2 June 2006

Ekii Shuptu! (Hi Everybody!)

Greetings from Tuva and welcome to the first update of the Alash mailing list. Life has been exciting for us in the past couple months. First of all, we'd like to announce with pleasure the newest member of the Alash family, Mai-ool's daughter Saizanak, who was born healthy and happy on March 30th while we were in New Jersey. So congratulations to Mai-ool and his wife Sailyk. Also, happy birthday to Mai-ool, who turned 24 on April 30th, and Bady-Dorzhu, who turned 22 on the 9th of May, which also happens to be a great big holiday in Russia.

For those of you who have been waiting for the track list for the "Live at the Enchanted Garden" CD, we've got that out and it is posted on the website. We're sorry about the delay, it's just that we got back to Tuva and gave away all of our CDs that we had brought with us, and couldn't remember exactly which tracks were where. As far as song lyrics, Sean is currently slaving away on translating all of them to our exacting standards of perfection, and they'll be available in the liner notes of the new album, which we should be releasing by mid-summer, so keep your eyes peeled for that. It has some songs not performed in the concerts, as well as informative song translations and info on Tuvan music and instruments. We're running out of the limited-edition live CDs, so if you've been on the fence about buying that now's the time, as you won't get another chance to have the "live" experience (complete with commentary in English by SQ) until we get back to your area.

Speaking of live performances, we are in the midst of planning our next tour in the US, with a target date of February-April 2007. If there's a venue in your area you'd like to see us play at or think might suit the ensemble, please don't hesitate to contact us at alashensemble@gmail.com . We're especially interested in making connections with Native American communities, and as a matter of fact we've just begun a long term plan with a US institution concerning possible Native American-Tuvan musical and cultural exchange in the coming years. Also, keep in mind that we have had a lot of success not only playing concerts but visiting educational institutions (of all levels) for demonstrations, lectures, and Q & A about Tuvan music of the past and present. Well, that's about it for the moment, the weather in Tuva has been a bit chilly, a late spring, but it's warming up now, just in time for Alash's next major performance at the Ustuu-Huree festival in Chadana at the end of June - we hope to see some of you there!

Chugle eki saktyyshkynar bile! (With fondest memories!)

ALASH