michael ormiston and candida valentino of kyrgyz muscial tour august... · michael ormiston and...

Michael Ormiston and Candida Valentino Performance & Collaboration with Kyrgyz Musicians August 2015

Artists International Development Fund – Arts Council of England/British Council

The project was an overwhelming success. We are in debt to Ilona Sultanova who facilitated most of the tour and

to Jusup Aisaev from Art School no6. Our profile in Kyrgyzstan was developed by a string successful concerts in

Bishkek and throughout the county. We collaborated with singers Gulzada Riskylova & Batma Sultanova,

traditional music mutli-instrumentalists, Jusup Aisaev, Nurbek Serkebaev, Bekbolot Abduvaliev, Kyl-Kyak fiddle

player Zalina Kasimova, Manaschi (Epic Singer) Duulut Sidiskov, dancer Ilona Sultanova, members of the band

Vis-a-Vis and at The Central Asian Academy of Contemporary Music worked with young traditional/classical

musicians from Kazakhstan,Tajikistan,Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and members of the Omnibus Ensemble.

These collaborations created new pieces, Three Silver Birch, Sufi Mazaar Dance, White Swan, Khakhas

Echoes, Song-Kul, Dalai as well as new arrangements of traditional Mongolian, Kyrgyz and original

compositions. All of these were performed at the final Gala concert at The Kyrgyz National Drama Theatre. This

concert was recorded by Kyrgyz National Radio to be broadcast around the country. Michael & Candida appeared

twice on Kyrgyz TV, had newspaper and online articles about their music and the project.

They made a number of recording to act as demo recordings to further the project with aim to bring some

of the musician to the UK to tour.

Bishkek 29th

June to 4th

July.

29th

June With the help of felt clothing designer Aidai Asangulova and Nurjamal Asangulova we met Maksat

Çakiev, the deputy minister of culture and he agreed to help us with venues in the various places we were

scheduled to perform.

30th

June Ilona Sultanova our main organiser arranged a morning TV interview to introduce Candida & Michael

publicise the tour, invite musicians and to advertise the first concert at the Bishkek Music Conservatory. Went to

Positive Design Studio to create & print tour fliers in Kyrgyz, Russian & English..

1st July Rehearsed for the concert next day. Printed Questionnaires written in Kyrgz, Russian and English.

Collected Tour Flier.

2nd

July Rehearsed in the morning. Afternoon sound check. The concert at the conservatory went so well that

Guldzada Riskilova a well known singer spontaneously came up at the end of the concert and we performed an

improvisation. Our first collaboration. We were interviewed by a Kyrgyz Newspaper, BBC Kyrgyzstan and a radio

station. Met Jusup Aisaev & Zalina Kasimova who expressed great interest in collaborating with us.

Candida and Michael – Tibetan Singing Bowls Piece

First concert at Bishkek Music Conservatory

3rd

July Visited Nurlanbek Nyshanov at his school. Nurlanbek is a master musician, teacher and instrument maker.

He kindly offered his space for the collaborations to take place in Bishkek. Performed a duo concert at Studio

247. Our first piece was an improvisation dedicated to the late Ornette Coleman. Another well know singer Batma

Sultanova asked to collaborate at the end of the concert. An improvisation followed.

Candida – Voice, Shaman Drum, Michael – Shawm

Improvisation for Ornette Coleman at Art Club Studio 247, Bishkek

4th

– preparation for the travel around the countryside. Confirmation that musicians Zalina and Jusup will travel

with us.

5th

July – Travelled to Tokmok to perform a concert at the House of Culture, mainly for special needs children and

their families. First collaboration with Jusup and Zalina. The PA was awful. The director of the House of culture

was really happy that we performed. Travelled on to Tocor Yurt village on the south shore of Issyk-Kul.

