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Yara actors rehearse on the shore of Lake Baikal. Photo credit: Vi r I an a Tkacz. Joining of the Ukrainian People to the Great Russian Na tion.) Today the city has a population of 300,000 and the largest head of Lenin in the world. At over four stories high, this surreal monument towers over the main square. The other unusual site in town is a beautiful opera house constructed by Japanese prisoners of war in 1953. No one seemed to think it was unusual that the Japanese prisoners of war were still there. That afternoon Valentina Dambueva came to our rehearsals and sang her heart out. Known as the big folk singer of Buryatia, the diva cooled herself with her fan, flashing smiles that set her gold teeth glistening in the sun. We said "wind" and she sang three amazing songs, then we said "swans" and heard even better ones. The three Buryat actors translated the words of the songs. They spoke to me in Russian; I would jot down my notes in Ukrainian. Then Tom and I would work on an English translation you could sing to the notes. We just reversed the process to translate our script into Buryat. Our actors play New Yorkers plugged into the Web devouring information about everything and anything on the superhighway. They fall into a mythic past by opening up the Buryat Chronicles where they learn to recognize the spirit in the presence of things. We planned to feature the Buryat actors in the mythic section. They would have to help us find the appropriate material for their characters. They, of course, would speak Buryat, but we would still have to translate into English everything they said, so that we could play the scenes and coordi nate proper responses for our actors in English. Erdeny, who played the bard, suggested that we include the traditional introduction that opens every Buryat tale. He sang it, accompanying himself on the horse-head fiddle. Sayan joined in: It was long, long ago In the good old days When the grass was always green When the blue sky was just being conceived by the universe When the birds first learned to sing Yes, it was then When the great mythical bird was just a chick Yes it was then Yes, it was then' Then they both started to do throat singing. This is tradi tional style of singing in which the voice is located in the throat and one singer can produce two distinct sounds simultaneously. We were amazed. Could this fit in our text? Yes, of course, we loved it. Can you write out the lyrics, so that we can include them in our script next day. Erdeny did not believe that I would be able to type in Buryat or that my computer could print it out. Erzhena translated the words into Russian and I then worked on the English. That night I sat at my computer typing out the Buryat text letter by letter on my Ukrainian font. They would just have to deal with the "G" facing in the wrong direction. I wish I had taken a picture of their faces when they looked at the new script next morning. I always wanted to rehearse our piece on Lake Baikal, where the mythic sections take place. One day we all piled into a tiny bus and left for what the Buryats call the "sacred sea." Lake Baikal is the deepest body of fresh water on earth, and contains one fifth of the earth's freshwater supply. 2,500 species of animals and plants live there, more than half of which cannot be found any where else on earth. Scientists say that the water from its center is so pure that it becomes contaminated by the glass of the laboratory beakers they use. The lake is re nown for its sudden changes in weather. An American wrote: "It is only on Baikal in the autumn that a man learns to pray from his heart." But the Buryats pray to the Baikal and to all of nature throughout the year. As we Yara Arts Group in “ Virtual Souls”. In photo: Erdeny Zhaltsov as the Bard. '"The Tale Begins" translated by Virlana Tkacz and Erzhena Zhambalov ’НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, СІЧЕНЬ 1997 19
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