Bibinur (Бибинур; in Tatar the word means “carrying light”) is a 2009 drama film. It was made in Russia but is largely in Tatar, the language of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan. It was filmed in Algaevo (Алгаево), a village in Tatarstan. In 2011, the documentary Bibinur: The Film About the Film (Бибинур — фильм о фильме) was released. The film […]

The Return (Хайтарма / Qaytarma) is a 2013 Crimean-Tatar (not to be confused with simply Tatar!) dramatic film. It was produced in Ukraine and is in both Russian and Crimean Tatar languages. The film tells the story of the events of May 1944, when over the course of a few days Stalin had the Crimean Tatars […]

TMTV, or Tatar Music Television Channel (Татарский Музыкальный Телеканал in Russian, Татар музыкаль телеканалы in Tatar), is the number-one music TV channel in the republics of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. It launched in 2012 and is based in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan. The channel features contemporary Tatar music and has a variety of music-related and […]

Zarina Vildanova (Зарина Вильданова) is an up-and-coming contemporary Tatar singer. She is from Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, Russia. She sings in a range of styles—jazz, folk, and pop—and languages, but much of her music has a focus on Tatar sounds and culture. Vildanova has an extensive musical education. After getting a degree at Kazan State […]

Alqanat is a Tatar rock and metal band from Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, Russia. Their albums and website boast that they play “authentic Tatar rock music” (Tатарча рок); their uniqueness stems from their combining of their Tatar identity with very un-traditional music. While their music does have some folk elements, and they sing only […]

Since 2009, the Republic of Tatarstan has begun to develop its own native animation industry—meaning that Tatar language-learners (and Tatar children) have a new source of material at their disposal. Many of the cartoons are released in multiple languages, including not only Tatar, but also Russian and English. The cartoons come from Tatarmultfilm (Татармультфильм), a […]

Alsou is a Russian singer of Bashkir and Tatar descent. Born in Tatarstan, the USSR, in 1983, she has lived in Siberia, Moscow, New York, and London and holds dual Russian and British citizenship. Professionally, she is known only by her first name. Her full name is Alsou Ralifovna Abramova. Her father, Ralif Rafilovich Safin, […]

Jamala was born in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, where her ancestors were sent to from Crimea in one of Joseph Stalin’s bloody ethnic deportations. Her father, an ethnic Crimean Tatar, was a choir master. Her mother, an Armenian whose roots trace back to the now-disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, was a pianist. Jamala’s musical education thus started from […]