Video

Kurmanjan Datka: American Students Review a Modern Kyrgyz Film

Kurmanjan Datka is a historical drama about a woman who helped unite Kyrgyzstan’s fourty tribes into a nation to fight the invading Russian forces. Recently, a modern film was made of her life and deeds. It is called simply Kurmanjan Datka, although it was released with English subtitles with a second name: Queen of the […]

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The Hunter (2011): Learning Russian Through Film

Leviathan (2014): Learning Russian Through Film

Music

The Dombyra: The Kazakh’s Musical Soul

The dombyra (домбыра) is a lute-style instrument. It is an ancient and quintessential piece of Kazakh culture and identity. In its most popular form, the dombyra has two-strings strung down a long, skinny neck and a pear-shaped body, flat at the front and rounded on the backside. The standard English spelling of dombra is taken […]

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Six Georgian Bands Bringing Traditional Polyphony into the Pop Music Age

Georgian Hip Hop: Identity and Politics in Modern Music