About the Archive

Since 2014, the label Ored Recordings has been collecting audio and video materials during ethnographic expeditions around the North Caucasus. The geography of the expeditions includes the western and eastern parts of the Caucasus, from Stavropol Krai to south Dagestan. More often than not, the trips were undertaken by the label’s founders, Bulat Khalilov and Timur Kodzoko together with a local guide and a photographer or videographer. Before the label worked with RAAN, its archive was not catalogued and was preserved on various media, including hard and virtual disks.

As well as expedition audio and video recordings, the archive includes the covers of albums released by Ored Recordings, promo materials, concert posters, and other visual materials.

At present, the Ored Recordings archive in the RAAN system is focused on the traditional and local music of the peoples of the North Caucasus: Circassians, Balkars, Karachays, Ossetians, Abazins, Abkhazians, and others. The geographical frameworks and definitions are somewhat loose. The archive also includes materials from expeditions to the Circassian and Abkhazian diasporas in Turkey.

The archive includes field materials dating from 2014 to 2023, studio recordings of production projects, and audiovisual works created for exhibition and concert spaces.

Sonya Shavtikova. Red East: Abaza Lovesongs