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2024  N9-10(235-236)
CULTURE
VOICE OF FRIEND WILL RESONATE IN YOUR HEART
In October, the Turkmen capital hosted a Russian art delegation that participated in the events on the occasion of Days of Russian Culture in Turkmenistan. Such events have become traditional in the framework of the humanitarian dialogue between the two friendly countries.
Deputy Minister of Culture of Turkmenistan Nursakhet Shirimov and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Turkmenistan Ivan Volynkin delivered welcoming remarks to the participants and guests at the forum opening ceremony that took place at the Palace of Mukam of the State Cultural Center. They emphasized the importance of the event in strengthening peace and friendship, mutual enrichment of the cultures of the two fraternal peoples and expansion of humanitarian dialogue. The current Days of Russian Culture in Turkmenistan also became evidence of the mutual desire of the two peoples, bound by the common history and spiritual values, to strengthen friendship and add new content to the multifaceted dialogue.
The program of the art forum was also indicative in this regard. It included performances by the State Academic Folk Dance Ensemble of Adygea «Nalmes», soloist of the Moscow State Academic Philharmonic Dmitry Masleyev, thematic exhibitions «Patchwork Mosaic of Russia» and «Planet Tchaikovsky», as well as master classes that offered a platform for exchange of experiences and establishment of mutually beneficial contacts between representatives of the culture of the two countries.
The concert of the State Academic Folk Dance Ensemble of Adygea «Nalmes» was the central event of the first day of the art forum. The famous group, known both in Russia and in many countries of the world, struck the audience not only by its high professionalism, diverse and expressive choreographic vocabulary, grace and plasticity of the dancers but also by a special reverent attitude of the artists to the culture of their ancient people, expressing their attitude to life through ritual Adyghe dances. And all this was felt both in the choreographic composition «Youth of Adygea», which opened the concert program, and in the characteristic energetic ancient Caucasian dances «Islamey» and «With Daggers».
The program organically combined the performance by the group of musicians, who played a medley of folk melodies on ancient national instruments. The audience cheered with rhythmic applause the drummers’ “Caucasian Rhythms” fiery. The artists gave the audience vivid emotions and unforgettable impressions, receiving in return friendly applause and bright bouquets of autumn flowers.
The sparkling performance by “Nalmes” representing multinational Russia was followed by Russian musical classics.
The main hero of the musical evening was Dmitry Masleyev, a young talented pianist, winner of the XV International Tchaikovsky Contest, winner of the main prize of the International Chopin Piano Contest (Rome, Italy), winner of the first prize of the International Adilia Aliyeva Contest in Gaillard (France) and the International Antonio Piano Contest (Napolitano, Salerno, Italy), as well as the All-Russian Music Contest.
The virtuoso pianist chose for his performance in Ashgabat the works by outstanding Russian composers Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov that are one of the pillars of his rich repertoire and an eternally renewable source of concert energy. He performed pieces for piano on the stage of the Palace of Mukam, including Waltz”, “Lullaby”, characteristic dance from the suite of ballet “Nutcracker” by Tchaikovsky, as well as some of the most famous and popular works by Rachmaninov – “Prelude”, “Elegy”, “Etudes - Pictures”. The audience was delighted by the melodic plasticity, intonational weight and reverence of Dmitry Masleyev’s performance of Russian classics.
During his stay in Ashgabat, the pianist gave master classes at the Turkmen State Special Music Boarding School at the Turkmen National Conservatory named after Maya Kuliyeva for pupils of this educational institution and students of the conservatory. Dmitry noted the abilities and diligence of young Turkmen musicians and expressed hope that his advice would be useful to them in their further studies.
Ashgabat was included in Dmitry Masleyev’s extensive tour for the first time. Sharing his impressions of his stay in the Turkmen capital, he noted that in just a few days he had time to get acquainted with the museums of Ashgabat and their unique exhibits. The pianist also noted the excellent acoustics of the hall of the Palace of Mukam where he also gave a concert. “In terms of interior and acoustics, the concert hall is an ideal “temple of art,” the musician said.
As part of the art forum, soloists of the Nalmes ensemble also held a master class for their Turkmen colleagues. The guests told the Turkmen dancers about the peculiarities of folk stage choreography, as well as the techniques of ancient Adyghe dances, which have found new expression in modern compositions and dance performances with fascinating plots.
