June 21, 2011 No. 4 (13)

Continued on page 5

iN this issue

The Kazan Heraldwww.thekazanherald.com

tatarstan’s first and only english newspaper

NatioNs May seek RecogNitioN of geNocides coNducted agaiNst theMpage 2

toP‑10 BaNks of tataRstaNpage 3

PResideNt of austRia Visits tataRstaN caPitalpage 3

Nikolskoye celeBRates kaRaVoNpage 4

BitteR fRuits of the feRNpage 5

highlights iN childReN’s theatRe fRoM NauRuzpage 6

eNglish MatteRs — aiR coNditioNeRiNg systeM deVicespage 6

life tataRe — Red RuNNiNg gRey aNd RuNNiNg outpage 7

PRotesteRs deMaNd gReateR RolefoR RussiaN iN tataRstaN’s schoolspage 7

Rt celeBRates the day of PRiNt Mediapage 7

gala coNceRt closes 24th aNNual NuReyeV festiValpage 8

MadaMe ButteRfly Rolls at the oPeRapage 8

iNVestMeNt deVeloPMeNt ageNcytataRstaN foRMs

the Republic of tatarstan commit‑tee for the development of small and Medium Businesses has been restruc‑tured and revamped as the Republic of tatarstan investment development agency.

This change was long overdue, accord‑ing to government officials. «Interest in Ta‑tarstan has increased to such an extent that local businesses and the Ministries can no longer sufficiently provide sufficient assis‑tance to interested parties,» explained Prime Minister Ildar Khalikov.

The Investment Development Agency is headed by Linar Yakupov, the former Direc‑tor and Founder of Linova Media. Among other things, Linova Media is engaged with the organization of the International Islam‑ic Business and Finance Summit.

Prime Minister Khalikov emphasized the fact that no staff will be made redundant in the process of the reorganization.

The Investment Development Agency is designed to help make investing in Tatarstan as hassle‑free as possible by assisting busi‑

nesses in everything from registration, ob‑taining land permits, to creating business support infrastructures. In doing so, the agency will take on some responsibilities that were previously under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Economics and the Min‑istry of Industry and Trade.

Photo courtesy ofwww.sbi.gos.pk

by Avram LYONKazan’s stages welcomed

the biennial Nauruz Internation‑al Theater Festival of Turkic Peo‑ples, which ran from Monday, 30 May through Friday, 3 June. In just four days, theater troupes from across the Turkic world performed 33 plays in 15 differ‑ent languages, from Gagauz (Moldova) to Tuvan (Russia), from Khakass (Russia) to Turk‑men.

Named for the Persian spring holiday that has long since been adopted by much of the Turkic world as its own, this was the festival’s tenth incarnation, and its diverse and extensive pro‑gram shows that maturity. In the Turkic world, Uzbek is the only major language not represented, not counting the Uyghur delega‑tion from Kazakhstan that had to withdraw.

With up to 10 plays a day and as many as four simultane‑ous performances, the festival used most of Kazan’s theatri‑cal venues: both the primary Tatar theaters Kamal and Tin‑churin, the puppet theater (Aki‑

NauRuz‑2011: fiVe days,thiRty‑thRee Plays,fifteeN laNguages

� June 21, 2011 No. 4 (13) The Kazan HeraldSports

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The Kazan Herald

By Paul GOBLEIn the wake of Georgia’s

recognition of the Circas‑sian genocide, the head of the Volga Center of Re‑gional and Ethno‑Religious Research says, «it cannot be excluded» that there will soon be similar «cam‑paigns» seeking similar in‑ternational recognition of Russian‑conducted geno‑cides against the peoples of the Middle Volga and Si‑beria.

In an essay on the «No‑voye Vostochnoye Oboz‑reniye» portal yesterday, Rais Suleymanov whose center is part of the Rus‑sian Institute of Strategic Research argues that there is no reason to believe that the efforts to secure inter‑national recognition of genocide in Russia will be limited to the peoples of the North Caucasus (jour‑n a l ‑ n e o . c o m / ? q = r u /node/6876).

Indeed, he argues, both the purposes of the Circas‑sian «campaign» and the way it was carried out make it likely that enemies of the Russian state will soon seek to repeat the Circassian model elsewhere in the Russian Federation, in the first instance in the Middle Volga and then among the peoples of Siberia.

According to Suley‑manov, the use of the charge of genocide by Georgia and especially its President Mikhail Saakash‑vili is «directed at the inten‑sification of anti‑Russian attitudes in the Caucasus and more broadly in the fu‑ture, in all national repub‑

lics of Russia, including those in the Urals‑Volga region and Siberia.»

Georgia’s action, he says, is intended to change the attitudes of «the current generation of North Cau‑casus peoples of Russia … toward their own country and citizens of which they are» and make them view it as «a state criminal which did not simply include the Caucasus in its own terri‑tory but wiped out their an‑cestors, driving htem from their historical lands.»

Putting it blluntly, Su‑leymanov says, this effort is intended to «insert into the consciousness an dhis‑torical memory of young Caucasians the idea that the presence of Russia in the Caucasus is illegiti‑mate,» a view Russians with the exception of «part of the liberal intelligentsia» overwhelmingly reject.

Yana Amelina, the head of the Sector of Caucasus Research of the Russian Institute of Strategic Re‑search, told Suleymanov that she fully agreed that Georgia’s sstep was po‑litical and «directed at the further complication of Russian‑Georgian rela‑tions.» Tbilisi clearly hopes to destabilize the Caucaus and to embarrass Moscow concerning the Sochi Olym‑pics.

Vladimir Belyayev, a professor of political sci‑ence, sociology and man‑agement at the Kazan Tech‑nical University, agrees with this analysis as well. And Suleymanov reports that Irina Shebotnev, a member

of the Jewish community in the Tatar capital, is angry that anyone would seek to extent the concept of the Holocaust to the Cauca‑sus.

