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Discovery Central Asia #34 Legends of the Great Silk Road.
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Discovery Central Asia #33 Arts and crafts

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TRADITIONAL CLOTHES AND FASHION OF CENTRAL ASIA
For the first time, the authoritative English journal Discovery Central Asia has dedicated a whole issue to Central Asia�s traditional dress and modern fashion trends

November 2010, London In advance of the World Travel Market - the premier global event for the travel industry - Discovery Central Asia amazed its English readers with a vivid issue about the history of traditional national clothes and their influence on modern fashion trends in Central Asia.
The 31st Issue of Discovery Central Asia highlights the modern fashion trends of six Central Asian countries: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The national clothing of each country is reflected in the full range of modern fashion: casual wear, and business and evening dress. All combine historical traditions and contemporary man�s demand for beauty and usability in clothing.
The main aim of the journal is to develop a broad appreciation of Central Asian cultural heritage amongst British readers and researchers, to share new ideas, to encourage cooperation with creative people, and to research the original culture of this region.
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan � six different stories, told by artist-designers, using national cultural traditions, intellectual values and beliefs.
The fashion revelations of mysterious Asia on 98 pages were created by a team of authors and photographers from all over Central Asia.
Discovery Central Asia Magazine has been issued since 2002 by Silk Road Media publishing company in London and provides Western Europe with reliable information on the history, culture, art and travel of Central Asia.
Each issue is dedicated to a particular topic, special to the region. The next issue, in March 2011, will be �Wildlife of Central Asia�. If you are a specialist in this field and think that your story should be published in Discovery Central Asia Magazine, please contact us: publisher@ocamagazine.com
The online version of Discovery Central Asia magazines are available on
www.discovery-central-asia.com
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Christopher Marlowe�s play is published in Uzbek for the first time.
420 years after its first edition, Silk Road Media, an independent publisher from Hemel Hempstead (UK), has published Tamburlaine the Great, a play by Christopher Marlowe, in his hero�s native language.
October 2010. Hertfordshire based publisher Silk Road Media, run by Marat Akhmedjanov, and the BBC Uzbek Service have published one of Christopher Marlowe�s famous plays, Tamburlaine the Great, translated into the Uzbek language. It is the first ofChristopher Marlowe�s plays to be translated into Uzbek, which is Tamburlaine�s native language. Translated by Hamid Ismailov, the current BBC World Service Writer-in-Residence, this new publication seeks to introduce English classics to Uzbek readers worldwide.
Christopher Marlo - Amir Temur

Amir Timur is officially recognized as the national hero of newly independent Uzbekistan. His monument in Tashkent now occupies the place where both Lenin and Marx�s statues once stood.
In 1590 William Shakespeare�s contemporary, Christopher Marlowe, who was one of the star playwrights of the English Renaissance, published a daring and thrilling play focusing on the triumphs of a Central Asian conqueror. Poetically captivating and as forceful and powerful as Tamburlaine�s character, Marlowe�s verse in these works marks a major shift from the conventional, mildly comic style of other Renaissance works. The plays are not a straightforward glorification of Tamburlaine�s violent conquests, since Marlowe frequently highlights his protagonist�s excessive brutality and hubris, or excessive pride. However, their honesty and eloquence make it difficult not to admire Tamburlaine, both from his rhetorical power and his lifelike animation.
Tamburlaine (1336-1405): Also known as Tamerlane or Amir Timur in English, was a conqueror of Western, Southern and Central Asia. He founded the Timurid Empire and Timurid dynasty in Central Asia, and was the great great grandfather of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Dynasty, which survived until 1857 in India.Tamburlaine was born in the city ofShahrisabz near Samarkand in Uzbekistan. Born into the Turco-Mongol Barlas tribe who ruled in Central Asia, Tamburlaine was a controversial figure throughout his lifetime, and remains so today.
Tamburlaine became a relatively popular figure in Europe for centuries after his death, mainly because of his victory over the Ottoman Sultan, Bayezid. The Ottoman armies were invading Eastern Europe at the time and Timur was ironically seen as a sort of ally.
