Silk Road House presents a documentary. On April 23, Saturday, 5-7pm,
- Siberia: At the Center of the World. Part 2: Music, Dance, and Ritual in Buryatia.
- This unique disc focuses on the culture of the Buryat Republic, which is located in the southern part of East Siberia, to the East of Lake Baikal, the home of the largest ethnic group, the Buryats. The Transbaikal area has been part of the Central Asian historical and cultural region since the depths of antiquity. The majority of today's Siberians arrived from further West after Ivan the Terrible authorized merchants to open up trading posts east of the Urals from 1558 onwards, among them being Cossacks, and the so-called Semeiskie - the Russian Old Believers exiled to Siberia at the time of Catherine the Great.
- Revival and preservation provide a focus for the film, and the authors showcase the cultural space of the Semeiskie, whose legacy has recently been appointed by UNESCO as the Masterpiece in the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Mankind.
- Authors of the film have tried to keep their voiceovers to a minimum, and to include a large variety of local voices - musicians, dancers, academics, and audiences young and old. Filmed, scripted, and produced by Misha Maltsev (born in Yakutia, since 2000 works in London) and Keith Howard, then Professor of Music, University of London.
- The film runs 61 min in Buryat and Russian with English subtitles and in English
- The screening will be introduced and commented on by Alma Kunanbaeva.
