Alash just wrapped up a tour of the United States that took them through Texas, the Midwest, and the Northeast. Their concerts were attended by a combination of amazed new fans and enthusiastic returning fans, some of whom traveled great distances and braved snow storms for the opportunity to hear Alash. Concert-goers were totally absorbed in the music commenting, “I could listen all night,” and “I felt myself traveling back to the times of the ancestors.” The musicians have such a good rapport with their audience that the crowd at Barbes in Brooklyn burst into a chorus of “Happy Birthday” when Sean Quirk mentioned that it was Ayan-ool Sam’s birthday.

Tuvan Prime-Minister Sholban Kara-ool gave a press-cinference at Russia's largest Information Agency - RIA NOVOSTI in Moscow. It is the first press-conference ever given by a Tuva's head on a federal news-platform. 'In 1970 when all over Russia Lenin's 100 jubielum was celebrated, Tuvan Party Committee gave an assignment to local historian to find something connecting Lenin and Tuva, - Kara-ool started unexpectedly. - The historians did a lot to fulfill the task searching for a bit of Tuva in 54 volumes of Lenin's works and a mass of memoirs of his colleagues and finally found a short line in his letter from Siberian exile adrressing his wife Krupskaya. 'I write these lines. It is dark outdoors. Winter. Some kilometers further is Shush river (400 km Tuva's north), beyond which nothing. The world's end'.

About 10 years ago, Ed Michaud was driving home to Ellsworth when music came on his car radio unlike any he had heard. The singer seemed to be doing the impossible, vocalizing several different notes simultaneously. “It blew my mind as to how a person could create those sounds with their voice,” Mr. Michaud said.

One of Russia's leading oncology centers is suffering from a lack of medicine. The Cancer Treatment Center in the Siberian city of Kyzyl, in the Russian republic of Tuva, is well known for its effective methods of treating cancer patients.