YELLOW BIRD -- TURKMENISTAN EMBRACES U.S. NATIVE AMERICAN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000466

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN (PERRY)
INFO SCA/PPD (VAN DE VATE/KAMP),IIP/G/NEA-SA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO PREL TX US
SUBJECT: YELLOW BIRD -- TURKMENISTAN EMBRACES U.S. NATIVE AMERICAN
CULTURE

REFERENCE A: YELLOW BIRD CABLE

SUMMARY
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1. (U) Following close on the heels of its previous performing arts
group Yellow Bird [ref A] , post hosted the Ari Roland Jazz Quartet
representing Ethiopia, Iran, China, Japan, South Korea, Russia,
Uzbekistan, Turkey and Estonia. In the background, the host
government's ingrained urge to control made post's partnership with
the ministry a struggle, but one that yielded further insight into
host government expectations and behavior. End Summary.

Government's Urge to Control Cuts Both Ways
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2. (U) Post thanks the South and Central Asia and Educational and
Cultural Exchanges bureaus for their moral and financial support for
this program. Yellow Bird kept its good humor throughout, despite a
heavy performance schedule that included five performances for the
festival, three embassy-organized public performances, two workshops
at the Public Affairs Section, and one workshop each for the
Ashgabat International School and at the Turkmenabat and Mary
American Corners. The Ministry of Culture was pleased that post
chose to participate in its first large-scale international
performing arts festival, and in response set the group first on
performance rosters, gave the group prime time performance slots,
and acquiesced without protest to post's request to take the group
out of town for additional programming. (Note: Post was the only
diplomatic mission that succeeded in holding an independent cultural
program with its delegates to the festival. End Note.)


3. (U) As expected, the Ministry of Culture laid great emphasis on
control of the performers, the media, the diplomatic missions
involved, and the public, sometimes at the expense of the cultural
exchange for which the festival was intended. A lack of logistical
planning in other key areas offset this attempt at control. The
host government did not publicize times or venues for the festival
performances, which meant that many members of the public learned
about festival events through post's hampered efforts to advertise
Yellow Bird. The ministry packed performance venues with students
and government employees, despite high public interest in the
festival. The colorful and entertaining opening performance (which
included a short performance by each of the participating groups)
was held outside a major new theater in the center of Ashgabat, but
the police blocked the roads off so no interested members of the
public could attend.


4. (U) The ministry did not plan ahead on translation for
performances or performers and did not build in rest time to
facilitate interaction between the foreign performers. The ministry
tailored some performances to its own taste, which in some cases
stripped them of meaning. For example, the ministry had dialogue
removed from one Turkish dance-dialogue performance, leaving the
audience puzzled. At one point post insisted that a PD FSN
translate for Yellow Bird because ministry translation was inept.
The same lackadaisical planning characterized the ministry's
treatment of involved diplomatic missions: none were invited until
the last minute to the opening and closing ceremonies, though the
missions' representatives were expected to give public statements.



5. (U) Nonetheless, as the festival got underway, state media
coverage of festival events -- including dozens of daily televised
and radio interviews with performers -- drummed up wider-scale
public interest in the festival and in Yellow Bird. Yellow Bird
members alone gave over 15 interviews during the week and received
full-color photographic and print coverage in the two main daily
newspapers and on the government's state media website (septel).


6. (U) The Ministry of Culture offered greater support to Yellow
Bird than anticipated, covering the costs of all hotel stays except
one night in Mary, visas, transportation within Ashgabat, and all
meals in Ashgabat and Turkmenabat. Post was glad the ministry
assigned a representative to accompany the group, which facilitated
logistics. It also gave post a chance to expose the representative
to the American Corner concept and communicative style of program
management.

The Coolest Thing Since Sliced Bread
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ASHGABAT 00000466 002 OF 002




7. (U) Despite the customary bureaucratic hassles, Yellow Bird
members were treated like rock stars in Mary and Lebap provinces.
Lebap's new deputy governor, Annamyrad Saparmyhammedov (formerly the
director of the Mollanepes State Drama Theater in Ashgabat),
arranged a lavish dinner and breakfast, and free lodging for the
visiting group --nine people in all. He also insisted on ordering
several dozen uniformed students to fill the front rows, which he
thought would be a favor to post. Despite the reasons for their
appearance, these students whooped and cheered for Yellow Bird just
like the "free will" portion of the audience that filled the new
500-seat theater. Dozens -- mostly young people -- pleaded with
theater management to be able to stand inside to watch the
performance. Many waited outside for the chance to take photographs
with Yellow Bird after the show.


8. (U) In Mary, the region's Deputy Governor for Education and
Culture Shirin Toychiyevna arranged a welcoming ceremony by local
dance groups in front of the new city drama theater. Yellow Bird
participated in the choreographed welcome and began preparing inside
as hundreds of spectators waited outside. The governor's office
only allowed selected spectators inside the theater, leaving many
empty seats. It was apparent that Toychiyevna was disturbed by the
crowd's enthusiasm and was unsure how to control them. CAO and PD
FSN suggested that either more young people be admitted into the
theater or that the performance be moved outside -- which
Toychiyevna agreed to do. The tension quickly morphed into cries of
excitement when Yellow Bird appeared on the theater's front steps in
the cold and windy Mary evening and performed for everyone who had
come.


9. (U) Seminars at the American Corners in Turkmenabat and Mary
were packed, with about 40 young people at each. In both places the
discussion turned to the ethnic relationship between Turkmen and
Native Americans. Yellow Bird's Ken Duncan did not confirm such a
link, but retold an Apache legend which suggests the Apache were
among several peoples who migrated from Central Asia and Siberia
across the Bering Strait into North America. Yellow Bird's last
public seminar, at the Public Affairs Section, drew about 50
people.

Still Paying Homage to the Ideal Turkmenistan
-------------- -


10. (U) At the festival's closing ceremony, the Ministry -- without
informing post -- had Yellow Bird performer Vijaya Watson read a
prepared statement in ungrammatical English. The statement praised
the festival and Turkmenistan in inflated terms, and claimed that
the festival "solved" the issue of international intercultural
dialogue; post informed the ministry informally that this was an
inappropriate use of the performer.

COMMENT
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11. (U) Even with recent changes in the host government, the
Ministry of Culture's organizing ethos still reflects Soviet
practice -- and will continue to for a while to come. Yellow Bird
was the ideal group for this arts partnership because the members'
natural ebullience, a believed ethnic link between U.S. Native
Americans and Turkmen, and shared cultural values such as respect
for elders, created an instant bond with local audiences and the
host government.


12. (U) The crowds that gathered in Mary and Turkmenabat
demonstrated as much a desire for access to cultural resources as
well as interest in Yellow Bird. In either case, post continues to
serve as the facilitator of such access, as well as a trusted
interlocutor between local populations and their government. End
Comment.

BRUSH