However, there are some supporters of Geor‑gia’s action in the Middle Volga, Suleymanov contin‑ues. Rafiz Kashapov, the president of the Naberezh‑ny Chelny section of the Tatar Social Center (TOTs) and a leading Tatar nation‑alist, says he has backed the Circassian effort since 2005.

Given that others now think the same way or can be made to think that way, Suleymanov argues, «one should not think that the campaign initiated from abroad for the recognition of genocides supposedly committed by Russia (read the Russian people) over the course of its history will be limited to the Circas‑sians only.»

According to him, there is a well‑developed politi‑cal technology that may be applied to other parts of the Russian Federaiton. «Everything will begin,» the Circassian effort shows, with «the foreign and Rus‑sian liberal press» writing stories about «mass mur‑ders supposedly commit‑ted by Russia against the civilian non‑Russian popu‑lation.»

Of course, in the case of the Middle Volga, this will focus on events in the mid‑16th century rather than the 19th as in the case of the Circassians, Suley‑manov says.

«Then there will be or‑ganized in foreign countries inte3rnational scholarly conferences and various ‘round tables’ at which with a wise view will be reported on numerous ‘Holocausts’ committed by Russia agains the Tatars, Bashkirs, and the peoples of Siberia.» There may even be docu‑mentary films «about ‘the bloody policy of Russia’ and several ‘scholarly’ books.»

«The goal of the entire ideological campaign will be to change the historical memory and worldview of non‑Russian peoples in which their own Russian state, the citizens of which they are will be viewed as an enslaver, a criminal and finally simply as the source of evil,» against which a struggle will be viewed as «liberating and noble.»

The strategy of the for‑eign world is «obvious,» Suleymanov says. «If part of the population will con‑ceive their own state as illegitimate than this will only make possible the development of internal disintegrating conse‑quences.»

And thus it is «possible that we will soon hear dec‑larations by local separat‑ists of Tatarstan about how horrible it is» that Moscow wants to «hold in Kazan the Universiad 2013 or the world football champion‑ship in 2018 — in this case ‘on the bones of the Tatar people,’» rather than the Circassian one.

Photo courtesy of newsliga.ru

RuBiN tRouNces MoscoW diNaMo aNd RostoV‑oN‑doN

By Damir VALIULLINFC Rubin defeated Moscow Dinamo with authority,

3:0, in the round 14 match on 14 June in Kazan.The match was preceded by a small scuffle between

fans not far from the stadium. Moscow fans tussled with Rubin fans, shouting «We are Orthodox, what the hell are you?»

The first two goals were scored by central defend‑ers. Bocetti scored in the 42nd minute and Navas con‑nected after a corner kick in the 72nd minute. The third goal came in stoppage time on a penalty‑shot by Natho after Ryazantsev was taken down in the penalty area.

«Overall, I am satisfied with the dedication of our guys,» said Rubin Head Coach Kurban Berdiyev in an interview with NTV. «Some things did not work tacti‑cally. We had a big problem with Voronin. But, in the second half, we coped with this problem, and things became a little easier.

Rubin continued its winning streak with a 3:1 vic‑tory over Rostov‑on‑Don on Saturday, 18 June. The team is now in third place with 24 points, behind Zenit (26) and CSKA (28). The next match is against Volga on 22 June.

NatioNs May seek RecogNitioN of geNocidescoNducted agaiNst theM

�June 21, 2011 No. 4 (13)The Kazan HeraldBusiness

An accident occurred on 3 June at a military ware‑house near the village Pugachevo in the Republic of Udmurtia, as artillery shells began exploding un‑expectedly.

The warehouse is just 10 kilometers from Agryz, Tatarstan, where the explo‑sions knocked the glass out of the windows of 370 build‑

ings and houses. All Agryz residents were evacuated to Naberezhnye Chelny and neighboring villages.

Agryz is an important railway station lying on the major train route con‑necting Europe and Asia. In the wake of the acci‑dent, all trains were re‑routed on an emergency detour route.

Tatarstan Prime Minister Ildar Khalikov, Head of the Russian Ministry of Emer‑gency Situations in RT Rafis Khabibullin, and RT Minister of Internal Affairs Asgat Sa‑farov have visited the scene of the accident, as part of a special commission.

Several commentators in the Russian and Tatarstan blogosphere have claimed

that the explosion was not accidental, as a similar in‑cident happened recently in the neighboring Repub‑lic of Bashkortostan.

Official sources haven not reported any casualties, although unconfirmed sources report several mil‑itary casualties.

Photo courtesy of nakanune.ru

eMeRgeNcy iN agRyz

International Relations

by Rustem YUNUSOVState‑owned compa‑

nies Ak Bars Bank and Sberbank are sti l l the leaders of the Tatarstan banking sector, a trend that will probably con‑tinue for the near future

according to a ranking p r e p a r e d b y B u s i ‑ness‑Online.

In terms of assets, Ak Bars Bank is the undis‑puted leader, however Sberbank might prove to be a competitor if it con‑

tinues to grow at current rates. Sberbank was the leading bank in terms of profits in 2010, an incred‑ible improvement from its 43rd place in 2009.

The most noticeable absence from this year’s

Top Ten is Zenith Bank, which held 2nd place in 2009, but lost nearly a bil‑lion rubles and slid to 17th place in 2010.

In a recent interview in Vedemost i , Tatarstan President Rustem Min‑

nikhanov noted that the republic has no set plans to sell its stake in Ak Bank Bank, although he is not against the prospects of privatization. Last year, it was rumored that Ak Bars Bank and Tatfondbank

were exploring a possible merger in 2013, which, if realized, would not only strengthen their com‑bined regional position, but also the position of Tatarstan in the Russian banking sector.

