From the outset there were difficulties in organising it. The organisers could not find a venue as the one they wanted was listed as "busy". Another venue would allow them to rent so long as it was not billed as a Christian event. If it were simply listed as 'spiritual' then the Buddhists and Shamanists would have wanted to enter performances. Thankfully, the "busy" venue became available, much closer to the date.
Some fifty people participated in performing Tuvan style music, as well as guests from Yakutia, Buryatia and Alati (other ethnic regions of Siberia). Many of the performances were brand new, the first time that people have worshipped God in the Tuvan cultural style of music. Where as throat singing has rarely been performed in churches before, it was a common part of the festival. An afternoon concert in a park, spoke deeply to people in attendance, one woman believing for the first time as she realised God loves her people too.
Tuvans are very keen to run the festival next year and to invite the international ethnomusicologists who played a big part. One such performer was an American who performed throat singing excellently. This greatly encouraged the Tuvan believers, giving them freedom and permission to worship God as themselves. Performers from different regions of Siberia will come again, as well as from Mongolia and even Kenya!
Some quotes from the organisers:
" I didn’t even realize what had transpired in my heart until the last day and it was time to leave. I was emotional all day, finding myself sad to leave these dear friends of one year and wondering why I had not seen before the austere beauty of the golden grassy steppe and grey craggy mountains as we drove to the pass separating Tuva from Khakassia. I even began weeping during an interview with Rita, a local woman, who thanked me profusely for encouraging her in the creative expression of her faith as a Tuvan. She said that in answer to my prayers for her in 2008, she wrote and performed her first Tuvan songs for the festival. She saved to buy an igil (Tuvan string instrument) and is hoping to learn to play it this coming year. She asked for prayer that she’ll be able to start a Tuvan Christian music ensemble; what vision!"
"The first performance was the biblical story of creation and the fall of man from Genesis 1-3 told in the Sakha epic song/poem style of olonkho. The other was a performance of Yeshua, the story of Christ told in a heroic storytelling genre of the Altai people, sung in a throat singing style and accompanied by the topshur, a traditional Altaic strummed lute."
"Many of the attendees at the festival were non-churched people; they had either been invited by their family and friends or simply seen an advertisement on the street. Even thought the Republic of Sakha is 2000 miles away from Tuva, one Sakha performer (Irina) sat down in the audience after her performance in Sakha language and discovered that the Lord had placed her by a visiting Sakha woman, in Tuva for the summer to see family! This visitor was amazed to hear Christian songs in her own language and asked Irina where to find a church to attend back home in the Republic of Sakha. She invited Irina to spend the evening with her and her relatives, giving Irina a chance to again talk about the Lord with her."
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