NEW YORK — Nariman Asanov says all was not lost when the Soviet Union drove the Crimean Tatars from their homeland more than 75 years ago.

"We survived all those years in exile with very strong sense of cultural involvement,” says Asanov. “Basically, we survived because of our strong sense of culture."

What You Need To Know

  • The series Beat of the Boroughs highlights 54 cultural groups

  • The online event is organized by the non-profit Center for Traditional Music and Dance

  • The goal is to highlight the struggles of the folk artist groups amid the pandemic

  • The Brooklyn-based Crimean Tatar Ensemble kicks off the performances

Asanov arrived in New York in 1994 with his violin and the national flag of Crimea, a peninsula that juts into the Black Sea from Ukraine.

He was just 21-years-old, and says he was relieved to find others from Crimea in the city.

"It was just enormous for us to see that we lost enormous amounts of countrymen, brothers, and sisters almost 60 years after deportation and I was amazed we have Crimeans in New York,” says Asanov.

Their meeting place is here at the American Association of Crimean Turks on New Utrecht Avenue in Brooklyn, where they have a weekly school to teach the Crimean language and culture. Asanov leads the New York Crimean Tatars Ensemble, which will soon be performing in a virtual showcase highlighting the city's folk artists.

The event, called "Beat of the Boroughs," is being organized by the Center for Traditional Music and Dance. The non profit will feature 54 performing groups in an online series streamed both on Youtube and Facebook.

One of the main goals is to provide a platform for traditional folk artists who lack funding during the pandemic. 

"With the quarantine came the cancellation of numerous programs and resources for artists,” says Program Director Andrew Colwell,  of the Center for Traditional Music and Dance. “And immigrant artists are especially vulnerable members of the creative community so we wanted to create a series that highlights their situation."

Another mission is to bring about culture awareness of Crimean Tatars.

Akhtem Esatov is a member of the New York Crimean Tatars Ensemble, who was brought to the U.S. as a toddler. 

"It allows me to do something which my parents were deprived of doing by a very oppressive government,” says Esatov. “That allows me to feel like a Crimean Tatar. Feel like a human being more importantly, because human beings should be able to express freely."

His ensemble kicks off Beat of the Boroughs Monday November 16. For the full schedule you can visit the Center for Traditional Music and Dance at ctmd.org.