Spring 2002 In this issue

Navruz celebration March 24

Kodir's Art at BMOCA

PR2K's $18,000 Distributed to Dushanbe's Orphans

June fundraising concert brings violinist Romasevich, pianist Lubotsky

Celebrate a Tajik New Year at the Teahouse this Sunday

The Tajik/Persian New Year, which is called Navruz, will be celebrated once again at the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse on Sunday, March 24. Navruz is a time for family fun and is the traditional way to welcome the spring.

This year there is a full line-up of activities, the most extensive ever. The festivities begin at 1PM and will last until evening when a traditional Tajik meal of shashlik and plov will be on the menu.

On the menu of activities, there will be a slide show about Boulders sister city of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, a short program about the meaning of Navruz (at 4:30), a booth selling Tajik arts and crafts, and children's activities, including story-telling.

Music will be provided by Serefe, a popular local Central Asian group, and Jesse Manno, who plays classical Persian music on the flute. Long-time favorite Teahouse dancer Nozanin will do traditional Tajik dances at 5 p.m.

This will also be an opportunity to meet one of the Tajik artists who hand crafted the Teahouse. Kodir Rakhimov, who created the oil paintings and carved plaster panels, is currently on a visit to Boulder to make repairs on the plaster panels.

Master Chef Lenny Martinelli will serve up a special menu of Tajik dishes and has generously donated 10% of all proceeds to the BDSC Reciprocal Gift Fund.

Return to top

Kodir Rakhimov's Art To be Displayed
at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art on March 24

Kodir Rakhimov, one of the Tajik artists who hand-crated the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse, is back in town for a four-month visit. Kodir was one of four Tajiks who were on site to help complete construction in 1998. At that time Kodir also created the eight unique carved plaster panels and hung the four oil paintings that adorn the Teahouse interior walls.

Kodir is in Boulder on a special visit to make repairs to the Teahouse, exhibit his newest oil paintings and carved plaster panels, and to help the BDSC Reciprocal Gift Committee raise money for the proposed Cyber-café gift for Dushanbe.

Admirers of Kodirs art will get a chance to view fifteen oil paintings and several plaster panels at the Boulder Museum of Modern Art, next to the Teahouse on 13th Street, south of Canyon Boulevard on Sunday, March 24, the same day as the Teahouse annual Navruz (Tajik/Persian New Year) celebration. Other examples of his art will be on display in the Teahouse on that day and afterwards.

All of the paintings and carved plaster panels will be for sale, and Kodir is donating proceeds from the sale of the carved plaster panels to the BDSC Reciprocal Gift Fund.

Kodir draws from several Tajik and Middle Eastern traditions in both his oil paintings and his carved plaster panels (called ganch-kori in Tajiki). He is one of the few artists working in the ganch-kori medium in the world. Ganch-kori is a traditional art medium in countries that include Iran, Tajikistan, and Morocco.

The oil paintings can be grouped into four categories:

• Those based on Middle Eastern fables (Leila and Majnoon, who are the Romeo and Juliet of Persian poetry, Dimna and Kalila, and 1001 Arabian Nights)

• Those in tribute to Omar Khayyam

• The "Adam and Eve" series

• till-lifes that incorporate traditional Tajik motifs on archeological artifacts.

The carved plaster panels reflect a more abstract, Islamic tradition than do the more modernistic paintings. They are all white with controlled centuries-old motifs that include the mihrab (or arch, traditionally used in mosques to direct worshippers to the direction of Mecca), botanical designs, animals, and arabesques often found in oriental carpets, book bindings and metalwork.

Just as the Teahouse has allowed us to enter into the culture of a distant and sometimes exotic culture through the mystery and power of architecture, Kodir's painting and carved plaster panels afford us a unique opportunity to explore Eastern culture through color, line, symbolism, and even literature and poetry.

Those unable to attend this one-day show can make arrangements to view them by contacting Vern Seieroe.

Here is a brief description of some of the 15 paintings that will be on display on March 24:

Memories of Leila and Majnoon
Gazelles frolic near two intertwining pine trees that grow out of star-crossed lovers Leila and Majnoons graves. Leila (Arabic, night) and Majnoon (Arabic, love-crazed) are the Romeo and Juliet of Middle Eastern poetry and may have served as the basis for Shakespeares play. The gazelle, a powerful symbol in Persian and Arabic poetry and art, symbolizes feminine beauty.

The Death of Leila as Seen through a Prism
The sea, mountains, a horse, a man and women mourn Leilas death. The scene is refracted through a prism. The landscape is a barren desert at night.