Hamid Ismailov: Born in Kyrgyzstan, Hamid Ismailov is an Uzbek novelist and poet. He livesin Hertfordshire and works for the BBC World Service, where he is now Head of the Central Asian Service. Hamid is a prolific writer of poetry and prose, and his books have been published in English, Uzbek, Russian, French, German, Turkish and other languages. His novel, The Railway,was translated into English in 2006 and praised by critics as �a work of rare beauty�. Hamid speaks several languages and has translated English and Russian classics into Uzbek, and Uzbek and Persian classics into Russian. He was appointed the BBC�s World Service Writer-in-Residence in May 2010.
Marat Akhmedjanov: Born in Uzbekistan, Marat is based in Hertfordshire. He is the publisher of Open Central Asia, a quarterly magazine published in the UK, which connects and highlight the links between Europe and Central Asia. It promotes the cultures, politics, events and communities of both regions and opens a discussion and exchange of ideas between them to promote both business co-operation and cultural links. (www.ocamagazine.com) His first son is called Timur after Tamburlaine.
http://www.discovery-bookshop.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1496 |
FIRST
INTERNATIONAL FILM FORUM + FESTIVAL TO BE HELD IN ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA
The Arts
Council of Mongolia (ACM) is pleased to announce the inaugural East
Meets West Film Forum and Festival (EMWFFF)
to be held in UIaanbaatar, Mongolia from October
5 – 8, 2010.
With support
from the Asia-Europe Foundation’s Asia-Europe Cultural
Partnerships Initiatives program and the Open Society
Institute’s Arts + Culture Program, ACM will bring together
filmmakers and film industry professionals from Asia, Europe, Central
Asia, the USA and Mongolia for this very special event, the first of
its kind ever to be held in the country.
The film
industry in Mongolia is currently in a state of flux, and local
filmmakers struggle to make an impact at an international level. As
such, ACM identified a great need to bring support and recognition from
the global filmmaking community to Mongolia.
A panel of
international guests has been invited to meet in Ulaanbaatar to share
ideas, screen films and work with Mongolian filmmakers to further the
local industry. East Meets West will consist of film screenings with
post-viewing discussions and Q+A sessions, a day forum focused on the
global film industry and workshops for up-and-coming Mongolian
filmmakers.
An amalgam of
the past and the present, the Mongolian film industry’s
repertoire consists of ideological films as dictated by the
totalitarian regime of the past, and new commercial films that surfaced
along with the free market economy post-1990.
There are no
subsidies from the state for film and it is only thanks to the
enthusiasm of local filmmakers and commercial entrepreneurs that the
industry survives at all.
In 2009, ACM
held the Mini Margaret Mead Documentary Film Festival which received a
great response from local audiences starved of access to quality film.
East Meets West will similarly present Mongolian audiences and the
local filmmaking community with access to internationally renowned
cinema and film industry professionals.
“There
are virtually no international film events or festivals held in
Mongolia and the local film market is saturated with Hollywood
blockbusters and commercial films,” says the Arts Council of
Mongolia’s Executive Director Ariunaa Tserenpil.
“Neither
filmgoers nor filmmakers have access to a balanced or diverse range of
feature films nor documentaries that reflect current trends in the
global film industry. By offering free public screenings of films from
across Asia and Europe as part of East Meets West, ACM hopes to open up
the film world a little more in Mongolia.
“The
event will also play an important role in providing educational and
networking opportunities for local filmmakers and students who will
have the chance to meet their colleagues from Asia and
Europe.”
A full EMWFFF
program will be released later this month along with a dedicated forum
website.
International
participants in the East Meets West Film Forum + Festival
Anocha
Suwichakornpong, Thailand (Film
director + producer)
Betsy
McLane, USA (Project Director,
The American Documentary Showcase + author)
Daniel
Khamdamov, France/Russia,
(Commissioning Editor, Documentary Unit, ARTE TV)
Gulnara
Abikeyeva, Kazakhstan (Film
historian, author and EMWFFF international advisor)
James
Chressanthis, USA (Director +
cinematographer)
Jérémy
Segay, France (Film consultant
and EMWFFF international advisor)
Lucas
Rosant, France (Producer +
consultant, Mandra Films)
Maciej
Nowicki, Poland (Festival
director of WATCH DOCS)
Martina
Radwan, Germany (Film director
+ cinematographer)
Min
Kyu-dong, Korea (Film director)
Nadja
Jumah, Germany (Managing
Director of M-Appeal, film sales)
Ulan
Isakbekov, Kyrgyzstan,
(Managing Director, Cinema Development Fund)
Vladimir
Tyulkin, Kazakhstan,
(Documentary director)
The East Meets West Film Forum and Festival is
facilitated by the Arts Council of Mongolia and supported by the
Asia-Europe Foundation’s AECPI program and the Open Society
Institute’s Arts + Culture Network Program.

