Tajikistan, B-roll
Thanks to film-maker Najeeb Mirza, I contributed to a very small crew to document the revival of Falak in Central Asia for a short film, partly funded by Canada’s National Film Board. Falak music translates as ‘heaven’, ‘fate’ or ‘universe’. Lyrics, often drawn from Sufi poetry, involve themes of love, human separation and suffering. This style of music, a deeply integrated cultural practice, was suppressed and hidden under Soviet rule in Tajikistan until independence in 1991. Then civil war erupted and did not end until 1997. Finally, in 2004, Musicians came to Dushanbe from all over the traditional Badakhshan Pamir region: Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan as well as Kazakhstan for a conference to mark a festival of cultural revival. This work influenced the direction of my Masters degree.
The first few images in this set are favorites from an exhibition I curated (of Falak performers, a master instrument maker and a herder, many hearders sing Falak). The remaining images are b-roll—lesser images that got filed and forgotten, but stand out to me now. They are simple, off-the-hip observations I made as we moved through rural and urban settings and experiences. [Shot on E-6 or Ilford HP5, 2004]
