10 May 2007

Greetings, friends!

We are pleased to be writing from Columbus, Ohio with an update on the first month of the tour.

We arrived safe and sound in the United States, and after a night in New York and a long day of flights we arrived in Austin Texas, where it was sunny and warm. We were greeted by Mr. Eliot Stone, a student at the University of Texas and the agent of our arrival there. While we were awaiting our baggage, Eliot pulled Sean aside to hear him [Eliot] sing a little sygyt. He busted out a very good sounding sygyt. Ayan-ool, over by the baggage, was quite perplexed at being greeted by far-off wafts of sygyt in Texas - Eliot was blocked from view by a pillar and fairly fooled him. Eliot was quickly given a Tuvan nickname, Elik, which means a male deer.

Eliot had been studying throat singing for all of 10 months and was doing quite well at it. He had organized a fine concert and got along well with the guys. It was odd for us because you have to understand we hadn't slept since Moscow and all the sudden it's Texas, and it's sunny, and everything looks and smells GREEN! We had an enthusiastic crowd at the concert, but we were all pretty sleep-deprived. Our time with Elik was, however, too short as our schedule has been very work-oriented and we had to be off to the Dallas area the following day.

We were greeted in Wylie, Texas by Mr. Allen Morris, who was our guide and organizer for the next six days in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Thanks to Allen's hard work, we had the opportunity to get the music to a lot of people. First we played at Ahvath Shalom temple in Fort Worth on Easter Sunday. A good fellow named Doctor Al had us there; it was a strange Sunday in Texas because it was snowing. We were taken paintballing (pictures soon!) in the unseasonal cold, and went to a Rangers game with Sean's old friend Dan. This game ignited in the Tuvans among us a keen interest in baseball.

We visited a number of schools in Texas, and we hope that some of you students are reading this. We especially had a great time at the high schools in Greenville and Wylie. We are so happy that so many of you enjoyed our music. Some of the students at Wylie we began to recognize - they kept coming back for more! Thank you guys, you made the start of our tour very wonderful, and we are sorry about the snow.

We also had a couple of very well-received concerts in Texas, and we stayed with a wonderful telescope maker named Tom Noe and his partner Linda. Tom showed us the rings of Saturn on a portable telescope he had built, which led to the immortal utterance of Bady-Dorzhu: "Hot diggity, I just saw a planet! A PLANET!"

We also had a hat exchange with the famous hat-collecting doctor Chris Hull. We wished him a happy birthday by playing Tuvan music and presenting him with a Tuvan hat. He then rewarded each member of the Ensemble with a custom fit cowboy hat, which will be greatly envied in Tuva.

All in all, we just felt right at home in Texas and we're already working on going back next year. If any of you are around Wylie go visit Allen, he is a heck of an interesting guy!

We moved on from Texas, flying Continental Airlines and arriving in the wee hours at JFK. After a quick rest at the house of Cousin Magda, we drove up to Ithaca, New York where we met up with our pals from last year, Aron and Brent. The Tuvans among us had their first vegetarian restaurant experience at the ABC Cafe, and later that night the ABC Cafe was treated to its first Tuvan experience, which went well. Greg, if you're reading this it was good to see you, keep on doshipuluurin'! We also saw dear Denise from the radio - stayed at her B and B and enjoyed getting lost in the hilly topography of Ithaca - Sean, being a flatlander, longed for the grid.

When we left Ithaca for NYC on Sunday night, we were caught in the famous nor'easter storm. When we got back to Paterson, we had to plow through waist-deep floodwaters to get home to Magda. Her brother Marcin was a true hero and had the basement back to normal in no time. Everyone else in the neighborhood was throwin' stuff out the rest of the week. He thus earned the Tuvan name Nachyn, falcon, for his tirelessness and rapid response.

In the evening at the beginning of our week in New York we had a happy reunion with Olivier and the crew at Barbès in Brooklyn, a wonderful and intimate venue that proved once again an excellent nest for us in New York. Olivier also introduced us to the music of a band called Hazmat Modine, and he would be happy to know we have been listening to their excellent music constantly since he gave us the CD. At Barbès Sean also got to visit with his sister, MB, who lives in NY and came to our concert.