The Arts
Council of Mongolia is a non-government organization (NGO) that was
founded in 2002 to ensure that the art and culture of Mongolia is
sustainably developed, promoted and preserved. www.artscouncil.mn
The Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) was
established in February 1997 under the framework of the Asia-Europe
Meeting (ASEM) process. ASEF advances mutual understanding and
collaboration between the people of Asia and Europe through
intellectual, cultural, and people-to-people exchanges. www.asef.org
The
Arts and Culture Program of the Open Society Institute promotes
cultural and artistic collaboration throughout the Soros foundations
network; fosters structural changes in cultural policy; and helps
develop an autonomous and innovative arts sector. www.soros.org
For
more information, images or interview requests for East Meets West,
please contact
Alicia
Kish, Marketing + Communications Coordinator at the Arts Council of
Mongolia
education@artscouncil.mn or +976
11 319 017 / +976 9587 6417
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Uzbek
Crafts at Newport Show

On the
10th July 2010 URU International Ltd joined other business women,
members of
the WiRE (Women in Rural Enterprise) network to exhibit at Newport Show
held at
Chetwynd Park. Working with women entrepreneurs in Uzbekistan we had an
opportunity to present examples of their produce: silk scarves,
handmade
embroidered purses and bags, ceramics and other items of Uzbek crafts.
We also
presented our latest publication “Silk Road to Development
– An account of two
women on their journey to collaboration” describing a story
of two women
leaders based in United Kingdom and Uzbekistan. It was a hot day in
Newport.
People were coming to our stall in good numbers attracted by the bright
colors
of Uzbek crafts. We were exited that our international display
generated so
much interest at such a typically British event. URU will be contacting
those
who expressed an interest in learning more about Uzbek culture and
traditions. In
May 2012 an extraordinary trip is planned to see and experience
firsthand the
cultural and diverse richness of Uzbekistan. Participants will have the
opportunity to meet local people and participate in what can only be
described
as the Uzbek equivalent of the Welsh Eisteddfod, music song dance an
unforgettable
experience. Please contact us on info@uru.org.uk if
you want to be
part of this small select group of intrepid travelers.
Sincerely,
The Haven
Wolverhampton
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Azerbaijani
culture travels north of the border
The European Azerbaijan Society Press Release:
Azerbaijani culture travels north of the border
Hosted
by Howard Lyn of Rapid Solutions and Alexander Burnett of Jigsaw Energy
on behalf of The European Azerbaijan Society (TEAS), an exhibition of
prints by the renowned Azerbaijani artist Alakbar Rzaguliyev
(1903–74) was held from 23–28 August in the Lang
Byre Gallery, Woodend Barn, Burn o’Bennie, Banchory,
Scotland. Born in Baku, Rzaguliyev demonstrated artistic talent at an
early age. He studied at Moscow Technical Art College from
1925–28, after which he returned to Baku.
Rzaguliyev
was amongst the first to be arrested during Stalin’s
Repression in 1936, when 70,000 Azerbaijanis were executed or exiled,
having been accused by the Soviet authorities of advocating
‘pan-Turkish ideas’. Altogether, he spent 23 years
in exile or jail, and his evocative work depicts many elements of life
in early twentieth century Baku and scenes of the locations in which he
was exiled.
On
27 August, the barn resonated to the sounds of the Sabina Rakcheyeva
Ensemble. Sabina is the first Azerbaijani graduate from the Juilliard
School of Music in New York, and specialises in a cross-cultural mix of
traditional and improvised music. Sabina captivated the invited
audience of around 100 people with her versions of Azerbaijani mugham
pieces and classical works. Audience members included Lord Fraser,
Chairman, Anglo-Azeri Society; other Peers; and members of the
Azerbaijani diaspora living around Aberdeen, many of whom are
employed in the North Sea hydrocarbon extraction industry.
For
more information on TEAS’ cultural and other activities, go to www.teas.eu, and to learn more about Sabina
Rakcheyeva’s career and work, please visitwww.sabinarakcheyeva.com.
August
2010: Banchory, Scotland played host to Azerbaijani cultural event and
concert sponsored by The European Azerbaijan Society (TEAS).