Bank Rankings by total assets (in million rubles)

№ Bank total assets for 2010

% change from previous year

2009Ranking

1 AK BARS Bank 255,948.0 6,7 1

2 SBERBANK 119,895.4 24,8 2

3 TATFONDBANK 65,138.3 15,6 3

4 AKIBANK 24,659.1 16,9 5

5 DEVON‑CREDIT 21,129.3 ‑11,7 4

6 ROSSELHOZBANK 18,618.7 38,7 7

7 ZENIT 17,584.8 31,3 8

8 SPURT 14,840.0 32,8 12

9 BTA‑KAZAN 14,594.9 25,3 11

10 ENERGOBANK 14,441.1 15,8 10

Bank Rankings by Profit (in thousands of rubles)

№ Bank Profits in 2010

2009 Ranking

1 SBERBANK 1,854,453 43

2 ROSSELHOZBANK 1,576,180 1

3 AK BARS Bank 668,529 4

4 DEVON‑CREDIT 477,541 6

5 Bank of Moscow 414,327 3

6 VTB 24 327,052 10

7 TATFONDBANK 305,608 8

8 ABSOLUT Bank 130,552 15

9 INTEHBANK 121,112 20

10 SPURT 120,483 9

toP‑10 BaNks of tataRstaN

Accident

heinz fischer, the President of the Repub‑lic of austria, paid an of‑ficial visit to kazan on 21 May.

by Robert MAYPresident Fischer’s de‑

cision to visit Tatarstan’s capital was based on a rec‑ommendation by Austria’s

Ambassador to Russia. «The recommendation was correct,» President Fisch‑er said after meeting with Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov.

A u s t r i a P re s i d e n t Fischer visited Kazan reli‑gious sites, Kazan Feder‑al University, and the Ta‑

tarstan‑Austrain Econom‑ic Forum.

Tatarstan President Min‑nikhanov hailed the meet‑ing as an important devel‑opment in the relationship between Austria and Ta‑tarstan, and hopes that it will «help to bring a new level of relations» between

the two governments. «We are committed to serious cooperation with Austrian companies,» he added.

There are currently 12 companies registered in Tatarstan that have direct investment from Austria.

President Minnikha‑nov noted that he himself

had visited Austria in con‑nection with plans for in‑ternational partnership in a project producing composite materials and that Tatarstan has high hopes for a partnership with Strabag AG, an Aus‑trian construction com‑pany.

The Tatarstan President also encouraged the cre‑ation of a non‑stop Ka‑zan‑Vienna flight as a mea‑sure that would further pro‑mote and develop business relationships between Aus‑tria and Tatarstan.

Photo courtesy of prav.tatar.ru

PResideNt of austRia Visits tataRstaN caPital

� June 21, 2011 No. 4 (13) The Kazan HeraldFestival

by LAURENCE RIDGWAYSome came in blue sarafans

as bright as the cloudless sky overhead, with stings of pearls sparkling from their beautifully embroidered headdresses. Oth‑ers came adorned in ruby red at‑tire, their necklaces and bracelets dazzling in the sharp light of the early summer sun. Yet more came in rich green hues, seeming to match the soft shades of the sur‑rounding gently rolling Russian countryside.

These groups of mostly el‑derly women from all over Ta‑tarstan and the neighbouring ter‑ritories converged on the village of Nikolskoye, just 20 miles south of Kazan, on Saturday, 21 May to perform at the XIX Karavon Fes‑tival of Russian Folk Culture. For this one day, the familiar peace‑ful sounds of the Russian coun‑

tryside, the cuckoo’s calm call, and the pigeon’s gentle hooting were replaced by the songs of traditional Russian folk music.

As grey‑haired men in dusty Hessian boots and shaggy Cos‑sack caps, their gold teeth glis‑tening from their broad smiles, played their accordions, these singing troupes treated the large crowds to the well‑known clas‑sics of Russian folk music, from ‘Kalinka’ to ‘Oh, Moroz.’ Mean‑while, on the dusty square be‑neath the soaring spire of the vil‑lage church was gathered a lab‑yrinth of stalls selling all manner of traditional Russian wares, from lacquer boxes to painted wooden whistles.

While this is only the XIXth an‑nual Karavon, the festival’s his‑tory actually stretches back much further. The festival has its roots

in the 16th century and was reg‑ularly observed until the 1920s, when the Soviet authorities banned the celebration due to its religious elements. However, just as the village church, nestled quaintly amongst the prettily painted wooden country houses has, since the fall of the Soviet regime, been gradually readorned with murals and icons, so too has the festival of Karavon been re‑vived. In its current post‑Soviet incarnation, Karavon is simply a celebration of the spirit and soul of Rus, the story of which was told in the opening ceremony. A series of carefully choreographed danc‑es performed by a host of local children kitted out in traditional Russian attire told how each gen‑eration of Russians, although called upon to defend Mother Russia from hordes of various

enemies intent on laying waste to her, always carried deep in their souls the distinguishing traits of the Russian soul — a spirit of love and goodwill.

Such a retelling of the Rus‑sian national myth is a familiar theme throughout Russia, but here in Tatarstan it can come as almost a surprise to find such an unashamedly bold display of Rus‑sian identity. In Kazan, from the use of both Tatar language and Russian on the metro and in mu‑seums to the plethora of flutter‑ing green and red Tatar national flags on the streets, one often feels that Tatarstan is a place desperately trying to assert its identity as a Turkic nation. Indeed, in a personal letter of thanks to both participants and visitors, the President of Tatarstan, signifi‑cantly addressing his words to

his «fellow Tatarstanis,» made a point of praising the important contributions of Russian folk cul‑ture. One might have thought that here, in the heartlands of the Vol‑ga, this went without saying. In truth, Karavon is a testament to the fact that in modern day Ta‑tarstan, traditional Russian cul‑ture is not a tool to air the more sinister nationalistic tones that can sometimes be heard in oth‑er regions, but is rather simply one of many different, converg‑ing sources of national identity. After all, as the hosting dignitary affirmed, Karavon is a day of cel‑ebrating peace and prosperity, and on this balmy early summer’s day in Nikolskoye, on couldn’t help but share in this spirit of goodwill.

