What does your name mean ?
My grandmother gave me my name. Tzahan Zam means " the white road ", because I was born on the road, during the return of the Kalmuks to their Siberian land, after years of deportation. They called me " the white Road ", which also meant somehow " happy " because our return was joyous. It was in 1957 (editor's note: In 1943, Stalin had decided to deport all the Kalmuk people to Siberia. In 1957, Kroutchev authorized the Kalmuk people to return to their steppe to reconstitute the Republic of Kalmukia.)

Where do you come from ?
I was born in the Republic of Kalmukia, in the town of Elista. The Kalmuks are Western Mongols. They came from the Altai, along the Volga and have been there for four centuries. I am part of the Ik Boukhus Baaktoudi lineage, to which Elan Ovla also belonged. He was a famous " djangar " singer at the beginning of this century. In fact the first book written on the " djangar " was based on his songs.

Are the Kalmuks still nomadic ?
From the beginning, the traditional life of the Kalmuks was nomadic. Today, Kalmuks have become sedentary and ceased their nomadic life. A change of psychology occurred, a change of life style among Kalmuks, which was followed by social crisis.
Today, we need to study our culture in more depth, preserve our epic poems, preserve our nomadic life and our cattle raising, our alimentation, all that we inherited from our ancestors. All the rules are written in the " djangar "

What is the "djangar" ?
The "djangar" is a source of ancient wisdom, that gives us rules for living and helps us to make choices. It's the philosophy of life of a man that no one reassures, no one fools, and to whom nobody can promise happiness after death. The " djangar " says one has to live loving nature, his people, loving others and spend most of his life living in reality. The " djangar " also gives practical advice, for example regarding the equipment of a horse. It says that under the saddle, one should always put a few coats of felt, in the hair's direction, otherwise the horse might get callosities. The " djangar " will always exist because it is a source of information for the Kalmuks. It's a life model, a cultural model, with its own cosmogony. At the beginning, " Djangar " is the " Khan of the universe ", the man who loves all. There is a sun in the sky and on the earth, there is a man who must keep it all in peace. Djangar holds a yellow flag in his hands, it represents the sun. The main idea of " djangar " is that everyone lives in peace and good understanding on this earth, our Mother earth. We all are leaves of the same tree. The " djangar " is also the idea of reuniting the world, in a balance between human beings and prosperity.

Why do you sing the "djangar" ?
When I was a kid, they called me " the little old man ", because I preferred listening to the old wise men than play with the other kids. It was the communist period at the time, I finished school, did my military service and after I got my engineering degree, I started working. But during that period, I did not feel satisfied. I did not feel any purpose for what I was doing, it was not me, it was not my path. I liked the " djangar " poetry a lot, which I already sang, but only among friends. In 1987, I started singing the " djangar " in public, for the Djangar anniversary, celebrated in 1990.
At that time, I also started having strange dreams : In one of them, an old man told me that I should have sang the " djangar " since my teens. Several dreams followed that kept pointing me towards singing, but I still did not want to sing. I was embarrassed, I was scared of the public. Still, mysterious forces kept pushing me to sing. The day of the anniversary of the Djangar, I received the title of Djangarchi, official " djangar " player. Once the festivities were over, I thought I was going to put my doumbra away and go back to work. That's when I was invited to participate to a festival in Paris. It gave me the desire to go on and pursue my mission that would have died had it not been for mysterious forces, cosmic connections that prevented it. I toured several times in France, I sang, I doubled my energy level, it's a funny story. I feel something leads me. Even our encounter today is not gratuitous.

Tell us about horses…
The horse is a traditional subject for Kalmuks. One could not imagine Djangar without his horse. The horse is man's best friend, he shares his joys and sorrows and helps him to live. There isn't a Kalmuk who would be indifferent to horses. They bring out strange but positive feelings. To pick a good horse, we don't need to see any document. One only needs to have a good look among the horses and know immediately which one will be the best. We know the secrets about the horse's anatomy, the way it runs, the way it breathes, its teeth, its mane etc… And we learn all that it in the " djangar ". The same for men, we can make the difference and say who will become Khan. The sky created a reasonable, intelligent man. The main rule of life is to act with wisdom, and the sky will take care of the rest.

Is the Dumbra a traditional instrument ?
The dumbra is the Kalmuk's favourite instrument. The dumbra with two strings, like black and white, like night and day. One of the strings means the instrument, the masculine principle, and the other one the feminine principle. The epic poems are always accompanied with this instrument.

Who is your public?
At first I thought my public was composed of Kalmuks, Bouriats and Mongols. Now I believe that my public is international. French people do not understand Kalmuk, but they listen ! The " djangar " is good for all. It carries a world notion that humans of this world listen to with a deep interest..

What about your Yurt project. Can you still come back to the traditional yurts (tents) ?
There are many negative and positive things in this world. So one must accumulate the best ones and evict the bad ones. I often travel in Europe and often meet people interested in our culture. I would like to create a centre in France, along the Atlantic ocean. It would be a cultural centre, a museum that would regroup all the Asian and European cultures, where we could express our feelings, our ideas, and help others to discover our ancient traditions. I note a tendency to unification and I am for it. The Yurt is the idea of Genghis Man, the man of the millennium. He said one has to care for our world, like a mother takes care of her children. But at the same time, one has to note that some of them can give happiness, and others don't. Despite the massacres he is responsible for, Genghis Khan was a real gardener. He could distinguish the fruit bearing branches from the one rotting with a dampness that will not give fruit. So he would cut these last branches, to fortify the tree, and make it as fruitful as possible.

Interview and translation to English : Bella Le Nestour
Photos : John Allen
Paris, June 2001