3.1. Almaty National Park Reserve; elusive rural kumys; bird rescue center

Timur B., Daniel C., Eugene M., imbibing airan

helmeted steppe eagle
high-protein eagle cuisine

Posted by Eugene Moon; photos by Sandra Powers and Daniel Corral

Timur, Sandra, Daniel, and I departed at 11 AM to go to the Almaty Lake and the Observatory Tower in the Almaty National Park Reserve, with our new driver, Ivan, a Russian with a warm disposition who seems to understand a bit of English. Before entering the park, we encountered a fancy looking golden fountain at the center of a roundabout and a large elaborate gate flanked by pillars that looked like something from Caesar's Palace. It was actually the entrance to the First President's Park, built exclusively for the first and current president, Nursultan Nazarbayev. There was a hill in the center of the park with what appeared to be two Acropolis-like buildings, built for the president as a retreat, and a place to write his books and memoirs. There are buildings, restaurants, and cottages lined up along the streets that are built like medieval castles and forts.

After hiking up a small mountain, we decided to go in search of kumys, an alcoholic drink made from fermented mare's milk. The pure kind of kumys is found in rural areas or on ranches, while the factory-made kumys, available in the city, is diluted with water or cow's milk. We headed for a ranch near the entrance of the Reserve. When we got there, we were told that the mares weren’t ready to be milked for kumys for two more weeks. That was disappointing, but they did have airan, a milk drink similar to keffir. It’s not yogurt but it has the texture and taste of sour yogurt.

The ranch also happened to be a bird rescue center, with owls, hawks, falcons, and eagles native to Kazakhstan. The steppe eagles, tethered outside the cages, look amazing and fierce. They make a weird sound similar to a duck. Another striking creature: the Griffin Vulture, a large majestic white vulture. It has a large wingspan and it wasn't happy with its situation, gnawing at its tether. When it tried to fly away, one can see how long its wings are. We were also shown a Bearded Vulture, which looks like an eagle and is known for eating bones and dropping them from high ground. These are the largest birds I have ever seen and their wingspan is 10 ft! Their eyes look menacingly monstrous and frightening, as does their appearance and color. Sandra described them as "hardcore."

The tour guide wanted to show us more animals, and she brought us us to a building that housed rats. She told us they are raised as food for the birds since they have more nutrition than chickens and chicks. Next, she showed us two wolves, who were painted red, and looked like they just killed an animal. I thought they fed them a whole deer before she told us they were painted like that for a film. The last cage held a black wolf, which looked more like a dog than a wolf. In fact, I have heard black wolves are actually part dogs, since pure wolves cannot produce black colored offspring. It must be true, because that wolf really looked and acted like a dog. Daniel and I are grateful for all the work Timur and Sandra have done to bring us to Almaty and to the Reserve and to Almaty, and to give us such a memorable adventure from this unplanned excursion.

2.2. First rehearsal of cantata

Eugene Moon with boom; kil-kobyz
Daniel Corral, Timur Bekbosunov, Maestro Zhamat Temirgaliyev rehearsing the cantata
Sazgen Sazy rehearsing the cantata

Post by Eugene Moon; photos by Sandra Powers

At the rehearsal hall, we were greeted by the sound of the dombra played by a musician rehearsing her part. As we started recording the rehearsal session, the reality of being a boom pole operator began to hit me---with searing pain in the arm. Despite the ache in my arms and heat in the room, it was countered by the euphonious sound of the cantata. It was phenomenally wonderful. Brilliant and beautiful. It is a wonder how a non-Kazakh can compose a cantata so well that she knew how to put the music, instruments, and folk songs together. I have to say, I congratulate you, Anne. Well done! A round of applause to your virtuosity as a composer. I very much want the soundtrack and DVD of the cantata to turn out well, as it is something worth listening to and watching.

Sandra and I went back to the hotel to do some transcription. The transcription I have to do is to write down all the dialogue and speaking from the intro of Sandra's film, "The Nomad's Song," so that it can be translated into Russian for the audience on the day her film is shown. Later, we interviewed a bayan (similar to accordion) player, and the player of the kyl kobyz, a type of violin played like a rebab with a hollowed-out body and made of horse hair that creates a distinctive sound like the morin khuur (Mongolian cello), but an octave lower.

2.1. Museum of National Instruments, Panfilov Park, Zenkov Cathedral

Anne LeBaron at the Museum of National Instruments, Almaty (2008)
Panfilov Guardsmen Park
Zenkov Cathedral

Post written by Eugene Moon; photos by Viktor Bekbosunov and Anne LeBaron

Today we visited the Museum of National Instruments, originally an outpost building for 19th century Russian imperialists. What's inside is incredible: all the Kazakh instruments of various shapes, sizes, and ages, like the dombra, kobyz, adyrna, and zhetygen. The museum also displayed other multicultural instruments like Saz, Sitar, Yue Qin, Gadulka, and the smallest Gayageum I have ever seen.

We then left the museum and walked into Panfilov Guardsmen Park, featuring a memorial for the 28 soldiers who died defending Moscow against German tanks in WWII. With its eternal flame and sculptures of soldiers in defense stance, it’s a good depiction of the social realism style. Zenkov Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox church, rises like a fantasy fairy-tale structure near the memorial. It had survived the wars, and was converted into a concert hall during communist rule, before being restored to the control of the Russian Church after the collapse of the USSR.

We kept on walking and got to the old square where they are setting up for Nauryz. (Nauryz is one of the oldest holidays on earth, and is celebrated as the first day of renewed life that comes with spring.) It was quite an interesting sight to watch a woman screaming a slew of directions in Russian from the center stage, over a microphone, to dancers wearing their traditional garb in the freezing wind. I wonder how fast they can learn in such low temperatures.