Photographsby Anna Ladinig

Nikolskoye celeBRates kaRaVoN

�June 21, 2011 No. 4 (13)The Kazan HeraldCulture

NauRuz‑2011: fiVe daysthiRty‑thRee Plays, fifteeN laNguages

yat), and both the Russian and Tatar «Theaters of the Young Viewer» (common‑ly, «TyuZ»), leaving un‑touched only the Musa Jalil Opera and Ballet Theater and the Kachalov Theater on Bauman.

There were too many performances to even hope to see them all, but the festival provided an un‑paralleled chance to ex‑

plore the variety of nation‑al theater traditions. In ad‑dition to the relatively fa‑miliar fare of Tatar theater (13 plays from around Ta‑tarstan and Bashkortostan) or even Chuvash (3 plays) and Bashkir (3 plays), it also included rarities like If the Heart Desires, per‑formed by the Dagestan State Kumyk Theater (1 June at 7 pm, Russian TYuZ) or, more familiar to the Anglophone world, the Khakass National The‑ater’s King Lear (31 May at 12pm, Tinchurin).

As the theater season draws to an end, this was also the last chance to take in some of the best productions of the local companies. Kamal showed

its medley on themes from Gaiaz Iskhaki, Puppet Wedding (1 June at 7 pm, Kamal), a blend of sev‑eral major plays by the early 20th‑century re‑former and author, inter‑esting for their West‑ern‑influenced criticism o f t h e s t a t u s q u o i n pre‑revolutionary Tatar society. Bashkortostan’s Gafuri Theater returned to Kazan with its Saurakay (2 June at 7 pm, Kamal), a richly‑costumed love story set in the Bashkir people’s nomadic past.

In addition to the Turkic peoples taking part in the festival, this year’s program included guest perfor‑mances by Lev Dodin’s Maly Drama Theater —

Theatre de l’Europe (St. Petersburg), with Chek‑hov’s classic Three Sisters (31 May at 7 pm, Kamal), and Iraqi Sufi artist Ingo Ta‑leb Rashid’s Warrior Soul (2 June at 3 pm, Kamal), combining Japanese and German motifs.

Perhaps the most in‑tr iguing piece on the schedule was C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, performed by the City Theater of An‑kara (June 3 at 1 pm, Ka‑mal). The novelist and Christian theologian’s ex‑tended allegory of human‑ity’s struggle to bring about the second coming of Arslan seemed an odd choice for the majori‑ty‑Muslim audiences of

Turkic theater, but perhaps Hollywood’s glare has ren‑dered the allegory shallow.

by Avram LYONNaberezhnye Chelny’s

Tatar theater came to Ka‑mal’s small stage with their performance of Rawil Sab‑yr’s Bitter Fruits of the Fern, a play that treats some of the most difficult and some of the most fre‑quently discussed topics in Russian and Tatar soci‑ety– the Terror, World War

2 , t h e Ta t a r L e g i o n (Idel‑Ural) — through the life story of one Nabibulla, an 86‑year‑old babai who finally opens up to a young journalist come from Ka‑zan to investigate how this man managed to live so many years without being issued a passport.

Nabibulla argues that the state is essentially the

root of our problems– in his lack of faith in all au‑thorities, from the Stalinist regime with its promise of a Bright Future, to the Idel‑Ural legion’s promise of national sovereignty, to the current state that still can’t withstand (or permit) the scrutiny of bright young journalists. The quite clear equation of the Stalinist

and Nazi states, and the question of whether either provides something worth fighting for, is something that is already familiar to us, not least from Vasilii Grossman’s superb Life and Fate.

The babailar in the play are first presented essen‑tially as the typical old men, jokers, with bad

hearing and memory, that we know well from other Tatar plays. The critics locked on to the perhaps awkward juxtaposition of comedic and dramatic genres — but this is a con‑scious engagement of the Tatar tradition; the drama‑tist has decided to, as it were, problematize the carefree old man.

The collegium of critics, in its relatively private critique of the piece, called it some‑how unoriginal– in that the basic topics were all treated at length in the critical pe‑riod of reanalysis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. They also saw many weaknesses in the mis‑en‑scene and its conception of theatrical metaphor.

BitteR fRuits of the feRN

And, after all, arslan means «lion» is most Turkic lan‑guages.

� June 21, 2011 No. 4 (13) The Kazan HeraldCulture

by Avram LYONThe Chuvash State

P u p p e t T h e a t e r ’ s Flop‑Eared Ilyuk opened the 2011 Nauruz Festival on May 30. The 40‑minute marionette, performed solo by Yurii Filippov, is the tale of a young elephant’s adventures as he makes the long journey from his home and loving parents in India to the far‑off land of Chuvashia, where he has promised to meet his dear friend, the Chuvash beau‑ty Hevedus. The play is un‑assuming, quietly affirming the beauty and value of one’s native land and lan‑guage. Russia has a long and underappreciated tra‑dition of puppet theater, and Fillipov ably continues that tradition.

Thirty‑three plays and four days later, the quiet satisfaction and joy of the Chuvash play is hard to even compare with the brash grandeur and effects

of the festival’s finale ‑‑ the City Theater of Ankara’s musical production of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the Turkish company’s interpretation of the first book of C. S. Lewis’s beloved series. The musical is written for view‑ers of all ages, in the words of actor Sabri Ozmener (Mr. Beaver), for everyone from 7 to 70 years of age.