Candida – Shaman Drum & Voice, Michael – Irish Bouzouki

Zalina Kasimova – Kyl-Kyak, Jusup Aisaev – Komuz

Tokmok House of Culture

Michael plays a Singing Bowl for Special Needs Children and their families

Tokmok House of Culture

6th

- 8th

July – Planetarnoe festival. Each morning Candida and I collaborated with Jusup & Zalina. Worked on

Jew's Harp Quartet, Khakhas Echoes, Morin Khuur/Kyl Kyak Duo, Eva's Tune/Tizgin Kuu. We performed two

evening concerts, ran Tibetan Singing Bowl and Khöömii (Mongolia Overtone Singing) workshops, recorded four

pieces with sound recordist Victor for a proposed demo for future work and led a Tibetan Singing Bowl and Gong

meditation sound journey.

Tocor, Planetarnoe festival, Boz-ooi (Yurt) Camp, Issy-Kul Lake

Candida – Native American Flute, Michael – Irish Bouzouki

Zalina Kasimova – Kyl-Kyak, Jusup Aisaev – Komuz

Collaboration of Eva’s Tune & Tizgin Kuu


Recording Session in the Chung Boz –ooi (Big Yurt)

Hmong Ncas (Dan Moi) Mouth Harp improvisation based on the Chintamani Rhythm Cycle 7/8 7/8 7/8 6/8


Ilona Sultanova’s Sufi inspired movement improvisation to

Michael and Candida’s Tibetan Singing Bowls, Gong, Shamans Drum and Throat Singing Sound Journey


Zalina Kasimova – Kyl-Kyak Candida – Shaman Drum , Michael – Morin Khuur, Jusup Aisaev - Jetigen

Khakhas Echoes in Concert Tocor, Planetarnoe festival, Boz-ooi (Yurt) Camp, Issy-Kul Lake

9th

– Travel to Kochkor, Naryn Province. Performed a quartet concert at the House of Culture. Again the sound

equipment was terrible. Later we found out that this was the first time that Jusup and Zalina had played here, even

though they were top class professional musician (Jusup has performed internationally many times). It turned out

that it was financially viable for Kyrgyz pop singers (Who perform with playback, ie no live musicians) to have

concerts but traditional musicians almost never played concerts here.

Zalina Kasimova –Kyl-Kyak, Candida – Shaman Drum, Kharkhiraa Undertone Singing,

Michael – Morin Khuur, Khöömii (Mongolia Overtone Singing), Jusup Aisaev – Jetigen

Kochkor House of Culture, Naryn Province.

10th

-11th

– Travel to Song-kul an alpine lake (3016m) in Naryn Province. We stay with Semi-Nomadic herders

camped in Yurts (Boz-ooi) by the Djaman Echki river. Make a field recording of the river and copy it for Jusup on

his laptop. He is working on an important project notating old recordings of traditional music from the radio and

university archives and making arrangements for them to be performed by ensembles. Perform two concerts for

the herds-people and tourists who are also staying at the Your Camp. Tourism is an important way of

supplementing their income and sustaining their semi nomadic way of life. This is the time of “jai loo,” which

means “good summer. We help put up a old Yurt that had collapsed and was in need of repair. Chingez had a rustic

Komuz on which he played one of his tunes while on a Kymis (Ferment Mare's milk) break.

Repared Boz-ooi (Yurt) being erected

Song-Kul

Michael & Candida perform Nidhana Kumba

Boz-ooi (Yurt) Camp, Song-Kul

Jusup, Michael & Candida


Michael Plays a Sheperd’s Komuz


12th

- Visit Song-Kul. film and record the wind gong being played in the water. Lowering the gong into the water

changes its pitch. Return to Bishkek.

13th

- Prepare for flight to Osh.

