A creative meeting dedicated to the friendship between Russia and Turkmenistan was held at the music college in Ivanovo. The event was held in the format of an exhibition-concert. Portraits sent from Ashgabat were displayed on the stage, and the hall was filled with melodies and songs composed by authors of both countries.

The heat of the sun in the middle zone

The summer in Central Russia this year has been unprecedentedly long. Even September and part of October were wrapped in warmth. And the creative gift, which became a parcel with paintings from a distant country for Ivanovo music lovers, covered another wave of warm sunshine. This time it was Turkmen sunshine.

In fact, the meeting in Ivanovo repeated in miniature the exhibition-concert “Crossroads of Arts”, which was held in Ashgabat in summer. The art project was initiated by our colleague, composer and journalist Ayna Shirova. For the international cultural project, the Children's Art School named after Bashim Nurali created 50 portraits of cultural and artistic figures. They included three famous Ivanovo residents - composers Natalia Shcherbinina and Sergey Ohomush, as well as the poet-soldier Nikolay Mayorov.

The creative works were made in various techniques. Portraits of Ivanovo composers Sergey Ohomush (pencil drawing) and Natalia Shcherbinina (watercolor) were painted by the same artist - young painter Batyr Soltanov. His video greeting was shown from the stage of Ivanovo Music College. The concert was enriched by musical performances. Thus, in the hall sounded wonderful music by composer Sergey Ohomush, performed by college student Ilya Zalazayev, Natalia Scherbinina, instructor, honored member of the All-Russian Music Society, Chairperson of the Musical Society of Ivanovo region, and Olesya Polyakova, college instructor.

The creative meeting also featured the honored culture worker of Russia, honorary citizen of the city of Ivanovo, and head of the distinguished vocal ensemble "A+B", Tatyana Vladimirovna Ohomush, along with her daughter, composer, poetess, and laureate of television, international, and all-Russian competitions, Tatyana Sergeyevna Ohomush.

A creative gift from the Okhomush family was the performance of songs of composer Tatyana Sergeyevna Ohomush by Gleb Ivanov, Victoria Vanyushina and Sofia Tihomirova, laureates of all-Russian and international competitions. Tatyana Sergeyevna herself read beautiful poems.

Another vibrant highlight on the “canvas” of the meeting was the performance by the ensemble "Anima", led by the honored culture worker of Russia and distinguished educator of Ivanovo Region, Nadezhda Burtseva: they performed the song "Heroes of the “Immortal Regiment", to the music by Ayna Shirova and lyrics by her father, Hemra in Ivanovo.

The language of friendship, creativity and respect

In the second part of the meeting, the exhibition format was continued by a video greeting from a young Turkmen artist Ayhan Sharypov. He drew a portrait of the poet-soldier Nikolay Mayorov and decided to send it to Russia.

This year marks the 105th anniversary of the birth of the poet-soldier. He studied at school No. 26 in Ivanovo and went to the front from here. On the day of the concert, the students of School No. 26, which is also celebrating the anniversary, became the guests of the college. Nikita Morozov, Kira Kuznetsova and Tatyana Zabarova read heartfelt poems of the poet-soldier at the event.

"We are certainly pleased to receive such a gift. In our 120 years of school history, we have learned to treat traditions with great care. We honor our history, and the memory of our graduates is very important to us. Among them are Furmanov, Zhukov, and, of course, Mayorov, whose anniversary we celebrated this year. Thank you very much for such a delightful gift!” - expressed gratitude by Deputy Director of School No. 26, Ekaterina Prokofiyeva.

“The Crossroads of Arts” in Ivanovo was not as large-scale as in Ashgabat, but very heartfelt and warm, what is called a chamber. It brought a lot of joy and light. Thanks to it, Turkmen music was heard in Russia. And the poems written in Ashgabat sounded in Russian, which was especially valuable for the Ivanovo audience.

The video recording of the performance of young Turkmen reciter Ayhan Orazdurdyyev, who performed lines of “Thirst for Creativity” by the poet Mayorov, was a pleasant surprise. This very work was performed at the “Crossroads of Arts” in Ashgabat, and in Ivanovo it caused delight, given the special purity of pronunciation of the rhymed Russian lines. We realized that we speak the same language - the language of friendship, creativity and respect.

Routes of creativity - from Ashgabat to the Balkans

As members of the Guild of Interethnic Journalism, we became ambassadors of the Turkmen project in Russia and produced several reports, including on television. The music college acknowledged this with words of gratitude. Most importantly, “thank you” was expressed with applause for Ayna Shirova and the young Ashgabat artists.

By the way, even before the concert at the music college, we managed to present three portraits created by Turkmen children at the Ivanovo House of Nationalities. Our mini-exhibition, at that time, also served as a crossroads, coexisting with exhibitions of paintings and graphics under the project “Balkan Bridge” - “Russian Sarajevo”, dedicated to the village of Sarajevo in Ivanovo Region, known as the estate of Generalissimo Alexander Suvorov, and “Long Live, Serbia!” which was the result of trips to Serbia by Ivanovo artists.

The intersection of the Balkan and Turkmen projects, by the way, was seen not only by the city residents, but also by journalists and bloggers who came to Ivanovo from several regions. They went on a media tour around the country: they wrote, filmed and talked about the national color and subtleties of multicultural relations in their regions.

They also visited as part of the Guild of Interethnic Journalism under the project “About the Country with Love: A New Look at the Traditions and Culture of the Peoples of Russia”. They discussed the importance of interethnic relations in the modern world and the need to cultivate in young people a love for their native land. On the example of “Crossroads of Arts”, including.

At the round table in Ivanovo, we shared with the participants, including Margarita Lyanga, a member of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for Interethnic Relations, the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, as well as the president of the Guild of Interethnic Journalism and the editor-in-chief of the “National Accent” portal, how the “Crossroads of Arts” project was born and how we got involved in this wonderful initiative.

We also showed the story of Nikolay Mayorov's portrait painted by a Turkmen artist and the Turkmen project in a short film presented to writers, cultural figures and State Duma deputies at the Literary Institute in Moscow. They also held an evening in memory of the poet-soldier.

Lyubov and Leonid Kiyashko,

Guild of Interethnic Journalism, Russia, Ivanovo