麻豆约拍

Five sketches of life on the move in the wild Siberian borderlands. Cicely Fell follows the upper reaches of the Yenisei river to nomadic and religious communities on the southern edge of Russia.

Tuva's remote and impenetrable mountain landscape enabled the survival of shamanic clan lines despite the Soviet repressions. The region has remained one of the strongholds of Siberian shamanism and is an important centre for its revival. Today, in Tuva's capital Kyzyl, associations of shamans and walk-in clinics compete for customers seeking healing or divination.

From a shamanic ritual to a drum-maker's workshop, Cicely Fell traces shamanism in Tuva and Khakassia. Chochigar Kes-Kam, a hereditary Tuvan shaman, performs a ritual to seek a blessing from the spirits for his young apprentice. A story of repression and revival, told through the shaman's drum.

Producer: Cicely Fell
An Above the Title production for 麻豆约拍 Radio 4.