1.1. Introduction to this series; Arrival in Almaty

Daniel and Eugene
Timur the young Octoberist

The following posts, for the week leading up to March 25, are being written by Eugene Moon (CalArts, BFA 3, School of Art). Sandra Powers (CalArts alum, Film / Video) took the photographs. They're part of the U.S. delegation to oversee, document, and participate in the March 25 Almaty premiere of my new work, "The Silent Steppe Cantata," along with Timur Bekbosunov, tenor, producer, and administrator, and Daniel Corral, assistant to the composer. Sandra, our filmmaker, is creating an art / documentary, "The Normad's Song," and Eugene Moon serves as production coordinator. They arrived in Kazakhstan yesterday, after their looooonnng flight from Los Angeles.

We were greeted in the morning with a nice breakfast from the Rixos Hotel's restaurant/buffet. The food did not literally greet us but it is one way to put it since we can eat breakfast for free because the sponsor paid for it. They have Western food, like waffles, scrambled eggs, croissants, etc. The best is boiled horse meat. Very delicious! Really good texture. It tastes like Turkey ham but better. After we ate, we all walked to the copy store, which is a few blocks from the hotel. The air was cold and it burned our faces, freezing our noses and ears. It is spring at this time of year around the world but here it seemed to be just past the middle of winter. Snow is still present everywhere. One can see icicles hanging off from roofs. After business at the store, we went to a currency exchange to replace our dollars with Tenge. One dollar is about 146 T.

Our first foray into Kazakhstan was to the Tien Shan (Heaven) mountain range. To see the powdery snow glitter and glisten in the sun was beautiful. The sky was bright and blue, a strong contrast to the sky in Almaty, which was foggy and gray. We went to Medeo first, a skating rink, where we recorded families skating with the children while Kazakh and American pop music blared and music videos were playing on the large mega screen. We left Medeo and headed on up to the peak of the mountain. Because it was foggy in the city, the horizon where the city of Almaty should be was blocked by gray haze and we could hardly see the city at all.

We drove down back to the city, which got brighter and a little warmer. We stopped by to take a look at a conservatory once called Palace of Pioneers, an art and entertainment hall for Soviet youths. (Timur attended as a young Octoberist, a level younger than Pioneer.) We drove on to the circus. The city is filled with many advertisements with local products as well as Western merchandise. So much of the architecture looks simple and Soviet-like while new buildings, like skyscrapers, stand out. The whole environment and mood of the city is simple and humble but at the same time, quite high tech and advanced.

First, there were Horses

One of the memorable adventures on my first full day in Kazakhstan was a surprise ride on this gentle animal, which at first glance I thought was a life-sized statue, as he stood in utter stillness. To honor him, I begin this tale of an endeavor that has taken me to an exotic land, one of the former Soviet bloc countries that has a bright future.

For two weeks this fall, I lived in the former capital, Almaty, while researching the country's history and environment, meeting musicians, and investigating indigenous instruments. The cantata, planned for performances in late 2009 and 2010, will be written for Otyrar Sazy, the National Folk Orchestra; Koktem, the celebrated Kazakh children's choir; and the soloist Timur Bekbosunov. My collaborator, the writer Beysenbai Suleimenov, will be providing a text in three parts, detailing the rich and complex past of Kazakhstan; the devastating Soviet policy of collectivization, resulting in widespread famine and the virtual disappearance of the nomadic way of life; and the newly independent country that has forged a solid standing in the world --- it will, in fact, assume the Chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 2010.

In the coming days I'll be sharing images, descriptions, recordings, and videos from this initial visit to Kazakhstan, so stay tuned!

Dogwood Lodge

My sister Lynn and I drove down to Dogwood Lodge yesterday, and all the memories of living there for a year (1971-72) rushed back as we rumbled across the little bridge and into the heart of of the property, in her tiny 1991 Mazda convertible with the top down. The original Lodge (where Zelda Fitzgerald was known to attend parties, a fact confirmed yesterday by Laura, the great-great granddaughter of the owners) tragically burned to the ground, a victim of wicked Alabama lightning, twenty years ago. The great room was subsequently partially reconstructed around the original walk-in fireplace, where I'm standing with a drawing of the original Lodge (one of a numbered edition of 50, by Sue Blackshear-Bowen). When I lived there, we used all four screened-in porches on the upper level, and I gave piano lessons on my beloved Kawai piano in the huge great room, to pay for my second year at the University of Alabama. We sometimes cowered from seriously large snakes prone to hanging out in the dark bathroom, lounging on one of the enormous logs and peering down. Huge red wasps were also attracted, year-round, to the Lodge---living there was a lot like camping out, but in a spectacular structure. The Lodge was notorious for annual pig roasts that became parties stretching out for days on end, fueled by beer and rock music, and occasional recordings of Stockhausen (Momenté was the one I used), to vary the sonic ambience---always an adventure to see how long that would last. Thankfully there are still gatherings of owners and their friends and family every year in this relatively untouched paradise of forest, creek, and wildlife.

sweet home alabama

Composers need to maintain healthy family relationships. That's what I'm doing for the next couple of days, and in the Deep South, photo ops abound. Just off Bee Branch Road (near Cottondale and Coaling, between Birmingham and Tuscaloosa), a day-glow (i.e., glows in the daylight) orange yackety-yak shack for sale. Down the road, on the grounds of the legendary Dogwood Lodge, we discovered feet growing in the forest---a cast-off art project, reincarnated as raw material for a campfire horror story. Yvonne and I arrived in Birmingham last night, put up in high style by my sister Lynn at her palatial abode on Wildwood Lake, and are seeing old family, new family, turtles, frogs, fish, ants, and giant dragonflies, More to come on the Lodge!