SOUNDS OF GLOBAL WORSHIP: SIBERIA, SAKHA REPUBLIC, Song 1
SONG TITLE: "Song of a Mother's Love"
WORDS: M. Kononova
MELODY: K. Filippova
PERFORMING ENSEMBLE: "Uiyulga" (organized in 1999 in Tabaga)
The Sakha New Song Festival was the first of its kind in the history of Yakutia. Never before have Sakha Christian believers gathered from various regions of Yakutia to celebrate their love of Christ by performing newly written, culturally appropriate music. It was a powerful witness to the many non-Christians present that Jesus loves the Sakha people and that it's not necessary to use foreign cultural forms to celebrate one's faith.
The festival was an enormous challenge for Algys, the Sakha arts fellowship. First, Sakha Christian musicians had to be contacted all over Yakutia, a province the size of India, inviting them to Yakutsk for the festival. 2000 invitations were handed out by members of the four evangelical churches in Yakutsk and a 700 seat hall was rented. Banners were created, and the Algys team dealt with the logistics of finding housing for 40 guests coming to Yakutsk for the festival.
With less than 48 hours to go, Russian government representatives contacted the hall director and forbade him to host the concert. It didn't matter that Algys had a signed contract and the halls rental was fully paid. Suddenly, Algys had to scramble to find somewhere else to hold the event.
The organizing team quickly decided to move the event to their own church building, the only place in Yakutsk safe from further surprises, but with seating for only 120 people. Considering that the church has about 70 Sakha believers and there were another 40 out-of-town people coming to sing, they alone would have filled the church! Local Sakha Christians were asked to escort their guests to the church and then go home in order to make room for the huge number of non-Christians who would come and listen.
The audience packed the church to bursting with over 150 people seated and standing; many others were barely able to hear in the cramped foyer. Performers lined up outside in 15 degrees below zero waiting to sing. Despite all that, people were fascinated to hear Christian themes in the Sakha language and musical style. Many declared they want this festival again next year.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The Sakha (Yakutia) Republic is a federal subject of Russia. At half the size of the Far Eastern Federal District, it is the largest subnational governing body by area in the world at 3,100,000 km² with a population of less than one million.
Yakutia (Sakha) is located in eastern Siberia and stretches to the Henrietta Islands in the far north and is washed by the Laptev and Eastern Siberian Seas of the Arctic Ocean. In 1992, after the fall of the Soviet Union, Yakutia was recognized in Moscow as the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation. Yakutia's remoteness, even compared to the rest of Siberia, made it a place of exile of choice for both Czarist and Communist governments of Russia.
COPYRIGHT HEART SOUNDS INTERNATIONAL. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
www.heart-sounds.org
Loading...
4:21Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)by TTKTURAN74,084 views
All Comments