'The Musical Teahouse': Performing The 'East' In Soviet Central Asian Popular Culture
Asian Crossroads at Yale is pleased to invite you to "'The Musical Teahouse': Performing The 'East' In Soviet Central Asian Popular Culture" with Professor Claire Roosien.
Abstract: The Soviet Union mobilized the "East" as a flexible category that linked the internal Soviet regions of Central Asia and the Caucasus to the outside world—especially the Middle East and South Asia. The "East" is often discussed as a geopolitical discourse, but what might we learn by considering the "East" as a performance? From Kazakh opera singers to Chechen dancers, Soviet performers have performed "Easternness" as a way both to integrate into a Soviet order and to subvert their implicit orientalization. This talk focused on Yalla, arguably the most popular pop band in Soviet Central Asia. Situating the band within the longer story of Soviet performances of the "East," this talk considers how Yalla's performance of the East changed over time -- from their early 1970s fascination with the Beatles, to their glitzy makeover during the market reforms of perestroika.
January 24th, 2025, 2:30pm
Luce Hall, Rm 203
34 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven, CT
Yale Connect event link: https://cglink.me/2dA/r2288293
Speakers
Assistant Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Yale University, specializes in the cultural history of modern Eurasia, with a focus on Central Asia, Soviet and post-Soviet culture, and the Russian Empire. Her research delves into how cultural intermediaries in Central Asia have shaped public participation through various forms of cultural production, such as literature, film, and material culture.
- Humanity