The
event took place between 23-28 August at the Lang Byre Gallery, Woodend
Barn, Burn o’ Bennie, Banchory, Scotland.
If
you would like further information, high-resolution press quality
images or any other additional content, please do not hesitate to
contact:
Neil
Watson,
Editor
& Press Officer,
The
European Azerbaijan Society,
11-12,
St. James’s Square,
London,
SW1Y 4LB,
UK
Tel:
+44 (0)207 104 2226
Mobile/cellphone:
+44 (0)779 299 7216
E-mail: neil.watson@teas.eu
Website: www.teas.eu
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Discovery Central Asia #30

Discovery
Central Asia #30 music of Central Asia
Dear Friends,
To many people, in many cultures, music is an
important part of their way of life. Ancient cultures used music in
their mystical ceremonies, festivals, war dances, and work songs.
Later, religion and music amalgamated into a close relationship with
each other, which was used in Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and
Buddhism. These days, it is even used as medical therapy.
Music also serves as a universal language between nations. Many
organisations have implemented numerous programs and music initiatives
in Central Asia. Artists often exchange thoughts and collaborate with
each other through music. But most important of all, music can be used
to heal the world.
Music has long been an expression of people from different cultures
around the world. The oldest artifacts that show people
playing
musical instruments are found in Asia and are around four thousand
years old. Other archaeological findings suggest that
different
cultures around the world have always focused on their own special
instruments, developing unique methods of playing them.
However, no
matter how much music may have differed in different parts of the
world, it seems that music has always served a general common
purpose:
to bring people together. This is true whether it be at school, in the
workplace, in church, in the army, and even during revolutions (such as
those in Cuba or Brazil).
Therefore, music can be used not only as a vehicle for expression, but
also as a way to mobilise and inspire listeners to think differently
and take action. Musical styles change, messages to its listeners
change, the world's view changes.
Such a change was necessary in a country at the heart of Central Asia,
Kyrgyzstan, where a revolution took place on April 7th 2010. As with
every revolution it brought with it many challenges and obstacles.
Following the April events in Kyrgyzstan our SILK ROAD MEDIA office was
left in ruins, having been robbed by marauders. It left us without the
vital equipment and furniture we need to operate. Moreover, after the
bloodshed in the south of Kyrgyzstan, thousands of Uzbeks and Kyrgyz
were left without the means for existence. However, every revolution
leads to evolution. Therefore, Kyrgyzstan, in such a difficult period
of its history, should not lose the opportunity to promote its culture
and tourism opportunities throughout the world, and thus make itself
and its sufferings heard. We hope that people won’t stay
indifferent to
these events and make their contributions to heal the world.
In this issue, we want to make yet another revolution, this time in
your minds, by presenting “the Music of Central
Asia” that is as vast,
diverse and unique as the many cultures and peoples who inhabit the
region.
Enjoy this issue, as if it is a concert held free of charge,
performed by artists from the six countries of Central Asia:
Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and
Turkmenistan.
Always yours,
Marat Akhmedjanov
Publisher
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Appeal
to support Silk Road Media office in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Silk
Road Media opened its satellite office in February 2010, in Bishkek,
Kyrgyzstan. The main objective of our representation is to report
events happening in both Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. We also wish to
promote Kyrgyzstan as a new tourist area, through the publication of
guidebooks and colourful journals.
Opening this office is a strategically important step for both the
company and for the region as a whole, since all of our information can
be taken from primary sources.
The special feature of our publications is our ability to cover the
culture, history, traditions and art of the people of Central Asia,
within the framework of objectively reflecting the positive aspects of
this collection of Central Asian countries, excluding the pursuit of
dubious sensationalism.
Since we have been the only publication specialised in promoting
tourism in Central Asia for the last 8 years, our work is very
important. Our direct mission is to attract tourists and investment in
this still relatively unexplored region, as well as fostering the
development of tourism and international relations.
During the events of April 7th-8th, 2010, our representative office,
which was located in the Agroprom building on Bishkek's central Ala-Too
Square, suffered badly. The demonstrators broke into the building
between 9 and 10 PM, and the entire building from the 1st to 7th floor
was destroyed and robbed. The building rented offices to governmental
and international organisations, committees for religion and culture,
and many other private organisations. All were equally ruined.
Read
more...
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