July 10th -11th : Travel to Song-kul, an alpine lake (3016m) in Naryn Province. We stay with Semi-Nomadic herders camped in Yurts (Boz-ooi) by the Djaman Echki river. Make a field recording of the river and copy it for Jusup on his laptop. He is working on an important project notating old recordings of traditional music from the radio and university archives and making arrangements for them to be performed by ensembles. Perform two concerts for the herds-people and tourists who are also staying at the Camp. Tourism is an important way of supplementing their income and sustaining their semi nomadic way of life. This is the time of “jai loo,” which means “good summer. We help put up a old Yurt that had collapsed and was in need of repair. Chingez had a rustic Komuz on which he played one of his tunes while on a Kymis (Ferment Mare’s milk) break.