14th

- Fly to Osh, the main City in the South. Meet the director of the Osh Philharmonia to make arrangements for

tomorrow's concert. Then to the city cultural officer. He wanted to make sure we were not going to usurp the

concert with material not suitable for the conservative Muslim population, unlike a group from Rotterdam had a

number of years ago. We assured them that we played traditional Mongolian music, our own compositions and

were happy to collaborate with local artists. Through Nurlanbek Nyshanov we had a contact at the Osh music

school. There we met Bekbolot Abduvaliev who is another virtuoso multi-instrumentalist, playing most of the

Kyrgyz traditional musical instruments as well as the Khazak Dombra. He is a professional musician and a School

teacher. We had a collaboration session with him and he agreed to perform with us the next day. Went to Osh TV

and paid for a 24 hour ticker tape advert for the concert.

15th

- Morning collaboration with Bekbolot. For the collaborations, I would play a Dobulbas Drum with Bekbolot

playing a traditional Khazak melody. The trio would improvise on Kyl-Kyak, Morin Khuur and Voice and we

would do a new version of Altai Magtaal. The concert was a great success with a standing ovation. Osh TV

invited us for an interview the next morning The head of Osh city cultural office gave us a speech and invited us to

return to a festival he had organised. We met an Uzbek musician who would have liked to collaborate with us.

However it was Ramadan and the next day was Eid al-Fitr and like most people he would be very busy. In fact one

of the things we learnt during the whole trip was that as it was Ramadan less people would be able to attend the

concerts.

Bekbolot Abduvaliev – Kyl-Kyak, Candida – Voice, Michael – Morin Khuur

Improvisation on concert at Osh Philharmonia, Osh

16th

– Osh TV interview.

17th

– Fly back to Bishkek.

18th

July - 2nd

August Bishkek

19th

– Collaborate with members of Vis-A-Vis band, local young musicians who play electric guitar, electric bass,

violin and drums. They mainly do covers. The guitarist Suli attended our first concert and liked our Wheel of Life

medley so we worked on this complex arrangement for the Gala show later in the month. The 7/8.7/8.7/8.6/8 cycle

proved a challenge for them. They eventually mastered it.

Vis-A-Vis Band Collaborating on Wheel of Life Medley

Bishlek

20th

– Morning Collaboration with Nurbek Serkebaev. Nurbek is a very hard working professional musician, again

a multi-instrumentalist. He teaches Candida a song “In the Village” that we will combine with Altai Magtaal. We

teach Nurbek some of the basics of Khoomii singing. Work on Sufi Maazar Dance, our collaboration with dancer

Ilona Sultanova. She is now away in the countryside so we need to employ another translator and organiser,

Almagul. She turned out to be an essential asset to the project.

Morning Collaboration with Nurbek Serkebaev.

At Master Musician & Instrument maker, Nurlanbek Nyshanov’s School, Bishkek

- Afternoon Collaboration with Zalina, Jusup and three of his students from Art School no6. They were supposed

to be in Uzbekistan to perform at a festival but this was cancelled due to severe flooding. So it was decided that

they would present a piece at the gala concert and that all seven of us would work on a Jew's harp medley

combining the work we had already been doing on the Hmong Ncas, plus the two Kyrgyz Jew's harps and the

Mongolian bamboo jew's harp.

21st - 23

rd July. Central Asian Academy of Contemporary Music with the Ominbus Ensemble from Tashkent,

Uzbekistan at Bishkek Conservatory of Music.

21st - Morning Mongolian Khöömii (Overtone/Undertone) Singing master class to the Uzbek, Tadjik, Kazakh,

Kyrgyz students and members of the Omnibus ensemble.

Afternoon – Running a music session creating structured improvisations for the whole ensemble, over 20 people

using harmonics and the breathe. Introducing them to some of the text scores of Deep Listening Founder, Pauline

Oliveros.

Central Asian Academy of Contemporary Music

Michael and Candida run a Khöömii (Mongolia Overtone Singing) master Class and

Lead a structure improvisation for the whole group

Bishkek, Music Conservatory

22nd

- Morning Workshop giving a Tibetan Singing Bowl master class to the Uzbek, Tadjik, Kazakh, Kyrgyz

students and members of the Omnibus ensemble.

