Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Contemporary Central Asian Music: View from Uzbekistan

Contemporary Central Asian Music: View from Uzbekistan
Friday, 02 April 2010, 5:00pm
2nd floor, Broadway Room, Lerner Hall

Please join the Harriman Institute and IOV-UNESCO Central Asia for a presentation on contemporary Central Asian music and discussion about recent developments in classical and contemporary music in this region. Guest speakers will present a brief overview of the history and dynamics of music culture in Central Asia and will make live demonstrations of classic, R&B as well as modern rhythms of Central Asia.

Participants: Ravshan Namozov, honorary artist of Uzbekistan;
Dilmurod Musaev, classic musician and performer; Shakhnoz, composer and poet; and Jakhongir.Uz, R&B singer.

Introduction by Rafis Abazov, Author of The Culture and Customs of the Central Asian Republics.

Part of the Harriman Institute Central Asia Lecture Series.

Please RSVP by e-mailing uzbekistancu@yahoo.com no later than Tuesday, March 30, 2010.

For further info and questions, please contact Rafis Abazov at ra2044@columbia.edu

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Moscow Mourns

Today, Tuesday, March 30, is an official day of mourning in Moscow.

During the morning rush hour on Monday, two female suicide bombers set off their explosives in the Lubyanka and Park Kultury metro stations, about 40 minutes apart. The death toll is now 39, and over 70 people were injured.

It is still unclear who the two women were, though it is suspected that they were from the North Caucasus. Remains of their bodies have been recovered. It is believed that each woman had a pair of bombs. Officials estimate that the Lubyanka explosion was the result of 4 kilograms of dynamite, which killed at least 23 people and injured 20. It seems that one of the bombs at Park Kultury did not go off, because the force of the explosion was only about half that at Lubyanka.

President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin both made public statements about the terrorist act, vowing to eliminate the perpetrators.

Footage from surveillance cameras suggests that the two suicide bombers had accomplices: "two Slavic-looking women" and a man in his 30s, according to The Moscow Times.

For coverage of the aftermath, see The Moscow Times, Ria Novosti, Radio Free Europe, and The New York Times.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Harriman undergrad fellowship

Remember that the Harriman Institute is still accepting applications for their undergraduate fellowship program. The Harriman will provide up to $2500 for you to do research in the post-Soviet region over summer vacation. If you have a project in mind, put together an application and spend the summer doing something amazing!

The application deadline is technically tomorrow, March 26, but it might be extended. The contact person is Lydia Hamilton (lch2111@columbia.edu). Here is the link to the description of the program. Good luck, and remember to take lots of photos when you're abroad so you can submit them to The Birch.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Oudn't you like to go?




Forgive the terrible pun. On March 31, there will be a wicked concert of classical Armenian and Ottoman music played on the oud, an instrument similar to the lute. For only $5 (or free, if you're a student), you oudn't want to miss this.


Another exciting event coming up before Spring Break is the performance of Host and Guest at Columbia's Miller Theatre. Here is the blurb on the Harriman site:

"The Harriman Institute welcomes the award-winning Washington, DC-based Synetic Theater company to Columbia University’s Miller Theatre on Thursday, March 11, 2010 for a rare New York performance of its acclaimed production Host and Guest, based on the epic poem by 19th-20th century Georgian writer Vazha Pshavela. Host and Guest centers around two Caucasian men, one Muslim and one Christian, who befriend one another in a time of war despite the harsh resistance they face from their own respective communities. The Washington Post recently named Synetic's Host and Guest one of the top five theater productions of the decade.

Proceeds from this event will support Georgian studies programming at the Harriman Institute. A limited number of tickets are available to Columbia students, faculty, staff for $25."


Here is the link to get tickets.