2012
May 12, Saturday, 5pm	Silk Road House presents: “Jascha Heifetz: God’s Fiddler” As you all remember, on April 21, Silk Road House organized a rare event – live concert with the West Sacramento Music Academy Violin Ensemble. That charming concert took place at unusual for SRH time, at 3pm, and maybe for that reason many of you, unfortunately, had no chance to attend it and to enjoy the art of those beautiful children and their mentors, Irina Kravets and Galina Kistanova. We hope to organize another meeting with that ensemble in the future. Meanwhile not only Kazakhstani connection of pianist Kistanova attracted us in organizing that event but also the very idea of the origins of modern violin – the instrument with so ancient roots that are indeed going back to the time of Silk Roads with its amazing cultural contacts and metamorphoses. So, this time we’d like to offer to your attention another violin connected event – a new documentary film “Jascha Heifetz: God’s Fiddler” named one of the top five classical films of 2011. Jascha Heifetz (1901-1987) – the first modern violin virtuoso, the violinist of the century, about whom Yitzhak Perlman says in the film, “When I spoke with him, I thought, ‘I can‘t believe it. I’m talking with God’”. This insightful film portrays a musical wunderkind who went on to set the standards for nearly a century. We get to know Jascha Heifetz through home movies and personal family photos taken from 1903-1987. Great clips are shown for the first time. Director and producer Peter Rosen, writer Sara Lukinson. In crafting the film, two our friends were instrumental – Albina Starkova-Heifetz and Galina Kopytova of St. Petersburg, Russia – latter is the author of the excellently written fundamental book “Jascha Heifetz in Russia” (St. Petersburg, 2004) – the book which hopefully will be soon translated into English. Run time: 87 minutes. Language – English.
April 21, Saturday, 3-5pm	Silk Road House presents: West Sacramento Music Academy Violin Ensemble: Live concert The Violin Ensemble of the West Sacramento Music Academy under directorship of Irina Kravets and with the piano accompanist Galina Kistanova performs in various places -- libraries, churches, nursing homes and other venues. The members of ensemble are students of Music Academy – children from five years old and older. Violin Ensemble plays different music -- classical, folk and religious. One of its Christmas performances so much excited listeners that they named this group "Heavenly Strings". Galina Kistanova is one of the West Sacramento Music Academy founders. She was born and grew up in Kazakhstan. First she was enrolled in the Special Music School for gifted children in Almaty. Then she continued her music education at the conservatory in Novosibirsk as a pupil of the famous pianist Heinrich Neuhaus (1888 – 1964). It was there where she received firm grounding in the renowned "Russian School" of piano pedagogy. After receiving her Master of Fine Arts degree, she taught the piano at the Special School for gifted children in Almaty. Since arriving in the USA, Galina has continued to play and teach. In June 2005 she accompanied the Siskiyou Violins (a group of exceptionally talented young violin students) in their Gold Medal performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Currently she is teaching in the West Sacramento Music Academy.
April 14, Saturday, 5-7pm	Silk Road House presents: The holistic aspect of the Azeri and Turkish musical folklore" by Taira M. Kerimova. Dr. Kerimova looks at folk songs and dances from the point of view of their influence on the health and harmonic development of the people in traditional cultures. She attempts to use the ancient methods of sound, energy and motive therapy in the light of the music of oral tradition. The goal of her presentation is to explain some unknown means of the impact that folklore has on the human power system. Taira Kerimova, Ph.D., ethnomusicologist, graduated from the Baku Musical Academy in 1971 and taught there until 1996; currently lives and works in Turkey. Master Reiki ("Universal Life-Force Energy”). Among her publications there are ''Maternal folklore'' (1994), “Women's Love and Life: Female Folklore from Azerbaijan” (the Pan CD issued in the Netherland on the base of her own fieldwork recordings), and numerous scholarly and journalistic articles.
March 17, Saturday, 5-7pm	Silk Road House presents: “When the Komuz Met the Keyboard: Folk and Pop Music in Modern Kyrgyzstan” by Dennis Keen Kyrgyz folk music has evolved from its ancient roots as a mostly solo musical form to its current state where “folk ensembles” must compete in an increasingly cut-throat music market. Traditional instruments, like the three-stringed komuz and metal jew’s harp, now share the stage with keyboards and drum tracks. Meanwhile, pop music in Kyrgyzstan has met folk music halfway, utilizing traditional instrumentation and motifs as nationalist signifiers. What does the convergence of folk and pop music mean for the future of music in Kyrgyzstan? Come explore the modern world of Kyrgyz music at a talk by Fulbright Fellow Dennis Keen. Dennis Keen worked in the Kyrgyz Republic from September 2010 to July 2011 on a Fulbright Fellowship in Anthropology. Though his main research project was devoted to the Kyrgyz tradition of hunting with birds of prey, Mr. Keen’s interest in ethnomusicology led him to pursue an apprenticeship in Kyrgyz folk instrumentation with the well-known komuzchu, Nurak Abdirakhmanov. Writing regularly for the regional magazine The Spektator, he had the opportunity to meet and interview the biggest names in contemporary Kyrgyz folk and pop music. Mr. Keen will be giving his second presentation at the Silk Road House after a talk on his falconry research in December.
February 11, Saturday, 5-7pm	Silk Road House presents: "Strizh" ("Shorn") – Kazakh film of 2007. This is the debut full-length feature by the young Kazakh director Abai Kulbai. It tells a story about wintry and cold Almaty, and about a teenage girl, Ainur, who is a child of the streets, and we see Almaty through the girl’s eyes, a girl with a world of her own, but who has to live in the world of others. Strizh is an extraordinary film because it explores the life of a generation born into independence: Ainur is a child of the first years of an independent Kazakhstan, a child of a mixed marriage who barely understands Kazakh. The story of a teenage girl looking for her place in the adult world marks a new departure both in the historical development of Kazakh cinema and in the established pattern of films about the formation of a person's relationship with the modern world. The director has this to say, “My film is not for teenagers, and they won't go to see it. My film is aimed at society, at its morals and its attitude to this age group.” The debut filmmaker has thrown down the gauntlet to society. Scriptwriters: Abai Kulbai, Eugénie Zvonkine; Cinematography: Aleksandr Kostylev; Art Director: Aleksei Shindin; Composer: Sergei Pogoreltsev; Producer: Sergei Azimov; Production: Kazakhfilm Cast: Ainur - Inessa Kislova; Asel - Anar Kakenova; Saken - Merlen Kaldybalin; Ainur’s Mother - Lyazzat Aidarova; Stepfather - Bakhytzhan Alpeisov; Father - Maxim Pupisov; Asel’s Mother - Marzhan Kazybaeva. Running Time: 80 minutes. Languages: Kazakh and Russian with English subtitles. The screening will be introduced and commented on by Alma Kunanbaeva.
January 28, Saturday, 5-7pm	Silk Road House presents: "Music in the Afghan North" By Mark Slobin... Music in the Afghan North: a short survey of the fieldwork Mark Slobin did in a peaceful Afghanistan in 1967-72, where he traveled through the Central Asian zone of the country among Uzbeks, Tajiks and Turkmens, collecting folk music. Mark Slobin is the Richard K. Winslow Professor of Music at Wesleyan University and the author or editor of many books on Afghanistan and Central Asia, eastern European Jewish music, and ethnomusicology theory, the most recent being “Folk Music: A Very Short Introduction” (2010, Oxford University Press).
For the 2011 events, go to here.
For the 2010 events, go to here.
For the 2009 events, go to here.
For the 2008 events, go to here.
For the 2007 events, go to here.