CaucasTalk

[UPDATED INTRO! WAS LOST, NOW FOUND! 8.28.18]

To commemorate our (approximate) 1-year mark of producing CaucasTalk, today we take a little walk down memory lane. Here for you now we present hand-picked clips of some of the best moments from our first nine episodes! Let the good times roll…

Updated: 10:46 EDT

Today’s double episode is truly a tour de force. In this our second installment of “In Their Own Words,” our good friends Tembulat & Zalina take us on a deep dive into the very heart of Circassian culture. Not only musicians, this couple also hand makes instruments and knives. They provided so much rich content we were forced to split the episode into two. Get ready for profound cultural insights, wonderful live music, sober admissions, and some good laughs on episode 27—parts A and B—of CaucasTalk!

Links for Episode 27

The CaucasTalk Adventure! www.BeyondRedSquare.com/podcast

XX Century Circassian War Songs by Hagauj Music Project – on iTunes

Timestamps

PART A

4:38 – SEGMENT: Sister Cities!

11:13 – Shout out to Marshalltown, IA

15:49 – Andrew’s amazing theory

19:45 – INTERVIEW: Tembulat & Zalina

22:05 – King Kabarda

22:34 – Lake Tambikan

23:30 – Homeschooling and children’s names

26:22 – Elders name the children

30:19 – The difference between Circassian & Russian language

35:54 – Who are the Circassian people?

37:17 – Circassian culture in one word

39:24 – “Khabze”

40:13 – Islam and Circassian culture

41:46 – Christian Kabardians in Mazdoc

45:24 – Love for guests—and hand-motions

PART B

46:52 – “Our soul and our language is the same”

49:56 – Musical presentation: shichup-shina (Circassian fiddle), hazich (wood-clappey thing)

57:44 – LIVE SONG: “Japan War” (feat. Thashloko, a.k.a. Tembulat)

1:03:00 – Choice of this melody

1:03:46 – Islamic zikrs

1:04:26 – “All our history is in songs”

1:05:01 – Learning the Circassian fiddle: A broken tradition

1:06:56 – World trending toward orality

1:07:57 – Purchase information on iTunes

1:09:09 – Album: Hagauj Project

1:10:04 – State of Circassian culture today: Sovietic

Today’s double episode is truly a tour de force. In this our second installment of “In Their Own Words,” our good friends Tembulat & Zalina take us on a deep dive into the very heart of Circassian culture. Not only musicians, this couple also hand makes instruments and knives. They provided so much rich content we were forced to split the episode into two. Get ready for profound cultural insights, wonderful live music, sober admissions, and some good laughs on episode 27—parts A and B—of CaucasTalk!

Links for Episode 27

The CaucasTalk Adventure! www.BeyondRedSquare.com/podcast

XX Century Circassian War Songs by Hagauj Music Project – on iTunes

Timestamps

PART A

4:38 – SEGMENT: Sister Cities!

11:13 – Shout out to Marshalltown, IA

15:49 – Andrew’s amazing theory

19:45 – INTERVIEW: Tembulat & Zalina

22:05 – King Kabarda

22:34 – Lake Tambikan

23:30 – Homeschooling and children’s names

26:22 – Elders name the children

30:19 – The difference between Circassian & Russian language

35:54 – Who are the Circassian people?

37:17 – Circassian culture in one word

39:24 – “Khabze”

40:13 – Islam and Circassian culture

41:46 – Christian Kabardians in Mazdoc

45:24 – Love for guests—and hand-motions

PART B

46:52 – “Our soul and our language is the same”

49:56 – Musical presentation: shichup-shina (Circassian fiddle), hazich (wood-clappey thing)

57:44 – LIVE SONG: “Japan War” (feat. Thashloko, a.k.a. Tembulat)

1:03:00 – Choice of this melody

1:03:46 – Islamic zikrs

1:04:26 – “All our history is in songs”

1:05:01 – Learning the Circassian fiddle: A broken tradition

1:06:56 – World trending toward orality

1:07:57 – Purchase information on iTunes

1:09:09 – Album: Hagauj Project

1:10:04 – State of Circassian culture today: Sovietic

We sometimes speak of “the Caucasus” as if it’s one thing. But as you know, it’s dozens and dozens—ethnicities, languages, cultures, and expressions. So after months of preparation, we are eager and excited today to unveil our newest series, “In Their Own Words,” in which we interview representatives from each of the largest people groups in the North Caucasus. Over the next several months you will hear (interspersed with our regular programming) conversations with men and women from different worlds, but who all live as neighbors in the same place. Today: we kick it off with the Russians!

DISCLAIMER: By the swift touch of some unknown keystroke, I Eli, your beloved producer, added a horrible echo to much of my voice in this entire episode. I beg your kind patience and understanding and vow deep promises that I will strive to better understand my own software so that it shall never happen again. NEVAHH!

