Mystery of ancient stelas to be revealed at The Spirit of Tengri

The article

The Spirit of Tengri festival starts in less than three weeks time. The organizers are busy and the musicians are rehearsing. This time the festival aims to pamper not only our music buds, but also the tactile and visual senses.

“We are putting this kind of rock steles at the festival. The steles are copies of ancient Turkic steles with Orkhon script or as they are called Old Turkic script. The original steles are in Mongolia,” a designer Elina Altybekova said.

The stelas date back to 7th and 8th century that mark the Turkic period in history of Central Asia. The stelas tell stories of military leaders, people living in that particular period and location, the victories and defeats. “Basically, the stela gives the history of a nation in a particular period of time. To help our guests understand what the stelas says, because not everyone can read them, we will have information on the side in Kazakh, Russian and English,” Altynbekova added.

Famous artist Krym Altynbekov has recreated the stelas for the festival. “We all are excited to see how our history and music are going to be represented at the festival. It is not only our history but it belongs to the whole Turkic world. (…)We hope to make the atmosphere more lively and authentic not only through music but also through expositions that every guest can touch and feel,” the artist said.

The festival grounds will be designed to represent the everlasting Tengri, the sky deity of Turkic people. The designers aim to embody the idea of movement and life through the decorations. “The everlasting sunrise here promises a new day despite hardships one may face. The sun will always rise. We want to make it memorable for everyone and let guests experience the dynamics of the festival on deep emotional level,” said one of the designers.

The organizers added that there would be a designated area for people who want to dance and those who prefer to sit down and relax while listening to ethnic music. There is certainly a great variety of artists coming to Almaty this year. Musicians and singers from Japan, Buryatia, Yakutia, Austria, Ecuador and other countries will perform at the festival alongside Kazakhstani ethnic artists. All in all, the festival will bring 12 bands in one-day concert.

http://tengrinews.kz/tv/blogi/1598/

Transcript

You can see from the picture a square in front of the Palace of Republic. Here is the Abai monument and Dostyk avenue. We are planning to conduct The Spirit of Tengri festival here. We will have enough space for people who like to dance and those who like just to sit back and relax. Tengri in the name of the festival encompasses, as you may know the sky, mountains and air. All people wherever they may be are under the same sky. We wanted to emphasize the idea of life and movement through wavering balloons that represent the sky. You can touch, feel and internalize it. The everlasting sunrise here promises a new day despite hardships one may face. The sun will always rise. We want to make it memorable for everyone and let guests experience the dynamics of the festival on deep emotional level. So we really wanted to put big bongos that would resound throughout the square and shake the air. We luckily found big bongos and hopefully they would create an effect we want.

We are putting this kind of rock steles at the festival. The steles are copies of ancient Turkic steles with Orkhon script or as they are called Old Turkic script. The original steles are in Mongolia. They are spread across Mongolia. There were some steles in Kazakhstan too but the only ones that survived are the steles in Mongolia. All steles date back to middle ages and Turkic times. This particular stele is called Tonyukuk’s stele. Tontykuk was a military leader and served four Turkic kagans and the best known among them is Bilge Kagan. This stela was decoded and the story written here is known. Before people did not know how to read them. In 19th century when the research of steles started no one knew what script was used on them. In fact it is the forefather of Kazakh language and it sounds very similar to Kazakh language. This stela dates back o 7th or 8th century and it describes the times when Tonyukuk lived. It does not only describe the military leader but also tells about the population, the number of tribes, places they inhibited, which rivers they used to migrate and whom they fought against. It talks about their victories and defeats. Basically, this stela gives the history of a nation in a particular period of time. To help our guests understand what the stelas says, because not everyone can read them, we will have information on the side in Kazakh, Russian and English. The guests will have an opportunity to read the story of a nation inscribed on these stones.

We all are excited to see how our history and music are going to be represented at the festival. It is not only our history but it belongs to the whole Turkic world. We were suggested to put our national art pieces for display at the festival. We hope to make the atmosphere more lively and authentic not only through music but also through expositions that every guest can touch and feel. I believe the festival has a bright future ahead.

Description

The Spirit of Tengri festival starts in less than three weeks time. The organizers are busy and the musicians are rehearsing. This time the festival aims to pamper not only our music buds, but also the tactile and visual senses. The dsigners along with a renouned artist Krym Altynbekov are bringing "historical artifacts" of ancient Turkic period to the festival. Beautiful and mysterious stelas dating to 7th century will decorate the festival grounds. The decorations will emphasize the essense of Tengri, the everlasting sky deity. The organizers hope to give guests real life experience of yet unknown culture of Turkic nations.

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