Welcome to Chaï latte & Salt, the 1st Central Asia’s Culture podcast!

In a new episode we will hear more from Helen Faller, the author of the upcoming book “Love Feasts: A Memoir of Dumplings—and Divorce—On the Silk Road”.

Dr. Helen Faller is a writer, anthropologist, and cultural entrepreneur, who believes in using art to create connections. 

She wrote “Nation, Language, Islam: Tatarstan’s Sovereignty Movement”, a book based on vivid analysis of Tatar cultural practices, including songs, festivals, educational policy, and the revival of Islam (https://www.mosaiqa.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/Nation-Language-Islam.pdf)

She has organized exchanges with musicians, artists, and artisans, as well as with religious leaders from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. 

Helen has been involved in cultural exchange with Central Asia since working with Yo-Yo Ma’s friends Roksonaki from Kazakhstan. Roksonaki is an ethno-rock group she got to know at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 2002 in Washington DC. I was there too, and made a radio program for Kyrgyzstan where I said: “Turkmenistan’s president proposed to ask the Sky to send rain (which was true, it was in the news), in Washington DC Roksonaki is asking exactly that”. I remember it was fun. 

Helen developed the Kyrgyz Cultural Performances tour in 2005, featuring Rysbai Isakov, renowned singer of Manas, the world’s longest recorded epic. Her second independent tour was called Nauryz with Roksonaki in 2008. (To learn more click on Music. https://mosaiqa.com/russian-vinegret-salad ) You can find related links in the notes of this podcast should be interested. 

Helen’s upcoming book, Love Feasts: A Memoir of Dumplings—and Divorce—On the Silk Road, will speak to anyone who has endured a broken heart, tried to be a good parent in troubling times, or has yearned for unconditional love. 

Love Feasts tells the story of a single mom reeling from divorce, who drowns her sorrows in daydreams of afternoons spent making dumplings with Tatar women in Russia. A year later, she hits the Silk Road with her three-year-old daughter and brand-new boyfriend in tow. 

I learned a lot from this interview with her, for example, that Samosa is from Central Asia and that the Golden Horde brought the dumplings to the countries along the Silk Road. The Golden Horde was a nomadic empire in the very heart of what is now Russia and Central Asia, in the 13th-15th centuries. 

With her Dumplings book, Hellen teaches us about our countries in the heart of Asia; about Islamic practices in the region, and the diversity of Central Asian women, topics that resonate with me. 

Other episodes of Chaï Latte & Salt – Central Asia’s 1st, and perhaps the only Culture podcast, are available on my website: janyljusupjan.com, where you may want to subscribe to my monthly email updates. 

You can reach her at helen@mosaiqa.com, her website is https://mosaiqa.com. 

I thank you very much for being with me for this hour. The happy holiday season and see you in 2021! 

Your Janyl Jusupjan

Chaï Latte & Salt, Central Asia’s Culture Podcast

www,janyljusupjan.com