The BBC Musical Nomad
Posts Tagged Easter
Day 26 – Vultures Circle Looking for Musical Nomads?
Posted by Musical Nomad in Daily Blog on August 23, 1997
As I write this at 9 pm Krygz time we are driving precariously close to a deep ravine carrying the Naryn river. We work our way up to the top of the Ala-Bel pass at 3184 metres. The road is rocky, slow and the team and equipment are being thrown around. It begins to rain. I have no idea if this report will reach you – will the satellite survive? We have a second pass to come, the Tor-Ashuu at 3600 metres when from the top in the dark, we will attempt to erect the satellite and send you today’s experience.
Last night we said to say Good bye to Bahadir, his son Alisher and Matluba.
Having crossed the border with us to Osh, they turned round and headed back to Uzbekistan. Nuts. bread and chai for supper, (Uzbek food) 6 hours sleep and back on the road in a much older Russian built Nomad mobile. Out two drivers are friendly and helpful but we have been on the road for 17 days with Bahadir and his gruff manner has grown on us.
As the mountains close around us, the valley is the greenest so far. Agriculture stretches to the horizon, orchards and fields of sweetcorn. The view is occasionally blighted by early 20th century industrial ‘daymares.’ Vultures circle looking for musical nomads without water? We stocked up in Osh – is it enough for 16 hours? Nomadmobile 1 couldn’t travel into Kyrgyztsan – farewell to air-conditioning and the whiff of leaking petrol. Nomadmobile 2 has all the comfort necessary for a quick trip to the seaside on a cool Easter day in England.
This is Central Asia in August, the seats grind your bum and you sweat a pound for every mile.
Three time zones in one hour, as we cross briefly back into Uzbekistan and then back again into Kyrgyzstan. Even on the foothills of the mountains dreary Soviet style apartment blocks spring up like bloated fungus. The foothills remind me of Llangollen, Wales – without loo paper!
Kyrgyzstan is different. It is difficult to judge a country by its ‘truck’ stops and small apartments. There is a feeling in the air that these are people who like to move. The Kyrgz in the cities give you a feeling they are frustrated nomads. Kyrgyzstan has a more improvised feel to it. Buildings appear to be placed randomly, the road from Osh to Bishkek appears as a major artery on our map but is often no more than a mountain track. We are not complaining, this is the nomad life… or just mad life..
The country is vertical. The Soviet’s in their grand scheme obviously realised the enormous potential for damming key valleys and turning the region into a large electricity producer. One of Kyrgyzstan’s biggest exports is electricity. This policy has had some catastrophic effects, there are electric pylons everywhere and subsidiary industries have taken root in areas of great scenic beauty. There are though some positive effects. Traveling through sandy, dry hillscapes for five hours it comes as a magnificent and beautiful surprise to see deep gorges carrying cool turquoise water to large reservoirs. One of the most impressive is lake Toktogul. We turn a hairpin bend and it appears like a mirage, a large blue, mirror ‘sea’ stretching from horizon to horizon. If it were set to music it would be the timpani roll leading to a perfect orhestral cadence.
We met some interesting characters enroute. One chap at a roadside chaikhana had a motorcycle. He was travelling the same route and was proud of the sheep he had killed for the seat on his bike. He then made an offer of four sheep for Kathrin, Gary suggested twenty dollars intead.
Close to the tea house on a long ridge stands a Burial area. A series of both enclosed and open mounds sit silent as a warm wind whistles. In the distance Lake Toktogul shimmers blue in the afternoon haze. The grave enclosures vary from cathedral-like structures to brick ‘yurts.’ Some even have yurt shaped metal frames, inside a simple mound of earth marks the spot. At the front of the ridge a body, simply wrapped in Muslin leaves an eerie and lasting impression.
It slowly goes dark. We have mountains to climb. Waterfalls and Yurts fade into the steep slopes. Its been a gruelling 18 trek. It’s 4 in the morning and we have just arrived in Biskek – sorry for the late transmission, goodnight. Tomorrow the capital Biskek and best music Krygyzstan can offer.
Central Asia, Easter, food, Kyrgyzstan, Lake Toktogul, metal frames, Naryn river, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan
Live Daily Journal
- Day 0 - Through the telling of stories we try and make sense of our world
- Day 1 - We disembark with a sense of foreboding
- Day 2 - I didn't realise it would happen on the second day!
- Day 3 - Communication happens in many ways
- Day 4 - Let the music and musical instruments be the bridge between the peoples of the World
- Day 5 - When I play it seems that I understand the Shamanic tradition
- Day 6 - On the aircraft it's bedlam and as people push and fight for the seats
- Day 7 - "My soul was taking flight" Navai
- Day 8 - The Land of Lutes
- Day 9 - Red Tape Hell, Musical Heaven
- Day 10 - Seven Heavens Beneath a Waterfall
- Day 11 - A great deal of what we see depends on what we are looking for
- Day 12 - Bukhara - holy city. 2500 years of written history, 6000 years of mythology
- Day 13 - a satellite beams from Bukhara
- Day 14 - To succeed this project must be interactive
- Day 15 - Bukhara to Baysun, into the mountains at last
- Day 16 - Let us hear your voice
- Day 17 - Ten Second Tornadoes on the Road to Samarkand
- Day 18 - Market Shares in Aladdin's Cave
- Day 19 - Culture is a Living Thing
- Day 20 - If I ask for paradise, kill me!
- Day 21 - the person who arrives is not the one who left
- Day 22 - Angels of Fire, Tashkent to Kokand
- Day 23 - Everyone's free in Uzbekistan to live however they want
- Day 24 - The Elusive Shaman
- Day 25 - The Pulse of the Maternal Heart
- Day 26 - Vultures Circle Looking for Musical Nomads?
- Day 27 - Two Weddings and a Satellite
- Day 28 - Even the Wind Sings
- Day 29 - Home Cooking on the Road to Issyk-Kul
- Day 30 - we try and make sense of our world Pt II
- Day 31 - When we travel there is no past or future. We engage with the moment
- Day 32 - Where there is spirit there is usually music
- Day 33 - another half-ready kobuz nestled like a hibernating wild animal
- Day 34 - Take the first left on the A351
- Day 35 - as words fail Diana dies on the Kazak Steppe
- Day 36 - Mad ride to music lesson
- Day 37 - Timeless songs for the next generation
- Day 38 - This journey is only the beginning
- Day 39 - Home again
- Day 40 - This journey is only the beginning
Archive
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- July 1997 (4)