23rd

- Morning 30 minute radio Interview on Kyrgyz national radio.

-

Afternoon created a new flier for the gala concert at Positive Design Studio.

- Evening Concert with members of the Omnibus Ensemble. Collaborative pieces, “Elemental” with master

contemporary orchestral percussionist, Alibek Kabdurakhmanov, A text score, Song-Kul for the Omnibus

Ensemble string section composed by Michael and a trio improvisation for Turkish Ney flute (Michael), Botir

Dosimbetov (Uzbek Nai flute) and Ravshan Tokhtamishev (Uzbek Santoor/hammered dulcimer).

“Elemental” with master contemporary orchestral percussionist, Alibek Kabdurakhmanov

Song-Kul for the Omnibus Ensemble string

Michael – Ebowed Irish Bouzouki, Candida Voice

Music Conservatory Bishkek

24th

-Morning collaboration with Jusup, Zalina and Nurbek. Introduced them to Michael's new composition, Three

Silver Birch, started in the UK and completed in Kyrgyzstan. Worked on all the other collaborative pieces.

Jusup Aisaev and Michael working on the Notation for Three Silver Birch


24th

- Evening duo concert at the Sierra Cafe Terrace. We distributed the new gala concert fliers here.

Michael and Candida perform the Wheel of Life Medley

Sierra Cafe, Bishkek

25th

- Morning session with Singer Guldzada. Worked on a collaboration called Dalai for Voices, Morin Khuur and

shaman drum.

26th

- Morning, Visited Marat a master Kyl-Kyak (kyrgyz horse head fiddle) maker. All of the professionals use his

instruments. We interviewed him about how he makes the instrument. He says he has dreams as to which tree to

use. Marat would not tell us about certain aspects of the process as some of it was secret.

Jusup Aisaev gives Michael a Kyl-Kyak lesson

at Master Kyl Kyak maker Marat’s Workshop, Bishkek

- Afternoon Vis-A-Vis Band rehearsal for Wheel of Life Medley.

27th

– Morning collaboration with Manaschi (Epic singer), Duulut Sidiskov and Nurbek. Duulut demonstrated a

very very small section of this 20,000 verse epic. His reciting became more and more involved and emotional and

Duulut seemed to go into a trance. Nurbek had to gently prod him to ask him to stop. We worked out a piece that

used, Native American Flute, Choor, Morin Khuur, Drum, throat Singing, Rams Horn and wind gong. The section

of the Manas was about when the wife of Manas revealed to Manas that he had a son who was now 18 years old.

Manaschi (Epic Singer) Duulut Sidiskov, Candida, Nurbek – Choor & Michael

Work on an extract from the Manas’


- Afternoon session with Batma Sultanova. We worked on a combination piece of a Buddhist protection mantra

and one of her own songs. Batma then demonstrated her self taught throat singing. It was like a very high

undertone singing. Nurlanbek was in his office at the time and so ensued a Khoomii lesson for them both.

Batma Sultanova, Candida and Michael work on her Dalai Collaboration


- Evening, Nurbek invited us to his kyl-kyak teacher Bakyt Chytyrbaev who is considered one of the key people

in reviving the tradition of the original two string horse hair Kyrgyz fiddle. Bakyt played some wonderful tunes

for us and Nurbek followed singing songs with his three stringed fretless Komuz.

28th

– final morning rehearsal with Zalina, Nurbek, Jusup & his three students

29th

– Morning at Osh market to buy stage gear, a hat and a sleeveless jacket.

- Afternoon, Michael and Candida rehearsal, writing script for Gala concert announcers, stage plan and finalised

running order.

30th

All day at the Kyrgyz State Drama Theatre. Final rehearsals with all the artists. Interviewed by on-line

magazine during rehearsal. Sound Check and then the gala concert. The concert was a great success with a

standing ovation for all the artists. It was recorded by Kyrgyz Radio for future broadcasts, a Kyrgyz TV Channel.

We were interview after the concert by various media organisations.

