Thursday, June 28, 2012

Something Strange from Sophia Gubaidulina



Stories about space Novelly o kosmose.1973 Lev Atamanov Sophia Gubaidulina

Text Treasures from Turkish Travels

Eni just returned from a two-month whirlwind holiday around Turkey and our request was the same; Tatar Stuff!
She brought us an array of media, in Tatar, Turkish, English and Russian. I believe that these were brought to Eni from our Sadiye Apa in Ankara. In California, clinging to the edge of the Earth , soooooo far from our ancestral home, these books and pamphlets are rare and truly treasures from afar.


TATAR MӨHAZHÍRLÄRE - Tatar Immigrants
казан "фән" нәшрияты, 2004 88б
ISBN: 5-7544-0253-8

  • исмәгыйль бәк гаспринский - Gasprinskiy 1851-1914
  • әхмәдһади максуди - Ahmedhadi Maksudi 1868-1941
  • йосыф акчура - Yusuf Akçura 1876-1935
  • садри максуди арсал - Sadri Maksudi Arsal 1878-1957
  • габделбари баттал таймас - Gabdelbari Battal Taymas 1880-1969
  • закир кадыйри уган - Zakir Kadiri Ugan 1878-1954
  • сания гыйффәт - Saniya Giyffet  1899-1957
  • хәмит зөбәер кошай - Hemit Zobeer Koşay 1897-1984
  •  әхмәт тимер - Ahmet Timer 1912-2003
  • гали акыш - Ali Akiş 1918-2010










Thursday, June 21, 2012

Fazil Sadri - Montreal and Colma

It was just Father's Day this week and we conjured our father, Fazil Sadri for a visit. Here he is in Montreal in 1975. He was born in Kobe, Japan. He studied there at a British school and after WW2, he emigrated to Turkey. He lived in Turkey for several years and served in the Turkish military. There are great pictures of him on a horse in Kars, in Eastern Turkey, near the Black Sea - taken during his military service. He eventually moved to Montreal and onwards to California, where he is buried. He is resting next to his mother Halime and enjoying a fantastic view of the airport where he worked. He loved working at the airport.

Tatars in the San Francisco Bay Area are buried at the Cypress Lawn Cemetery in Colma, California, just south of San Francisco. There are a few areas where Tatar graves are "grouped". Our section is buttressed by "Armenian Ararat Memorial Park" on one side. It is a cluster of Armenian graves, with a central marker. On the other sides and all around the Tatar graves are a veritable "salad" of ethnic groups ranging from Chinese to Polynesian, Irish and Mexican, (and more) all resting peacefully together.

the view from the Tatar graves towards the airport

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Scorpions

We all know now that the Volga Tatars of Kazan are not the "Tartars" mentioned here but this is weird and a big What? How many names can be given to Kazan Tatars?

Kazan Tatars
Volga Tatars
Volga Bulgarians
Bulgar Turks
Tatarin
and certainly there are others.

but most certainly NOT "Tartar"
and Kazan Tatars are neither Russian nor Mongolian.

The I-Chai Project







We've been meaning to put together a posting about this recent musical project. I-Chai is the name and It's a band based in the San Francisco Bay Area of Tatars and Russians playing Pop/Rock songs, both original and covers.

Timur
Michael
Renat
Vitaly
iLhan

Friday, June 8, 2012

Coming Back - from Al Jazeera


This is a "must" film for anyone interested in Crimean Tatars. Produced by Ahmet Seven, a Turkish film maker, and published by Al Jazeera, it covers the deportation and return to homeland, relying on personal memoirs and archival documents. (45 minutes)