By Carol Hiltner | President, Altai Mir University
The young Altai throat-singers whose education we have been supporting have been continuing to perform to accolades at regional ethnic music competitions. The revival of throat-singing is central to the continuing viability of the Altai culture, because throat-singers are the keepers/transmitters of the oral history. And access to the history is necessary in order for the Altai people to keep their covenant with Mother Earth to protect their sacred lands.
In all of this, costuming may seem like frosting on the cake, but actually, it is a necessary part of the singers’ process of attuning themselves to the “group mind” from which they transmit the history. The making of the costumes is itself a sacred act.
Your generous holiday donation for the creation of the young throat-singers’ ceremonial costuming will enhance the capability of this new generation to access guidance for their people.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.