After that, we spent the week doing an educational residency at Collegiate school in NYC and living in New Jersey with Magda. We enjoyed the astute young men of the Collegiate school and their very good questions, and especially enjoyed Mr. Don Sorel, who was the agent of our arrival. He's a fine fellow who aided us in every way and added to the educational value of the trip by learning all the instrument names and all the styles of throat singing and making comprehensive handouts! Sean says that if he'd had teachers like Mr. Sorel, maybe he'd have ended up in Tuva a lot earlier!

At the end of the week, we dipped down to Philly for a concert with some of our friends from the Sun Ra Arkestra who are members of the Deep Space Posse. This band was founded by Tyrone Hill, whom we had met in Tuva and who had passed away in March. The concert was dedicated to his memory. We had a good time with them and jammed at the end of the split set, leading to perhaps future possibilities.

We visited next a place called Sunbridge College in New York. They had an auditorium with wonderful acoustics and an enthusiastic audience. Thank you Derek, Jordan, and Julika and everyone for bringing us there. It was a very nice place to play. Our time was short there, however, for the next day we had need to hasten to Nebraska.

In Nebraska we arrived again in a rainstorm. We were greeted by Lori McAlister, who was our guide for two days and helped us bring the music around the Southeastern part of the state - to Beatrice, Milford and Lincoln, and the retirement home and developmental center etc. Later Brent, the Man of the Marsh, flew in - he was the one behind this leg of the tour, and we had good concerts in Lincoln and Omaha. Jose Soto of Southeast Community College was instrumental also. We want to thank them as well as the Omaha Healing Arts Center and the Sheldon Gallery in Lincoln for the warm welcome. Also, the Town House Mini Suites will forever remain in our hearts as the best hotel ever, seriously. Thank you, THMS.

After Nebraska and a visit to the state capitol, Lincoln, which has unique architecture, we took off for Wisconsin. We arrived once again in a rainstorm. We stayed in the ancestral home of Sean and had wonderful concerts at UW-Milwaukee and in the Bay Shore Lutheran Church. Thanks to Valerie at UWM and Rick at the High School, to the pastors at Bay Shore and, of course, to Sean's mom and dad who put the band up at his ancestral home. Special thanks to Sean's younger brother, Brendan, who sacked out on the sofa for the week so the guys from Alash could sleep undisturbed through his early morning departures to high school. We got to visit with Sean's older brother, Brian, and his wife, Kerrie, and their baby, now 13 months old. He was born the day we arrived in Wisconsin last year so it was good to see him all grown up and almost walking. We also got to see a Brewers game, honing our appetite for further baseball experiences in the U.S. Also shout outs to Nikki, Chad, Kori, Jeremy, Yoda, Matt, Alden and Jason. Always good to be in the homeland.

Now we are in Columbus, Ohio. We performed at Little Brother's to a very large crowd. We did workshops at Thomas Worthington High School and Perry Township High School in Lima. Thanks to Sean's Ohio aunts and uncles and cousins, Judi, Bob, Chris, Mark, Linda, Sandy, Scott, Patty, Don, Rick, Lee and everybody, especially Grandma!

The kids at both schools were great, and we'd like to mention something at this point. What we're doing, we don't consider it like a normal band just going out there and playing concerts at night for tickets for the small percentage of folks. We are really trying to get the music out there and when we go to schools and developmental centers etc., it's because we know that people who might otherwise not ever come out to a concert would still enjoy the music. We've found that all sorts of folks enjoy it.

Thinking about it, this is kind of a grassroots thing. That's why it is important to thank everybody - because we have received so much wonderful and freely given help. We are happy to say that has given us the opportunity to bring our music to a much wider audience. Special thanks to Jean and Johanna, the Web ladies, and Mary Beth, the blog queen, for helping us stay in touch, handle the e-mails and keep the schedule organized.

So thanks to each and everyone who has helped so far - and we hope we remembered to mention most of you in this update!!!!!

Now we are off to Vermont in the AM to see our old friends Matthew and Fred and Sabrina and Ted. We'll try to crank out another update or two along the way. Thanks to everyone we've met so far. We hope to see you again in the near future.

Best,
Alash