Khakhas Echoes

Jusup Aisaev – Jetagen, Zalina Kasimovo – Kyl Kyak

Michael Ormiston – Morin Khuur, Khoomii, Candida Valentino – Singing Bowl, Khargyraa, Shaman Drum

Sufi Mazaar Dance

Michael – Singing Bowl, Drum. Sibizgi, Candida Singing Bowl, Voice, Shaman Drum

Nurbek Serkebaev – Choor, Dobulbas

Kyrgyz State Drama Theatre, Bishkek

Sufi Mazaar Dance

Michael – Singing Bowl, Drum. Sibizgi, Candida Singing Bowl, Voice, Shaman Drum

Nurbek Serkebaev – Choor, Dobulbas, Ilona Sultanova - Sufi dance


Dorvon Nastai Khaluin- Dreamsteppe – Danceland

Michael Ormiston – Morin Khuur, Khoomii, Candida Valentino – Voice, Khargyraa, Shaman Drum


Collaboration with vocalist Badma Sultanova

Michael Ormiston – Irish Bouzouki, Undertone Singing ,

Candida Valentino – Voice, Khargyraa, Shaman Drum


Altai Magtaal/In The Village Mongolian/Kyrgyz Medley

Jusup Aisaev – Jetigen, Zalina Kasimovo – Kyl Kyak

Michael Ormiston – Irish Bouzouk, Khöömii (Mongolia Overtone Singing),

Candida Valentino – Khargyraa, (Undertone Singing) Shaman Drum


Eva’ Tune/Tizgin Kuu Medley

Jusup Aisaev – Komuz, Zalina Kasimovo – Kyl Kyak

Michael Ormiston – Irish Bouzouk, Voice, Candida Valentino Native American Flute, Voice. Shaman Drum


Eke Kyz (Spoiled Pampered Girls)

Zalina, Nurbek and 3 Students of Jusup from Art school no6


Michael – Morin Khuur & Voice, Candida- Shaman Drum & Voice, Gulzada Riskylova – Voice

Perform an arrangement of Dalai


Master Muscian Jusup Aisaev performs Ak Suu (White Water) on his

Jetigen an archaic Kyrgyz instrument for which he is mainly responsible for reviving.


White Swan for Kyl Kyak and Morin Khuur

Zalina Kasimova and Michael perform an improvisation based on an idea of Michael’s.


Wheel Of Life/Infinite Knot/Anahata Medley

Michael – Irish Bouzouki, Voice, Candida Voice, Shaman Drum, Norwegian harmonic Flute

Suli Sutltanoa – Electric Guitar, Estebes kamaladinova – violin


The Ensemble Play Michael’s New Composition, 3 Silver Birch


31st organised a dinner for all the artists and organisers to share and reflect upon their involvement in the project

and their thoughts about future plans.

1st August – rest and getting ready to leave.

2nd

August – InBishkek online magazine interview. Recorded the White Swan Duet with Zalina as well as two

other pieces that could be used as demos for future projects. Visited Jusup Aisaev to record two pieces on his

Jetigan as well as discussing future plans which included the possibiliy of getting a European Instrument make to

make a Jetigen.

3rd

August return to the UK.

Our future plans are to bring some of the musicians to the UK and possibly Europe to perform their

traditional music, showcase our collaborations, create more music and to make a CD of the work. We

already have lots of audio visual material to create promotional CD/DVDs to start this process.

SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) may be interested in a performance/lecture of the tour.

Songlines magazine and Wire magazine have been contacted regarding articles about Kyrgyzstan and our

tour. We will continue to be in contact with our main collaborators and have plans to visit Kyrgyzstan again

and also other areas in Russia, Tuva, Khakhas and Altai.

Michael Ormiston August 2015

[email protected] www.soundtransformations.co.uk

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.soundtransformations.co.uk/

michael ormiston and candida valentino of kyrgyz muscial tour august... · michael ormiston and...

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