:: THE NAME ::
tün = night. tolk = from tolkun, wave. so it is "night wave". always small letters, never TÜNTOLK, never Tuntolk. (on this page sometimes i write "tuntolk" without dots because on school computer there is no ü. forgive.)
Askar said one time on the radio that the name is also for an old film Tolkun by Sadikov, which is lost, only pieces of the music stayed. i never saw it. nobody saw it.

:: WHO ::
Askar Daniyarov - machines. synthesizers, drum machine, the pedals he solders himself, the four-track tape.
Mira Temirova - voice and words. her voice is low, slow, like the grandmothers singing koshok at a funeral. first time i heard it i was scared. second time i cried. third time i bought (copied) the cassette.

they started in 1997 in a boiler room in Dastgoh. it is still where they play. see kotelnaya nights.

:: THE MACHINES ::
a Polivoks (soviet synthesizer, very angry sound, it growls like animal)
a soviet drum machine (i don't know the model, it has wood on the sides)
a borrowed four-track cassette recorder
pedals Askar made from parts from the radio-bazar
(if you know more about these machines write me, i want to understand)

:: JOLCHU (1999) ::
jolchu = the wayfarer, the one who is on the road.
cassette, they made it themselves. no label. no barcode. you can't buy it in a shop, only from people.

they played it on the radio once, at 1 in the night, thursday. my brother taped it, so now we have two copies. the radio copy has the DJ talking over the end. we know his voice by heart.

:: WHY THE BULL ::
Mira sings about old things: wolves, golden eagles, Umay the mother goddess, and Morkhan, the bull-headed one, the dark one. my grandmother crosses herself when she sees my bull pictures. i understand her. but this is the old steppe before everything, it is not "worship", it is like a fairy tale that is very very old and still a little dangerous. this is why it is beautiful.

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