Heaven Between Two Mountains: Nov/Dec 2023

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2023

HEAVEN BETWEEN TWO MOUNTAINS

ALL ABOUT TAJIKISTAN A MAGAZINE FROM AMERICAN SPACE DUSHANBE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Heaven Between Two Mountains

ARTICLES “Discovering Splendor: Tajik National Dress” by Muhammad Yakubov

04

“Tajik & F oreign Arts: Comparing Claude Lorrain 07 and Vafo Nazarov” by Ramhimova Zilliyat

“Rudaki, a Light of Tajik Persian Literature” by Muhammad Yakubov

10

“Qurutob, a Meal Familiar to All Tajik People” by Muhammad Yakubov

14 “Is that beauty for you too?” by Naira Akmalova

34

COMIC “Bartering in the Bazar” by Khadicha & Sabin

09

ART Village Drawing with Houses , National Dress Drawing Everything Will be Okay , Laughing Boy , 12 Somoni Statue Music Drawing ,Village Drawing 13

PHOTOGRAPHS Works of art in souvenir shops and art galleries Works by unknown artists of Tajikistan Beautiful busts created by Tajik sculptors

POETRY “I saw today a sign of chaos…” by Naira Akmalova

06

15 16 18

DISCOVERING

Splendor

By: Muhammad Yakubov

Tajik national dress

T

he national dresses of Tajikistan are very beautiful and colorful. They have some beautiful unique patterns.

The design of dresses varies region to region. In some regions they have more red color, in others less, but still they are all beautiful.

Mainly the male population of Tajikistan wears tunic-like shirts, wide trousers, quilted robes (“jomma”), scarves (“rumol”) as belts, headgear (“toqi”) , leather boots, and galoshes with a pointed nose (which are most often worn over boots). The female part of the population mostly wears tunic-shaped dresses with wide trousers. On the head, women wear “rumol” or “toqi”. But their “toqi” is different from men’s. It is more colorful and with beautiful patterns. Mostly in our days national dresses are worn in weddings and on holidays like Navruz. The most popular type of women’s national dresses which you mostly see are “atlas” and “chakan.” “Chakan” is also the art of embroidery.

On November 29, at a meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO in Port Louis (Mauritius), the Tajik art of “chakan” embroidery was included in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Mankind. Now “Chakan” is among the masterpieces of world art.

All fashion photos by Farangis Abdulratimova, taken on November 13, 2023, in Hisor.

TAJIK NATIONAL DRESS

About the Author: Yakubov Muhammad, 16 years old, wants to introduce Tajikistan to the world.

Naira Akmalova, a 16-year-old girl from Dushanbe, is inspired to write poetry about struggles in society and the meaningfulness of nature and people’s lives.

NAIRA’S POEMS

I saw today a sign of chaos…

I saw today a sign of chaos A misery of people’s minds And the beginning of the end They better start to cry instead Not to show off the sincere mask Duplicity appears to be the only task And nothing was left like the entity But life was still losing its limits They and themselves began to negate The truth is hard for the time we donate Might seem arbitrary, but you got your impact But all what was written we can also redact

Is that beauty for you too?

Is that beauty for you too?

Show me grace for speaking true Make you feel in my shoes Counting beauty from my view: Smiling widely to people's due Laughter's crying appearance knew Sun rays brush cheeks yours through And make beloved loved for life’s rescue Paint nature in a dark view Getting tired for a dance or two Give a heart, a hand to hold onto And daydreaming of knowing some clue Is that beauty for you too?

Or is only my sight so true?

By Rakhimova Zilliyat, 17 years old

COMPARING TAJIK & FOREIGN ARTS

Art is a powerful form of expression that has been used by humans for centuries to convey emotions, tell stories, and capture the beauty of the world around us. From paintings and sculptures to music and literature, art comes in many different forms and has the ability to evoke strong emotions and provoke deep thoughts. Art is an integral and meaningful part of human society and a form of expressing oneself. It also has hidden meanings and this makes it mysterious. Every artist or sculptor pours his soul into his creation, a part of himself. They leave a mark on history. Furthermore, art has the ability to bring people together and create a sense of community. In this article you will see two absolutely different pictures, which are painted by French painter Claude Lorrain and Tajik painter Vafo Nazarov.

This painting is called "Port in the Painting" and the artist is the French painter Claude Lorrain, who painted this picture in 1639. It shows a sea port, barely touched by the setting sun, or, on the contrary, embraced by the last colors of the luminary disappearing over the horizon, which are found quite often in Lorrain’s work. This scene was very attractive to the master; it was in nature that Lorrain sought inspiration, marveling at the harmony of the structure of this natural world.

Comparing Tajik & Foreign Arts

In the painting “Port at Sunset,” the dominant colors are red and yellow tones. The artist depicted that time of day when, just a moment later, darkness would fall on the port, but now it is still illuminated by red flashes.

In the middle of the picture, one man is beating another, another is holding a sword in his hands and watching, while the rest are busy talking. In the left corner of the picture, girls are sitting on their suitcases, talking and apparently waiting for the ship to depart. The 17th century architecture is also well depicted.

As always, people are unimportant for Lorrain, and he does not attach importance to the lack of a dynamic plot. The main role is given to nature, and architecture is intended only to help create a composition aimed at glorifying the beauty and colorfulness of the sunset.

This picture was painted by Tajik painter Vafo Nazarov, a national artist of Tajikistan. Many of the artist’s works show the national culture of Tajikistan. The specific date of creation of this painting is not indicated, but his creative activity began in 1972. It depicts the nature of Tajikistan in a village surrounded by large numbers of hills and mountains. The girls and the man are dressed in national clothes.

