Yes, that's right, we're going to get down with our bad selves and look at the home of Tuvan Throat singing, the Tuva Republic. First of all, the obvious question: just where the heck is Tuva? Well, Tuva is nowhere near Sochi (or Moscow for that matter) it's way the heck out there in Southern Siberia and sits nestled on top of the northwestern border of Mongolia. Per Wikipedia, it's also damn hard to get too: there's no railway into Tuva yet- they're working on that. There are only three roads in and a small airfield in the capitol Kyzyl with 'intermittent flights.'
The flag of Tuva looks like this:
The original flag was adopted in 1918, when it was occupied by White Russian troops for about two years or so after the Russian Revolution of 1917- the Bolsheviks established a People's Republic and between the World Wars it was effectively an independent state before the Soviet Union annexed it outright in 1944. The colors today are said to represent courage and strength (blue), prosperity (yellow) and purity (white).
Tuva remains isolated and hard to get too, even today- but strangely, physicist Richard Feynman, toward the end of his life developed a mild obsession with going there- and although Cold War politics and bureaucracy prevent the visit from happening, the day after he died, he received a letter from the Soviet government granting him permission to visit- and his obsession and efforts gave rise to the phrase 'Tuva or Bust' and is also the title of a book about his efforts. (Which, obviously now I want to read!)
So, now you know more about Tuva than most people not actually living there (or serious fans of throat singing). Remember, until next time, keep your flags flying- FREAK or otherwise!
No comments:
Post a Comment