While the company ac‑knowledges that the recent feature film has raised the profile of Narnia in Turkey and around the world, they argue that the musical presents a novel interpre‑tation of the land and its stories that is distinct from both the film and the books themselves.

Narnia is directed by one of Turkey’s most ac‑complished names, Ishil K a s a p o g l u , w h o h a s worked on everything from Greek tragedy, to the Turk‑

ish satirical comedy Hoca Nasreddin, to Nikolai Go‑gol’s Government Inspec‑tor. The project attracted the stars of Ankara and of al l Turkey’s theatrical world, and its ornate and richly fantastic set was brought here in its entire‑ty, taking up two trac‑tor‑trailers. Indeed, the large set spilled off Kamal Theater’s large stage, with vines and foliage rising onto the mezzanine and balconies above, making for the most elaborate set of the whole festival.

Ishil Bey makes a point of presenting children’s plays every year, to de‑velop a love and appre‑ciation of theatre among both children and adults. In a conscious decision by the director, all the children’s roles are played by adults. Ansla Coshar, who plays the ten‑year‑old boy Edmond, explains that he tries to find the

feelings of a child inside himself. While watching the musical, it is hard to see a ten‑year‑old in an a c t o r w i t h a v i s i b l e five‑o’clock shadow, and it is hardly more believ‑able than Sabri Ozmen‑er’s Mr. Beaver.

The production was vibrant, joyous, and unin‑hibited, with none of the philosophical, psycho‑logical, and historical weight that both enriches and burdens the produc‑tions of many other the‑aters at the festival. The entire cast takes the stage time and again to perform mass song‑and‑dance numbers that mark the grand old musical; the City Theater of Ankara is play‑ing Broadway musical of the 1940s and 1950s, more South Pacific than Les Miserables.

Before their perfor‑mance, one pressing ques‑tion from the Tatar press

was the choice of materi‑al—how could a Turkish theater put on an English children’s novel, let alone one with such explicitly Christian symbolism?

Tomris Chetinel Chu‑hadaroglu, the Ankara the‑ater’s artistic director, joined with director Ishil Kasapoglu to refute the idea that a majority‑Muslim company and audience would have trouble with such material, saying, «Theatre is not a motto. Shakespeare’s plays were written sometimes with specific religious conflicts in mind—we don’t empha‑size this in King Lear, and we don’t need to worry about it here.» She went on to point out that the An‑kara theater has presented Turkish plays with Muslim content in Paris with great success. For the Ankara company, this is a fairy tale, a children’s tale, to be told for its beauty.

Indeed, the company did not shirk from Narnia’s Christian narrative. Arslan stands, arms outstretched, head tossed back, and gives himself up to the Witch’s henchmen to redeem Ed‑mund’s sins, and they prod and strike him in a striking rendition of the Passion. The noble lion’s return to the grateful and distraught chil‑dren is similarly performed as a Second Coming.

In not limiting itself to Turkic or Muslim material, the Ankara theater provid‑ed welcome contrast to the greater part of the compa‑nies at the festival; many of the nat ional theaters showed a single‑minded focus on the history and culture of the nationality. Still, there is a place for ide‑ology, or problematic ques‑tions, or critical engage‑ment with source materials, and Nauruz is a celebration of this ongoing process of self‑definition.

highlights iN childReN’s theatRe fRoM NauRuz

Opinion

Even with this correction, the phrase «you can visit Bauman street» is odd. The LED screen should display information. It is not a tour guide watching your every move and giving you rec‑ommendations about where you should go. According‑ly, a better translation for Tukay Sqaure is: «The next station is Tuaky Square. Exit here for Bauman street.»

A similar problem arises at the next station, Krem‑liovskaya. In fact, the sta‑tion has two different LED screen annoucements. On Koz’ya Sloboda‑bound trains, it reads: «Next sta‑tion is Kremliovskaya. Enjoy the visit the Kazan Kremlin.»

On Prospeky Pobedy‑bound trains, it reads: «Next sta‑tion is Kremliovskaya. You can visit the Kazan Krem‑lin.» Again, the LED screen is not a tour guide, it should not tell you what you can do and what you should en‑joy. A better option: «The next stop is Kremliovskaya. Exit here for the Kazan Kremlin.»

The final station, Koz’ya Sloboda, doesn’t yet have information about sur‑rounding places of interest. If added, though, it should use the same formulation: «The next station is Koz’ya Sloboda. Exit here for En‑ergo Univeristy and Tandem Shopping Mall.»

The last problem on the LED screen is the most egregious and delightful. Between Kremliovskaya and Tukay Square, the fol‑lowing announcement ap‑pears: «Dear passangers! This train is equipped with air conditionering system devices. To keep comfort‑able atmosphere inside the train please do not open the windows.»

First, we don’t say «Dear passangers!...» in English. We’re not writing a letter to the passengers, we’re drawing their attention to important information. Ac‑cording, it is more common to hear «Attention passen‑gers:...»

Second, an air condi‑tioner is an individual unit that cools air. Air condi‑tioning is a system that cools air. My uncle has an air condit ioner in h is house. The building he works in has air condition‑ing. Air conditionering is not a word. If a train has air conditioning, then the train is air‑conditioned. If it is air conditioned, then it should be obvious why the windows shouldn’t be opened. We needn’t spell it out overzelously: «Dear passengers: this train is air‑conditioned. Please, do not open the win‑dows.»