Mountains are appropriate here, since 93% of Tajikistan consists of mountains. Judging by the weather, it is spring in the village.

As we can see, for Claude Lorrain nature concludes in sunsets and sea, but for Nazarov nature is mountains and green hills. In conclusion we can suppose that foreign and Tajik arts can be different and each author shows their country`s nature variously, but this does not abolish the fact that art and nature is awesome in any form.

Comic about :

Bartering in the Bazar

by Khadicha & Sabin

About our cartoonist: My name is Khadicha. I am 14 years old. I study in “Private school Abdurahmoni Jomi” in Dushanbe. I like art because it is like a hobby for me.

RUDAKI, LIGHT TAJIK

A

OF

PERSIAN

LITERATURE

Hi dear reader! Today I want to introduce you to one of the greatest poets of Tajik literature. I don’t think that you know his full name. His full name is Abu Abdullah Dzhafar ibn Muhammad Rudaki. He was born on December 25, 858 AD in the lands of Rudak (Panzhrud) in present-day Tajikistan. One interesting fact about his name is that his name means “stream.” He was brought up at the period of the Samanid dynasty-the golden period of Islamic civilization.This period inspired him to write such good poems, because this period was the peak of education and art. From his young age he showed the trace of talent. When he was eight years old he completely learned the Quran and could recite it. He wrote poems and his poems won the hearts of people.

He grew up and he didn’t stop writing poetry. When he became older his poems spread out from the Samanid dynasty borders. News came that his poems amazed a sophisticated audience at the court of the Abasid Caliphate in Baghdad. He wrote such a great poems that he inspired others.

Notable people and big influencers called him “the Sultan of poets” and “the Adam of poets.” According to legend, he put together about 180,000 beits, of which about 1,000 remain. 2 qasids ("Modari Mai" and "Shikoyat az piri") and about 40 rubai have been completely preserved. In 941 AD he died in his home village Panzhrud.

One interesting fact about his life is that some people say that Rudaki was blind since birth.

Others say that he became blind in his mature age. Here is a short story about him becoming blind in his mature age: On the advice of the vizier, who hated Rudaki, Nasr ordered the poet to be blinded and his property confiscated. After another court poet, who had previously envied Rudaki, shamed him with the words: "In history you will be remembered as the ruler who blinded the great poet," Nasr, greatly regretting what he had done, ordered the vizier to be executed and Rudaki rewarded, but the poet refused generous gifts and died in poverty in his native village of Panjrud.

Written by Muhammad Yakubov

Art from ASD visitors Laughing Boy Somoni Statue

Everything Will be Okay

Village Drawing with Houses

National Dress Drawing

Art from ASD visitors

Music Drawing

Art from ASD visitors

Village Drawing

QURUTOB:

A Meal Familiar to

Hi dear reader! Let me tell you about one of the famous meals of Tajikistan. It is qurutob.

Qurutob is one of the tastiest and most ancient foods of Tajikistan. It can be cooked in different ways. It depends on the region or person who is cooking. Everyone has his

All Tajik People

Ingredients:

own way to prepare this meal. Maybe someone loves to add more linseed oil, or someone else doesn’t like a lot of linseed oil.

Personally, I like to have a lot of linseed oil and chacka in my qurutob. The traditional way of cooking is this method: first, fatir is broken into small pieces. Then chacka or melted qurut is added to warm water and mixed with a little salt. Pieces of fatir are added to this liquid curd mass. After that, the chopped onions are fried in heated linseed oil. Next, the onion fried in oil is spread on top along with the oil in which onions were fried on a plate with the curds and pieces of fatirThen you spread fresh chopped onions, tomatoes, and cucumbers on top and sprinkle with fresh herbs.

Qurutob is so famous that it is also prepared in other countries like Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran. The main ingredients are: fatir, linseed oil, chaka or melted qurut, and onion, and for the salad, carrot, tomato, cucumber, herbs and also onion.

Qurutob has its own dish for eating- Tabaq.

Tabaq is a wooden plate with deep bottom.

In Tajikistan there are special places for preparing qurutob. These places are called “Qurutobkhona”. They also cook other Tajik meals but their main meal is Qurutob. I've been to many “qurutobkhona”, but the best qurutob I've ever tried is the one my mom made. I think everyone will agree that the best qurutob, and not only qurutob, but also other dishes they ate, were prepared by their mothers.

Written by Muhammad Yakubov

Captured by Ayub Azizov

Works of art in souvenir shops and art galleries

Works of art in souvenir shops and art galleries

Captured by Ayub Azizov

Works of art in souvenir shops and art galleries Captured by Ayub Azizov

Works by unknown artists of Tajikistan

Beautiful busts created

by Tajik sculptors Captured by Ayub Azizov

THANKS TO CONTRIBUTORS

1 Muhammad Yakubov 2 Zilliyat Ramhimova 3 Naira Akmalova

PHOTOGRAPHERS 1 Ayub Azizov 2 Farangis Abdulratimova ARTISTS 1 Students & visitors to American Space Dushanbe 2 Khadicha Abdulloeva 3 Suman 4 Sabin EDITORS & PUBLISHERS 1 Muhammad Yakubov

2 Zilliyat Ramhimova 3 Marhabo Boymurodova 4 Yosin Imomdodov 5 Shahzoda Abdulloeva ADVISORS 1 Julia Kempton

2 Kiana Khoshnoud

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ALL ABOUT TAJIKISTAN

HEAVEN BETWEEN TWO MOUNTAINS

Information about American Space Dushanbe: American Space Dushanbe is a program of the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe. It offers free programming in English for students and adults in Tajikistan. It is located at Business Center Poytakht, 49 Mirzo Tursunzoda Street, 3rd floor. Follow us on Instagram at @AmericanSpaceDushanbe.