Cellist

The Crimean Tatars are an indigenous Turkic-speaking ethnic group who originally lived on the Crimean peninsula. They were deported to Central Asia under Stalin in 1944. They were not allowed to return to their homeland until Ukraine gained independence in 1991. After the annexation of Crimea in 2014, many had to flee as they experienced massive repression and arrests by the Russian regime, including Crimean Tatar multi-instrumentalist, music researcher and composer Dzhemil Karikov and his daughter, cellist Nial Khalilova. They found a new sphere of activity in Lviv. Together with the Ukrainian singer Natalia Rybka-Parkhomenko, they created the music project Yuşan Zillya, which unites two cultures and languages. It is named after the plant Yuşan, which grows in the Crimea - the fragrant plantain, also known as the herb of immortality. The trio's songs symbolise the power of not forgetting one's own culture.

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Crimean Tatar musical records

Alte Oper

The Crimean Tatars and the Ukrainian people: an unprecedented history of political and cultural solidarity that continues today in times of war. And this also applies musically – with the Trio Yuşan Zillya, two Tatar musicians in exile in Lviv meet a Ukrainian singer.

Cellist

Nial Khalilova

Events

Past events

May 8, 2026

Crimean Tatar musical records · Alte Oper Frankfurt

May 7, 2026

Yuşan Zillya Ensemble · Elbphilharmonie

About

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