A Swan Tries to bring Leila and Majnoon Together
Leila waits on the distant shore; Majnoon is on this side. A bridge and the swans out-stretched wings tries to draw the lovers close. Leila (Arabic, night) and Majnoon (Arabic, love-crazed) are the Romeo and Juliet of Middle Eastern poetry.

Peacock Eating the Forbidden Fruit
This painting is in the artists "Adam and Eve" series. It depicts the Garden of Eden, including a peacock, fruit and the serpent.

Still Life (Fruit Bowl) From the artists Omar Khayyam series

A Game of Chess A chessboard comes to life. Chess originated in Iran and the word used fore "checkmate comes from the Farsi "Shah mot," which means "The king is dead".

Return to top

Heath Wilson's PR2K Nets $18,000
for Dushanbe's Orphans and Homeless Children; Funds Disbursed

BDSC Treasurer Benji reed reports that approximately $18,000 in funds raised by Heath Wilson's PeaceRide 2000 have recently been disbursed to four humanitarian organizations in Dushanbe and will benefit hundreds of Dushanbe's orphans and homeless children.

In a tireless 2 year-long fundraising effort, Boulderite Wilson rode his bicycle from Boulder to Istanbul, Turkey, collecting donations in Boulder before the trip and along the way. He rode for more than one year, camping along the way.
More information about the ride

PeaceRide 2000 collected upwards of $25,000 in donations. After pre-planned expenses, approximately $18,000 was donated to children's charities in Dushanbe. Difficulties with money transfer, particularly in the wake of current events, delayed the disbursement of funds.

The four receiving organizations each received 25% of the total amount. They are:

• ORA Tajikistan, an international humanitarian group in Dushanbe that distributes material aid, such as, food, clothing and school supplies to Tajik orphanages and schools for the disadvantaged. ORA is well-known among the local Tajik humanitarian groups assisting children, and for providing orphans of 16 to 19 years of age job training, devised to keep these children off the streets and gain economic self-sufficiency. The four-person BDSC delegation to Dushanbe in January 2001 visited the ORA office and a number of the schools and orphanages that ORA supports.

• Youth EcoCenter of Dushanbe is a volunteer humanitarian organization that provides children with educational opportunities, such as computer training and English classes, job training at orphanages, and summer camps and field trips.

• Refugee Children and Vulnerable Citizens (RCVC) provides schooling and attendance-dependent meals to homeless children and those from broken homes. In emergencies it also provides food for famine-stricken areas, but emphasizes education.

• Society for Children's Rights is a theater school for children living on the streets. These creative programs offer the kids a powerful avenue to tap into their self-esteem and emotional maturity. A variety of other creative activities are offered to the children to develop their creative thinking and artistic skills.

The BDSC wishes to congratulation Heath on a job well done, for making the citizens of Boulder proud, and for all of his self-less efforts in completion of this project.

Return to top

San Francisco Symphony First Violinist Victor Romasevich
and Pianist Lena Lubotsky to Perform at June Reciprocal Gift Fund Raiser

Mark June 7 on your calendar for a unique evening of music and an opportunity to help finance Boulder's reciprocal gift to our sister city--the cybercafe.

Long-time BDSC supporters Bob and Louise Dudley will host a fund-raising musicale on June 7 at their home. Victor Romasevich, a first violinist of the San Francisco Symphony, and Lena Lubotsky, pianist, will perform an unusually beautiful program of violin classics. After the concert refreshments provided by our Teahouse will be served.

Victor Romasevich was born in Minsk, USSR (now Belarus) to a family of doctors and musicians. He started studying piano with his mother, Lena Lubotsky, at the age of four. He studied violin at the Gnesin Special Music School in Moscow and then at the Moscow Conservatory. He also studied with his uncle, concert violinist Mark Lubotsky.

In 1977 Victor and his family emigrated to the USA and settled initially in Boulder. He was promptly accepted by Juilliard, where he studied with the famed Ivan Galamian until graduating.

In 1982 he joined the Denver Symphony Orchestra and the next year became assistant concertmaster. In 1985 he won the Gina Bachauer prize at the Bach International Competition in Washington, DC. In 1989 he won the position of assistant principal viola at the San Francisco Symphony. In 1992 he moved to the first violin section of that orchestra.

Victor frequently appears throughout the Bay Area in violin or viola recitals and chamber music ensembles.

Lena Lubotsky, a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, is a popular piano teacher and accompanies Victor when he appears as a soloist.

Contact Sophia Stoller for information or reservations.

Comments or questions about the newsletter should be sent to George Peknik.

Return to top