The exhibition of works of applied art “Patchwork Mosaic of Russia” featuring about forty works – original textile works by contemporary masters provided by the State Russian House of Folk Art named after Vasily Polenov – arouse great interest among visitors.
According to exhibition curator Lidiya Semenova, patchwork is currently not only one of the most popular types of folk art. It is constantly changing and improving along with time. It is becoming more diverse, and the techniques of execution are becoming more complex. At the same time, the most advantageous and attractive works are those that retain the techniques of traditional compositional construction and color range based on the principles of natural proportionality and harmony.
Among the authors of the works presented in Ashgabat were professional artists and folk craftsmen – prize winners of all-Russian patchwork festivals from Moscow, Novosibirsk, St. Petersburg, Tyumen, Ufa, Yaroslavl, Belgorod, Vladimir, Ivanovo, Kirov regions and other regions of the Russian Federation.
The works by the new generation of authors combine motifs of folk and modern decorative and applied art. They demonstrate unusual solutions that reflect the search for new meaningful and formal concepts in the development of textiles. This is expressed in ethnically recognizable themes and images and in the specific nature of the ornamentation.
The exhibition also featured the works that were created using complex authorial techniques that combined traditional patchwork, applique, fabric painting and embroidery. In addition, their authors used the achievements of modern technologies, such as photo printing on fabric, computer processing of materials and heat treatment.
“Each patchwork canvas is a special world. Playing with material, color, texture, shape and space inspires everyone who has ever felt like a creator. For many Russian masters, working with fabrics is an opportunity for artistic self-expression, creativity, so similar to playing with patchwork,” Lidiya Semenova said, who spoke at the Ashgabat exhibition not only as its curator, but also as the author of many of the impressive works presented there.
Specialists and connoisseurs of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s works were interested in the exhibition “Planet Tchaikovsky” that opened in the foyer of the Palace of Mukam before the classical music concert. The stands displayed copies of original documents and materials provided by the Russian National Museum of Music and the Tchaikovsky State Memorial Musical Museum-Reserve (city of Klin).
The thematic stands displayed photographs of historical documents, letters, drawings, personal belongings, as well as the composer himself, his colleagues, friends and family members, engravings, lithographs, graphics. Among the exhibits were copies of the score of the 6th Symphony, the opera “Eugene Onegin” and the ballet “Nutcracker”. All these exhibits gave the opportunity for viewers to get in touch with authentic evidence of the life, work and pedagogical activities of the great Russian composer.
It is noteworthy that one of the thematic stands called “Tchaikovsky’s Music on the Turkmen Land” was dedicated to opera and ballet performances staged in Turkmenistan to the composer’s music in different years.
The culture of any nation is an educational history book, each page of which reflects a whole layer of spiritual and moral heritage accumulated over centuries. And the guests from Russia had the opportunity to see it for themselves by seeing the sights of the Turkmen capital, getting in touch with the origins of the ancient national Turkmen art of carpet weaving. During the excursion to the National Museum of Turkmen Carpet, the Russians were shown unique large-scale carpet canvases, famous carpet portraits, and they even had the opportunity to “work” at the loom.
The events of Days of Russian Culture in Turkmenistan lasted only two days, but their substantive and emotional content was deep and wide, reflecting the intention of the fraternal peoples, who have lived in peace and harmony for a long time to this day, to expand humanitarian contacts and the sustainable intercultural dialogue.
During the art forum, Russian Ambassador to Turkmenistan Ivan Volynkin spoke about another humanitarian action, announcing that by the end of 2024 the Russian side intends to donate more than 750 books of fiction and specialized literature in Russian language to cultural institutions and libraries of the Turkmen capital and the city of Arkadag.
The Embassy of Turkmenistan in Russia reciprocated by handing jubilee copies of the collection of selected works by the outstanding poet and thinker of the East, Magtymguly Fraghi, to the library collections of the leading Russian scientific and educational institutions.
Days of Russian Culture in Turkmenistan, as well as other numerous joint events of the two countries, taking place in 2024 under the sign of the anniversary of the great humanist poet, Magtymguly Fraghi, serve as a powerful incentive for the development of integration processes of the common humanitarian space of Turkmenistan and Russia, creating conditions for free development and exchange of cultural and educational values.

Maral KADZHAROVA


©Turkmenistan Analytic magazine, 2005