Photo by author

eNglish MatteRs — aiR coNditioNeRiNg systeM deVicesby Wyatt FORDIn February, I was wor‑

ried that the the newest metro station would be called Goat Settlement. It turns out I was wrong to worry. The LED screens in train cars refer to the sta‑tion in English as Kozya Sloboda (in the old cars) and Koz’ya Sloboda (in the new cars). Transliteration seems to have also won the day over translation in all but one of the rest of the station names: Kremliovs‑kaya, Tukay Square, Sukon‑naya Sloboda, Ametyevo (old cars) / Amet’evo (new cars), Gorky (old cars) / Gorki (new cars), and Pros‑pekt Pobedy.

That’s the good news. The rest of the English translations still needs some work, though.

Riding on a Koz’ya Slo‑boda‑bound train from Prospekt Pobedy, the first snag is a minor one. As the train pulls into the next sta‑tion, the LED screen reads «Next station is Gorky.» If we use formal written Eng‑lish, then this sentence should read «The next sta‑tion is Gorky,» as the auto‑mated announcements in the New York City Subway system do: «The next stop is Fulton Street.» We need the definite article because we are referring to a spe‑cific station in a complete sentence. If we want to use spoken English, however, the announcenet could read «Next station—Gorky.» Train conductors in the New York City Subway used to say before the dawn of the

automated announcement system, as a spoken short‑hand that eliminated verbs and articles, reducing the sentence down to its most essential information. Ei‑ther way, «Next station is Gorky» is, technically, in‑correct.

Moving along on our journey, more serious is‑sues arise. The announce‑ment at Amet’evo station reads: «Next station is Amet’evo. Transfer to the railway station of Omet’evo.» A better, more compact variant: «The next staion is Amet’evo. Transfer avail‑able to the Omet’evo rail‑way station.» In this case less is more.

No big problems at the next station: change «Next station is Sukonnaya Slo‑boda» to «The next station is Sukonnaya Sloboda,» and we’re good to go.

But then we pull into Tu‑kay Square: «Next station is Tukay Square. You can visit the walking zone of Bauman street.» The phrase «walking zone of Bauman street» brings to mind an image of a street that has a special, roped‑off zone where people can walk. In fact, the entirety of Bauman street is for walking only, not just one section of it. This sort of street is more commonly referred to as a «pedestrian mall» in Eng‑lish, but rarely in adjectival form. Times Square in New York City is a pedestrian mall, but your friend would tell you to meet him at Times Squre, not at the Times Square pedestrian mall.

�June 21, 2011 No. 4 (13)The Kazan HeraldOpinion

by Ian BATESONLast Sunday I found my‑

self outside the Kamal Tatar Theatre watching the Com‑munist Party’s May Day demonstrations with a sce‑nic view of the waters of the Nizhniy Kaban. Despite the barricades and security checks, the event felt like a casual church gathering with old friends warmly greeting each other as they had year after year. Here, though, the pensioners greeting each other also happened to be holding portraits of Stalin and signs with timelessly subtle slo‑gans such as «AMERICA IS EVIL.» It seemed unlikely they would be meeting their grandchildren at McDon‑ald’s or Subway for a post‑march tea.

Eventually the speech‑es began, and it was a throwback to an entirely

different oratory tradition. One after the other, the speakers each did what I can only assume to have been their best imperson‑ation of Lenin: standing rigidly, they spoke in a rhythmic half‑yell, half‑spo‑ken voice, all the while looking beyond the audi‑ence, as if they were ad‑dressing the better future to come. The artificial choppiness of the speech made it remarkably easy to understand and also made it clear just how Westernized other modern Russian politicians, with their eye‑contact‑making, conversation‑imitating speeches, have become.

The content of the speeches was a confusing blend of Soviet and post‑So‑viet. The general message seemed to be of impending conflict combined with a

selective understanding of the West. A member of the city Duma was the first s p e a k e r a n d w o re a budyonovka, a hat that looks something like a cross between a baseball cap and a tent, famously worn by the soldiers of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. His, however, was clearly new, the type usually worn as retro souvenirs by West‑ern tourists.

He spoke about how Russia’s oligarchs must share their wealth, or else Russia would be shaken by revolution just like North Africa. He spoke about how, everyday, their countrymen were dying in the Caucuses. He spoke about how there was a quiet civil war under‑way involving energy, oli‑garchs, and the Caucuses. He spoke about how, if peo‑ple were to be expected to

work and produce the same quality in the West, they should receive pay like their counterparts in the West and their children should receive scholarships like children in the West.

At some point during the speech, a woman came up to us and asked a local friend if he could hold something for her for a mo‑ment. Thinking that she was tired, he agreed, but after realizing she meant for him to hold a portrait of Lenin atop a red wooden pole, he quickly declined. With frus‑trated desperation, she tried to push the pole into his hand, insisting that it was only for a moment, but he again declined, explain‑ing that it was the principle. Looking around at the mainly grey heads, it was clear that her frustration was less with the particular

incident than with the gen‑eral unwillingness of the younger generations to pick up the banners she and most present could not imagine living without.

Thinking about the ral‑ly later that day, it was hard for me to figure out just what sort of person still went. I knew that there is a great deal of nostalgia as‑sociated with the Russian Communist Party in gen‑eral, but of those that I asked, none of my teach‑ers or friends who had ex‑perienced the first of May in its full, state‑sponsored Soviet glory had any inten‑tion of going. Many of them fondly remembered the first of May celebrations, but for them it was either nos‑talgia too distant or too painful to revisit.

My confusion deep‑ened when the same friend

told me that most of those who spoke at the rally had Tatar accents and were clearly from the village. Perhaps it is naive, but I had imagined the Com‑munist Party today to draw mainly from the old Rus‑sian‑speaking urban pro‑letariat. I knew that the old Communist elite and their children had left the Com‑munist Party long ago, but it seemed odd that it was the village that was keep‑ing the city’s celebration of urban labor alive. Then again, people from the vil‑lage are acutely aware of the difference between rich and poor.

