The MEDIAWAVE caravan set off to the direction of Djungaria for the 2nd time in autumn, 2004. We already knew the place we were about to go. More precisely, we three knew it, as Sanyi Silló and me (Jenő Hartyándi) had participated a similar tour in 1998 when the Dresh Quartet, Robi Kerényi, Gábor Boka, Robi Kassai and others, altogether 13 people, bought the fame of Hungary to China. At least that’s what we thought. I’m not sure that the Chinese authorities shared this opinion. They rather thought, not surprisingly, we were a barbaric horde. They didn’t understand at all why we even went there. At that time we visited not only Djungaria in the Xin Jiang province in North West of China, but also Tibet and Middle China. (That cultural historic-like tour is summarised by the film ’Igricek és kekecek’. It can be found in our archive. Click here!
Of course, Emin joined us again this time, too. He was our interpreter who became a very good friend of us and who came to Hungary to study economy. Now he speaks Hungarian fluently. We discovered Djungaria, the land of Ujgur people, again with his and his relatives’ help. We had a reason to go there. Emin’s uncle organised an invitation to the music festival in Turfan. We recommended the Fanfara Commplexa band playing folk music from Moldva which was completed by the Fábri&Ivanovics duo.
This tour was less adventurous than the previous one in 1998 as the Chinese system had become diluted by that time. In spite of it, at the offical closing ceremony of the festival we had the opportunity to get acquainted with the socialist Chinese past, which was quite strong in offical athmosphere in the rural China. Interestingly enough we didn’t feel its impact among the Chinese people as not typical tourists…
The first part of the film shows the world of Ujgur people through the eye of Gráci Benchea, the drummer from Moldva. The second part, entitled Postcards from Turfan, is a documentary film about Djungaria and the Ujgur culture.