The production follows the Yara Arts Group style of dramatizing ancient myths with movement,
world music, and songs sung in many languages. This time, however, the show is based
entirely on a single poetic text. “Alamzhi the Warrior with the Eagle Eye and His Sister
Aguy Gokhon” was recorded from the great story teller Yolbon Shalbykov August 18-20, 1903
in the Ust-Orda Buryat Region near Lake Baikal in Siberia. It has been translated for the
show into English from Buryat Mongolian by Sayan Zhambalov, Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps.
The cast includes four performers from Buryatia, two of them being Honored Artists of the
Republic, and New York members of Yara Arts Group.
The Warrior’s Sister is being created in rehearsals by director Virlana Tkacz and Buryat
artists Sayan and Erzhena Zhambalov. Set, lights and costumes are by Watoku Ueno, Yara’s
resident designer and founding member, who is an NEA/TCG award-winning designer. Movement
is by Shigeko Suga. Photographs are by Siberian photographer Alexander Khantaev. Music is
by Emilio China, composer, violinist and founder of popular NY rock band Nyqwill. It features
traditional Buryat music and throat singing by Sayan and Erzhena Zhambalov, Victor Zhalsanov,
and Bayarto Endonov. The sister of the warrior is played by Eunice Wong. The cast also
includes Yara artists Andrew Colteaux, Hettiene Park and Meredith Wright. The piece is multilingual
but is easily accessible to English speaking audiences.
Director Virlana Tkacz heads the Yara Arts Group and has created fourteen original theater
pieces with the company, all of which had their American premieres at La MaMa. She is the
author with Sayan Zhambalov and Wanda Phipps of the prize-winning book Shanar: Dedication
Ritual of a Buryat Shaman in Siberia (Parabola, 2002).
Sayan and Erzhena Zhambalov have worked with Yara Arts Group since 1996. They live in the
Buryat Republic in Siberia and are considered the premiere artists of their generation.
They perform as the band "Uragsha" with Victor Zalsanov and Bayarto Endonov. They have
played traditional Buryat Music at the Museum of Natural History, the Knitting Factory,
and twice to sold-out auditoriums for the World Music Institute. Reviewing their work in
Circle for Rhythm Magazine, Michal Shapiro wrote, "The next time someone tells you that
the Yara Arts Group at La MaMa is putting on a show, go see it! It isn't often that one
can enjoy such a satisfying evening of Theatre perfectly fused with music. This is what
good art is all about--exhilarating, uplifting and entertaining. And for the world music
lover, it is a feast of gorgeous singing, authentic costuming and masterly instrumentals."
Yara Arts Group created Circle at La MaMa in the spring of 2000 as a World Music-Theater
work with artists from the Buryat Republic in Siberia. The Village Voice (Eva Yaa Asantewaa
) called it "a stunningly beautiful work (that) rushes at your senses, makes your heart pound,
and shakes your feelings loose."
Founded in 1990, Yara Arts Group, a resident company of La MaMa, creates original pieces
that explore timely issues rooted in the East through the diverse cultural perspectives of
the group's members. Yara artists are of Asian, African, Eastern and Western European ethnic
origin. They bring together poetry, song, historical materials and scientific texts, primarily
from the East, to form what one critic described as "extended meditation on an idea." The company
has created seven pieces based on materials from Eastern Europe including: A Light from the East,
Blind Sight, Yara's Forest Song, and Swan. The New York Times (D.J.R. Bruckner) called one
of these pieces, Waterfall/Reflections developed with folk singer Nina Matvienko, "a theatrical enchantment
given cohesion by choreographed movement and by music on a prodigal scale." Since 1996 Yara has also
created six theater pieces with Buryat artists from Siberia.
The Buryat artists, performing under the name Uragsha, will perform excerpts from various
uligers, or Siberian Epic Songs, on March 10 at 7:30 pm at La MaMa's Annex (info 212-475-7710)
for the opening of an exhibit of photographs of Mongolia by Alexander Khantaev. The exhibit runs
through March 14. They will also play a concert of traditional Buryat songs, music and throat singing
from China March 16 at 7:30 pm at La MaMa's Annex for the opening of an exhibit of photographs
of Buryat villages in northern China by Mr. Khantaev. That exhibit runs through April 4. Uragsha will
also perform at the Bowery Poetry Club March 17.
The Warrior’s Sister was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Trust for Mutual
Understanding, Alliance for Resident Theatre of New York, Yara's individual contributors
and with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts. For more information
check the calendar on Yara 's web site at Buryat Events 2004
THE WARRIOR'S SISTER
The sister of a legendary warrior puts on his armor when he is killed.
March 5-21, 2004
Thurs-Sun 8PM + Sun matinee at 3PM
La MaMa ETC 74 A East 4th St New York
NEW YORK, February 11 -- The Warrior’s Sister, the newest work by Yara Arts Group, is
based on an ancient Buryat Mongolian epic song about the sister of a legendary warrior who
puts on his armor when he is killed. This World Music-Theater piece includes fragments of
the epic performed live by Buryat artists from Siberia in the traditional throat-singing
style, while Yara artists perform in English.
For more pictures and reviews see
The Warrior's Sister