«Life Tartare» is the musings of a foreigner in Kazan, wandering from huge generalizations to the deeply personal.

Photographsby Anna Ladinig

life tataRe — Red RuNNiNg gRey aNd RuNNiNg out

Society

by Azatliq (rfrel.org)Some 40 people have

demonstrated in front of Ta‑tarstan’s parliament in Kazan to demand greater rights for the Russian language in the Russian republic’s schools, RFE/RL’s Tatar‑Bashkir Ser‑vice reports.

The protesters de‑manded that the manda‑

tory study of the Tatar lan‑guage in Tatarstan be dropped as a requirement in schools.

Tatarstan parliament deputies and Education and Science Minister Al‑bert Gilmetdinov tried to explain to the activists that all education facilities in Tatarstan conduct classes

in accordance with repub‑lican and federal laws.

Razil Valiev, chairman of the parliament’s Com‑mittee for Culture, Science, Education, and National Is‑sues, told RFE/RL that the republic’s laws provided for equal education at sec‑ondary and high schools, taking into account the in‑

terests and rights of all eth‑nic groups.

There have been nu‑merous demonstrations in Tatarstan over the past few weeks by supporters of the Russian language as well as defenders of the use of Tatar.

On April 16, dozens of people gathered in front of

the Kazan Kremlin, protest‑ing mandatory Tatar classes in the republic’s Russian‑lan‑guage schools. That prompt‑ed dozens of supporters of the Tatar language to gather at the same site and rally to preserve mandatory Tatar classes in all schools.

On April 30, dozens of people demonstrated in

Tatarstan’s second‑largest city, Chally, in support of the Tatar‑language re‑quirement in schools.

Those against Tatar classes in Russian schools say that there are no man‑datory classes in the lan‑guages of the titular na‑tionality in other ethnic re‑publics of the RF.

PRotesteRs deMaNd gReateR RolefoR RussiaN iN tataRstaN’s schools

Politics

19 May is officially the day of Print Media in tatarstan. on 19 May 1905, the first tatar newspaper, Nur, was granted permission by the Russian authorities to publish.

by Robert MAYMuch has changed

since 1905, but a close re‑lationship between the state and mass media re‑mains. In order to publish, newspapers still must ob‑tain government permis‑sion, in the form of a license from Tatarstan’s Comptrol‑

ler of Mass Media. In fact, the majority of mass media in Tatarstan is owned by TatMedia, the republic’s agency for press and mass communication, which is owned, in part, by the Re‑public of Tatarstan. TatMe‑dia itself is a new iteration of what was formerly the Ministry of Press.

Such arrangements are the norm in Russia, and something that Pres‑ident Medvedev has ear‑marked as something that should be changed. Dur‑ing his state of the nation

address last year, he urged regional government to sell their assets in several sectors, one of them mass media. The President an‑nounced 1 July 2011 as the date when regional governments should de‑cide the extent to which they will begin privatiza‑tion, The Moscow Times reported in April. The ini‑tiative is designed to shed what appears to be an un‑wanted burden on the state budget.

Billions of rubles of Ta‑tarstan’s budget are cur‑

rently spent on TatMedia. In 2009, public sector fi‑nancing of TatMedia was 928 million rubles, 466 mil‑lion of which was specifi‑cally for periodicals.

The privatization of such assets would be an important step towards making the press more in‑dependent from the gov‑ernment—Russia ranks 140th in Reporters Without Borders Index of Freedom of Speech. At the same time, however, such a move would jeopardize the very existence of many of these

newspapers. TatMedia cur‑rently funds almost all re‑gional newspapers and magazines in Tatarstan. Freedom from this funding would be the end of many of these publications.

Of course, many see this as a good thing. Azat‑lyk Radio editor Rim Gil‑fan told the Kazan Herald that, if media is not in de‑mand, it should not be propped up. There is some truth to this. Much of the Tatar language press is read only by pensioners, and it is unclear who will

read such papers in 10 or 20 years. According to some, the advertising market isn’t deep enough to support newspapers. At the same time, how‑ever, publications such as B u s i n e s s ‑ O n l i n e a n d Vechernyaya Kazan are testament to the fact that it is possible for indepen‑dent media to survive.

For now, though, Ta‑tarstan journalists seem to prefer stability and secu‑rity to the uncertainty that necessarily would come with a freer position.

tataRstaN celeBRates the day of PRiNt Media

� June 21, 2011 No. 4 (13) The Kazan Herald

R. yunusovEditor‑in‑Chief

d. ValiullinGeneral Manager

W. fordDeputy Editor

s. saakyanArt‑director

i. BatesonColumnist

M. kennedyCopy‑editor

l. RidgwayArts and culture

a. MiroshnichenkoWeb‑editor

June 21, 2011 No. 4 (13)

www.thekazanherald.com

Edition: 999 copies

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The Kazan Herald

Culture

by Wyatt FORDOperagoers were treat‑

ed to an intriguing, albeit half‑baked performance of Puccini’s «Madame But‑terfly» at the Musa Jalil Opera and Ballet Theatre on 6 May. Intriguing, be‑cause the modern produc‑tion put forward a slew of interesting ideas, but half‑baked, because the production failed to unify the various impulses into a coherent whole.

The production was hailed as «high‑tech Ma‑dame Butterfly» by news agency Tatar‑Inform when it first premiered in Kazan in 2009. Back then, Direc‑tor Mikhail Pandzhavidze explained that he wanted to take «Madame Butter‑fly» away from the tradi‑tional presentation as a

«gingerbread» and «sou‑veneir‑like» story with «cute little houses, pretty flowers, and little bridges.» Instead, he wished to por‑tray it as the clash of East‑ern and Western civiliza‑tions. In this vein, the opera begins with video and au‑dio of an atomic bomb ex‑ploding—presumably at Nagasaki, since the opera is set in that city.