Episode 26 Links

“Will Power at Work”

Vladimir Vysotsky—Russian singer-songwriter

Timestamps

3:30 – An apology and a segment

4:50 – Art appreciation 101

5:30 – Going to bat for golf

6:06 – Tennis camp

6:50 – News Minute! “Will Power at Work”

10:00 – INTERVIEW: “In Their Own Words: The Russians”

12:22 – Siberia bigger than the whole of Canada

15:10 – Stereotypes about Siberia

18:03 – How did you learn English?

21:36 – What were you expecting in the NC?

21:55 – “Uprooting your family”

23:30 – Fears involved in moving to the Caucasus

25:44 – First impressions of the NC?

27:56 – Tram etiquette; respect for the elderly

30:19 – Differences in the land?

34:04 – Vladimir Vysotsky

39:36 – Favorite places in the NC?

43:15 – Culture shock story

45:27 – Culture shock analysis

What are YOU doing in February, 2019? Why not join us in the first-ever CaucasTalk Adventure—an 8-day/7-night tour designed especially for you, our esteemed community! Everything you’ve heard about so far—the steaming tea, the smoky shashlik, the sizzling banya, the extreme sports, and let’s not forget the witty banter—we’ll do it all! Take a listen for all the details, and go HERE: www.beyondredsquare.com/podcast to sign up, or request more information.

For the first half of 2018 our own host Eli was in Lezginka lessons with his son. For today’s episode, Andrew interviews Eli about what it’s been like to learn this rich Caucasus dance tradition. Get an insider’s perspective on what it’s like to be an outsider learning to enter in! Plus, we’ve got a couple segments for you, hot off the presses!

TIMESTAMPS

2:21 – NEW SEGMENT! “Book Club!”

4:50 – Hadji Murat, by Leo Tolstoy

8:22 – Dog & Donkey Proverb

9:16 – Girth units

10:02 – SEGMENT: “Culture Shock Couch”

16:14 – World Dance Quiz

21:27 – Lezginka #2!

NOTE: Thank you for bearing with us as we get our June scheduling back on track.

NOTE #2: Sorry for the goof with episode numbers. The Live episode was not supposed to have an episode number but got one, accidentally.

Our apologies for the delay! We skipped our June 1 release and took a little summer rest. But we’re back at it again. For any of you who missed it—or if you didn’t miss it and just want to hear it again—we have edited down our recent live broadcast for your listening pleasure. The night was a great success and we had a blast doing it. Sound quality wasn’t the best ever (and our guest mic really didn’t come through), but it’s still a good listen. Thanks to all those who listened and those who came out. We hope to do another live broadcast before too long!

Have you ever felt that. . . you can’t stop the feeling? Well Justin Timberlake has. And he is not alone! Lezginka—the passionate, flashy, incendiary national dance of the North Caucasus—embodies this sentiment. From grandmas down to little kids, Adyghe to Dargin, Lezginka gets blood pumping, feet jumping, and hearts thumping across this land. Thus it is with great delight, and a little fear and trembling, that we launch this three-part series and invite you into this world known as Lezginka!

Episode 24 Links

The Role of Dance in Society 1

The Role of Dance in Society 2

Paired Lezginka (watch for the toes at 2:50!)

Kabardin Lezginka

Ossetian Lezginka

Classic Wedding Lezginka

Thoughts on progression of Lezginka in history

Description of each person’s motions

Brief description and history

This is EXCELLENT.  Gradual descriptions and observations w/ her own drawings…

Timestamps

1:45 – SEGMENT: What’s In a Street Name? – Pastukhov

9:19 – The Lezginka

14:24 – The role of dance in society

21:50 – Lezginka: What does it mean?

24:07 – The name

34:33 – The clothing

38:49 – A dance for your daughters and sons

43:11 – Зажигательный!

Listen to our first LIVE broadcast!

Also, CHAT LIVE with Andrew & Eli during the broadcast!

Go to caucastalk.com/live Wednesday 16 May, 2018 at 7:30pm (GMT+3)

Pacific – 9:30am

Eastern – 12:30pm

BIG NEWS! Join us next week Wednesday May 16th, 2018 at 7:30pm Moscow Time (GMT +3) for the first-ever live audience recording of CaucasTalk AND a live online broadcast of the show! We couldn’t be more excited. Andrew and Eli have been booked as the evening entertainment at one of Pyatigork’s most popular local venues, Happy Coffee. Call now to reserve your table! — tel:+7 (938) 345-70-39.

But it’s not just us. There will also be music! We will feature our good friend  Tembolet and company, a Circassian musician and cultural specialist. Besides that, look forward to audience interviews, games, prizes, and more.

Listen live — that’s 9:30am Pacific / 12:30pm Eastern Time / 5:30pm London:

* locally at Happy Coffee (Гагарина бульвар, 2 – map here), or

* online at CaucasTalk.com

iCal Event