America. We were all thrilled, my mother Liza, had desperately wanted to move to this so-called Land of Opportunities. “This would give you and your brother a better future,” she exclaimed as she packed her newly bought UCLA sweatshirt. We lived in Tuvas, Xinjiang, China. It’s a small town where everyone knew each other. “But I don’t want to move! I like my life here!” My brother, Luke Wong, complained. My brother is a total extrovert. He’s loud, lively, and seems to get along with everyone around
Genghis Blues, Paul Pena, a talented American blues singer, travels to the Republic of Tuva, a small remote land in central Asia, that is just northwest of Mongolia (Bakan, 30). Tuva is where the unique singing technique called throat
Huun-Huur-Tu is a Tuvan music group that tours throughout Russia, Europe, and the U.S. Their style of singing is one wholly unique to their culture. Tuvan throat singing is creates an intricate sound that mimics the natural world, and connects the Tuvan people spiritually, to the land they inhabit. The layered sound is analogous to that of Mother Earth, camels growling, birds whistling, wind blowing. Huun-Huur-Tu's performance in Berkley, California was both distinctive and dynamic. The performance
The popularity of throat singing among Tuvans seems to have arisen as a result of geographic location and culture. The open landscape of Tuva allows for the sounds to carry a great distance. Ethnomusicologists studying throat singing in these areas mark khoomei as an integral part in the ancient pastoral animism that is still practiced today. Throat singers will travel far into the countryside
In Marriage, Gregory Corso satirizes the conventions and rituals of courtship, marriage, and sexuality by contrasting his imagination and individualistic nature with the norms and expectations of society. The poet examines his bizarre impulses as well as his inability to cope with the practical matters and responsibilities of a husband, father, and worker. Corso also asserts that love is actually lost or too frequently obscured among all the social usages, practices, and customs regarding marriage
in-depth look at three languages in particular: Tuvan, Aka, and Seri – dwindling languages with words that do not have equal counters in any other language (Rymer, 2012). Rymer begins the article with an illustration of a place called The Republic of Tuva located in Russia. The Tuvan language has specific words that mean specific ideals in the culture. For example, Rymer states that “khoj özeeri” means to slaughter
Dr. Richard P. Feynman There exists a man in the annals of modern physics who defies almost all description. His name is Richard P. Feynman, and he is equally known for dozens of accomplishments which often seem to have very little to do with physics. Bongo drummer is nearly as good a description as any, for playing the bongos was one of those accomplishments. In a feat of rhythmic skill that is rare amongst even the most prestigious classically trained musicians, Feynman taught himself to sustain
Russian Culture: A look at its Religion and Art Mankind has always aspired to be the largest, biggest, strongest, highest, essentially the best in everything. This is not untrue for the Russians who have had the largest country in the world for quite some time now. Russia covers one-sixth of the entire world’s land mass and has had a significant part in modern history. However, in order to understand why a country has become what it is now, one must look at its culture. A country’s culture not
The most sacred animal to the Buryats is the horse. They have such a long history with horses. They raise them as one of the main animals they care for. They have history of riding to battle on horseback. Since they honor the horse very much, their sacrificial animal is horse. Other natives, living in similar regions nearby, like the Yakuts and other Turkik tribes, also honor the horse in the same way.1 There was a shift in religious focus from shamanism to Buddhism once Buddhist notions began entering