Is this anachronism re‑ally necessary? I found it more confusing than en‑lightening. I spent the first ten minutes thinking that the opera was set in post‑World War II Japan, but this assumption was completely illogical. The original opera was set in the late nineteenth cen‑tury, when the United States was a newcomer to imperialism and seen as different from its European counterparts. This belief in the innocence of Amer‑ican foreign policy fuels Cio‑cio San’s delusion that Pinkerton, her American husband, is a good man who will keep his word and return to her. This late nine‑

teenth‑century moment is vastly different from the one at the end of World War II. Given the brutalities of World War II, it is incon‑ceivable that a US Navy Lieutenant would marry a Japanese geisha, or that this geisha would cite the inviolability of American law as justification for her belief that her husband cannot abandon her.

If the opera is not set in post‑World War II Japan, then the atomic bomb must serve as some sort of re‑minder of what will happen in the future, however the production never returns to this theme. There might be something in a connec‑tion between Pinkerton’s flippant disregard for Jap‑anese women and the Unit‑ed States’ decision that demonstrating its military might to the Soviet Union was worth sacrificing thou‑sands of Japanese lives, but Pandzhavidze does not explore it sufficiently or in‑tegrate it into the rest of his conception.

Video projections on the sliding panels continue

throughout the opera as a sort of running commen‑tary. The American flag and Japanese characters are recurring projections on the sliding panels. When Cio‑cio San lists them, her female possessions (a mir‑ror, fan, et cetera) appear in a slideshow of corre‑sponding images. When the weather changes, it was also reflected with pro ject ions on these screens. Overall, this tech‑nique was distracting and felt like an odd game of word association. Equally tacky was one of the set pieces that is nearly iden‑tical to the logo for the Russian‑owned Japanese restaurant chain «Planeta Sushi.» Much more effec‑tive was the use of lighting to evoke the mood and ambience of each screen, as bright colors faded into gray and back again. In this case, less was defi‑nitely more.

The production is more successful with its staging, which was best when the characters moved slowly and deliberately, almost

evoking Japanese Noh style. Especially moving was the romantic duet be‑tween Cio‑cio San and Pinkerton at the end of the first act, as the soloists stood immobile on two dif‑ferent platforms, which were pushed around each other in cyclic patterns by servants. This idea was re‑turned to with great suc‑cess in Act II, as Cio‑cio San’s child makes his en‑trance being pushed for‑ward to the front of the stage on one of these plat‑forms. It would have been interesting to see this high‑ly mannered style applied more frequently through‑out the production.

The production might have been conceived of as ‘high‑tech,’ but the music was classic Puccini. The orchestra brought the score to life superbly un‑der the sure direction of conductor Renat Salava‑tov. Soloist Sisheng I start‑ed off a bit shaky as Cio‑cio San, as her voice was thin, rounding out only in the higher register, but she warmed up and sang much

better in the second act. Choral Director Lyubov Draznina should be praised for the fine results of the female chorus of geishas, who performed with a rich, full, blended sound. In the end, however, the most memorable performance came from the soaring, brilliant voice of Akhmed Agadi as Pinkerton.

O v e r a l l , t h e n e w ‘high‑tech’ Madame But‑terfly is unconvincing. The clash of civilizations does not stick, since the story, at its core, is not timeless, but set in a specific his‑t o r i c a l m o m e n t . T h e strengths of this produc‑tion are precisely when it forgets about the clash of civilizations and returns to the story as Puccini set it. Even so, Pandzhavidze and the Musa Jalil Opera and Ballet Theatre should be commended. The new pro‑duction may not be a home run, but it is a success in the fact that it is a new pro‑duction with fresh ideas, something that is much needed in the very conser‑vative world of opera.

MadaMe ButteRfly Rolls at the oPeRa

the 24th annual Ru‑dolf Nureyev internation‑al Ballet festival came to a close with a gala con‑cert on 28 May.

by Leyla YAKUPOVAThe evening saw an

eclectic variety of perform‑ers, from the clown Nurbek Batullin as assistant host for the night to the jazz duo

of Vadim Eylenkrig and Far‑makovsky. Of course, the theatre’s symphony or‑chestra was also there. The night opened and ended with Tchaikovsky, under the sure direction of conductor Renat Salavatov.

Many staples of the bal‑let repertoire were per‑formed during the gala.

Sophia Gumerova and Igor Kolb from St. Petersburg performed a pas de deux from «Swan Lake.» Chistina Avdeeva and Oleg Ivenko performed a pas de deux from «Le Corsaire.» Bolshoi Theatre dancers Ekaterina Krysanova and Andrey Merkuryev performed se‑lections from «Jewels.»

These timeless classics were accompanied by se‑lections from the modern reperto ire. Anastasia Volochkova performed «Tango» and «One with All» with a dance‑acrobatic troupe from Kiev. Farukh Ruzimatov, nicknamed the dancing leopard because of his impeccable tech‑

nique, performed a pas de deux from «Bahti,» a ballet with Indian music, with So‑phia Gumerova.

Several international dancers took part in the night’s festivities. National Ballet of Korea soloists Lee Ho‑Joon Kim and Yong‑Jae performed the pas de deux from «Talisman,» and Mat‑

thew Golding and Anna Tsy‑gankova performed a pas de deux from «Don Quixote.»

The Rudolf Nureyev In‑ternational Ballet Festival ran from 16 May to 28 May this year. The festival is held each spring in memory and honor of the legendary Ta‑tar dancer and choreogra‑pher Rudolf Nureyev.

gala coNceRt closes 24th aNNual NuReyeV festiVal