Udagan and Migration Matters Festival: an interview
Oscar is a data scientist at Twinkl. In his spare time, he’s a musician. A lot of people play music in their spare time, but Oscar’s music is unlike any other I’ve heard. He and his wife, Saydyy, are UDAGAN — a musical project based in Sheffield. Udagan translates as ‘she-shaman’ in the Sakha language. The Sakha Republic is an indigenous community in the north of Siberia. It’s where Saydyy was born and raised. Now living in Sheffield, Saydyy and Oscar have built UDAGAN around the traditional music, culture and heritage of the Republic of Sakha.
I first met them in July 2022, when I interviewed them as part of Twinkl’s Giving Back Month. Since then, Udagan has expanded, acquiring another member, and started performing to larger audiences.
Migration Matters Festival
‘Our performance at the Migration Matters festival will be our biggest performance as an ensemble so far,’ Oscar says.
Migration Matters is taking place in Sheffield, from Friday 16th of June to Sunday the 24th of June. It’s the largest event of its kind in the country, designed to celebrate the positive impact of migration and the effect it’s had on the city. Events include a talk from comedian-turned-documentary filmmaker, Munya Chawawa, cooking demonstrations and a farewell gig from Kenyan Afro-pop band, Sauti Sol.
‘It’s all about bringing people together,’ says Ellen, the festival’s marketing manager. ‘We want to tackle the anti-immigration rhetoric you see pushed out across the country. The festival is for everyone, though. One of the things that people might have thought is that this is only for people with lived experience of migration, but it’s not. It’s for everyone in Sheffield to come together and celebrate what makes us an amazing city.’
This is the second year Ellen has worked as the marketing manager for the festival. When she started, back in 2022, she says she couldn’t believe she hadn’t heard of it before.
‘I really wanted to be part of the positive movement,’ she says. ‘I think if people come along, they’ll find that they want to be involved time and time again. It’s so inclusive and the events are really different — you don’t tend to see events like these coming into Sheffield that often. We have some fantastic festivals in the city, but Migration Matters is a bit different.’
Over the course of the nine days, festival goers will be able to hear talks and music, watch films and take part in workshops. There are events for adults and children, designed to engage people from all over the world, who happen to find themselves in Sheffield in this week of June.
‘One of the events is an audio dining experience called Sonic Pho,’ Ellen says. ‘It’s a supper club, so you go and learn about Vietnamese pho, then you eat the pho, and then you listen to an audio story about Vietnam. The event sells out in London a lot, but I’ve never heard of anything like that coming to Sheffield before. It’s proving so popular that it’s almost sold out — we’re putting more tickets out today.’
Udagan at the Festival
Oscar and Saydyy are performing at 19:30 on Monday 19th June at Yellow Arch Studios. Saydyy will be playing the khomus, otherwise known as the jaw harp, and Oscar will accompany her on guitar and synthesisers. John Thompson will join them on drumkit. The couple first met when Saydyy was touring as part of a Sakha band and Oscar was touring in a folk group. It’s fitting then, that they’re performing at a festival all about migration and movement, sharing stories, skills and pleasure, with people that might be different to you.
‘We’ve pinned down an ethos for Udagan,’ Oscar says. ‘It’s sort of a vision statement. It goes: ‘Love your heritage. Respect others’ heritage. Be inspired by all heritage.’ Inspiration is free and there are no boundaries, as long as you appreciate and respect other people’s points of view.’
The Sakha Republic, where Saydyy was born and grew up, is in North Siberia, in Russia. Migration, movement and sharing with people in Sakha — the theme of the band and the festival — have become increasingly difficult as a result of the political situation.
‘Sakha musicians are no longer touring internationally,’ Saydyy says. ‘I haven’t been back to Yakutsk [her hometown] in nine years.’
She’s currently doing a PhD in ethnomusicology and heritage, centred around the khomus, and is having to do all her research online.
‘It’s difficult, researching in this way,’ she says. ‘I can’t travel to Sakha, so I have to do all my interviews via a screen.’
But she’s still doing it. Despite political upheaval, she’s finding a way to keep going. Culture, music, entertainment — the love of life — seems to have a way of poking out through cracks, bursting out, making people stop and take note.
The Migration Matters festival isn’t just a crack — it’s a canyon. Even the process of organising the festival has been enriching.
‘I met a volunteer the other day that was helping me hand out brochures,’ Ellen says. ‘He said he was a journalist in his home country and then he came to Sheffield and he’s staying here now. We had a great chat about journalism because that’s my background too. I never would have met him had it not been for this festival, so it really is a great place to connect with people from all over the world.’
Find out more about the Migration Matters festival and book tickets here.
Find out more about Oscar, Saydyy and Udagan here.
