Yusan Zillya

The Crimean Tatars are a Turkic ethnic group living on the Crimean peninsula. In 1944, they were deported to Asia by order of Stalin. The Crimean Tatars were not allowed to return to their region (their country) until Ukraine became independent in 1991. When Crimea was annexed in 2014, large parts of the ethnic group were again forced to flee. In the years since, they have been repressed and subjected to mass arrests by the Russian regime.

This project is a meeting between the multi-instrumentalist and Crimean Tatar, Djemil Karikov, and his daughter, Nial Khalilova, and the Ukrainian singer and actress Natalia Rybka-Parkhomenko. It is also the meeting of two cultures, two languages, and two peoples.

After the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Djemil Karikov and Nial Khalilova were forced to leave their homeland and have since lived in Lviv. Here they met singer Natalia Rybka-Parkhomenko and together they developed the project Yusan-Zillya. 'Yusan' is a plant that has a symbolic value in both Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar culture: it is supposed to help people not to forget their roots and their culture.  

Djemil Karikov – saz

Nial Khalilova - cello

Natalia Rybka-Parkhomenko - vocals

Arrangement:

5 July at 18.30 Yusan Zillya

The theater hall, Førdehuset

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