website and contents of the journal. We look forward to hearing from you!

member of editorial council

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) was a brilliant European scientist, philosopher and inventor. When 57 he had a vision from God about which he told no one. Four years later he began to publish a series of 30 books revealing a vast number of new truths within Judeo-Christian Scriptures; among these new heavenly truths there was revealed an immensely older pictorial scripture, the ANCIENT WORD (of God) that existed in the Middle East and Asia. It later began to be falsified and was allowed to disappear everywhere except among some small secret groups of Mongols, some in Tuva. It is now that it should again be revealed in Asia in order that men can again speak with heaven's angels. Respond to this notice with information. E-mail: abanikolaj@yandex.ru. Adress: 667011, Kyzyl, Tuva, Russia, Post office box 060, Abayev N.V. (for James Brush).

Today in the Aldan Maadyr National Museum of Tuva (i.e. the National Museum in the name of Sixty Heroes of Tuva) a round table on the theme of “Tuvan Wedding” took place. Nowadays traditions of Tuvan marriage ceremonies are being forgotten very quickly and scientists are concerned about this fact. Among participants of the panel discussion there were fellows of the Tuvan Institute for Humanitarian Researches under the Government of the Republic of Tuva, employees of the National Museum of Tuva, representatives of the Civil Registry Office, lecturers of Tuvan State University and journalists of local mass media. They arrived at a decision to publish information materials with explanations on how to conduct traditional Tuvan wedding ceremony in the proper manner.

Dear friends! We congratulate you on the occasion of September 1 — Day of Knowledge and we would like to bring to your attention the latest issue of our magazine. Its size is more than 300 pages (13 author's sheets). As usual you can read and print articles separately and the whole issue as well, including in PDF. In this issue you can find an interview with the rector of Tyva State University Sergey Ondar, a review on the proceeding of an international scientific conference that was dedicated to 80^th anniversary of Tuvan written language and took place in Kyzyl in July 2010. Also you may consider some debatable articles on Tuvan scientists, research materials, reviews on books, and other creative works. We hope that this issue will be interesting and useful for you. We are waiting for new articles from you as well as your questions and suggestions!

the editor-in-chief

Today it is 85 years since the first issue of Tuvan newspaper “The Shyn” (“The Truth” in Tuvan). On 31 August, 1925 it was printed called “Erkh choloot Tannu-Tuva” (“The Free Tuva” in Mongolian). The newspaper got its contemporary name in 1931. “The Shyn” played a significant role in the development of Tuva in the 20^th century, e.g., in extirpation of illiteracy and then of semiliteracy of Tuvans, etc. They call “The Shyn” “the teacher of Tuvan people”. The newspaper has made a big contribution in the formation and development of literary form of the Tuvan language, national literature and periodical press.

Dear friends! We are glad to greet you on the English version of our “The New Research of Tuva” magazine’s site. The magazine has been issued since 2009 and the website was opened on July 1, 2009 (See — About the Project). 7 issues of the magazine have come out at present. The articles written in Russian have abstracts in English. We would be glad to receive materials in English from our foreign colleagues. We offer cooperation with scholars in the field of Tuvan and nomadic studies (specialists in studies of nomadic tribes), Buddhologists, Orientalists in other corners of the world (See — For the Authors). the editor-in-chief