https://blog.attelkom.net/tamada/after every wedding, from my phone, in the taxi, still in the tie Kündölük 3.4.2enhttps://blog.attelkom.net/tamada/2026/10/derby-day-wedding.html Sat, 31 Oct 2026 23:55:00 +0600toihttps://blog.attelkom.net/tamada/2026/10/derby-day-wedding.html Saturday, the last toi of the season. And the day of the Kara-Ak derby, at 6 p.m. The groom is a Neftchi man and the bride is for Tulpar, and they got married on this date on purpose "to find out who will win in the family". So at 20.15 I stopped the programme and told 300 people: "There is a…https://blog.attelkom.net/tamada/2026/06/dollars.html Sat, 13 Jun 2026 21:50:00 +0600moneyhttps://blog.attelkom.net/tamada/2026/06/dollars.html This year a couple needs dollars for the hall, and the banks give 300 a month. So the brides' mothers are in the exchange booths at Bazar-i Kalan, at 9.5 and soon 11. I ask my fee in som now, at the bazaar rate. Some halls ask in som at 8.40, then quietly add a "service" of 15%. A dowry has always…https://blog.attelkom.net/tamada/2025/08/number-700.html Sat, 30 Aug 2025 23:30:00 +0600bloghttps://blog.attelkom.net/tamada/2025/08/number-700.html Last night, toi number 700 since I started counting in 2011. The couple did not know. The hall did not know. After the cake I said into the microphone: "Today a small anniversary: this is my seven hundredth, and your first." They gave me a bottle of cognac and a hug that smelled of vanilla. I…https://blog.attelkom.net/tamada/2025/03/a-joke-that-fell.html Sat, 08 Mar 2025 19:20:00 +0600jokeshttps://blog.attelkom.net/tamada/2025/03/a-joke-that-fell.html In February, after the American's talk of "selling" Irad, an uncle at a toi told the room: "For the bride we ask a good price, but we do not sell the country." Somebody laughed, somebody did not. I stood with the microphone and for a second I did not know where to look. Then I said "To the bride,…https://blog.attelkom.net/tamada/2024/07/invitations-by-phone.html Sat, 20 Jul 2024 20:30:00 +0600trendshttps://blog.attelkom.net/tamada/2024/07/invitations-by-phone.html The new invitation is a picture in WhatsApp, with a map and a link to the playlist. The printed one is for the old aunts, who do not forgive. Tamga Print, the shop by the university, still prints about 150 cards for each toi. I asked the designer: why? She said: "Because a card can be put on the…https://blog.attelkom.net/tamada/2023/11/a-quiet-student-toi.html Sat, 18 Nov 2023 22:30:00 +0600peoplehttps://blog.attelkom.net/tamada/2023/11/a-quiet-student-toi.html The wedding of two TSU graduates. About a hundred guests, mostly their friends. After October (you know what I mean) there was a chair at the head table that nobody sat on. The bride said it was for a friend who could not come. Nobody asked who. The music played, the toasts went, the cake was cut.…https://blog.attelkom.net/tamada/2023/06/my-son-and-the-microphone.html Sat, 17 Jun 2023 22:00:00 +0600familyhttps://blog.attelkom.net/tamada/2023/06/my-son-and-the-microphone.html My son Ermek, 11, took the microphone for the first time today at a family toi, his cousin's. He said the toast "to the road" last: "Let everyone get home safely, and let nobody drive." The room went quiet and then clapped, because it was true and because he was eleven. I did not teach him this.…https://blog.attelkom.net/tamada/2022/10/booked-until-2024.html Sat, 29 Oct 2022 21:10:00 +0600bloghttps://blog.attelkom.net/tamada/2022/10/booked-until-2024.html The last Saturday of October: 3 weddings, 2 birthdays, 1 baptism lunch. My calendar for next year is full. For 2024 half is full. I told my wife it is the best year of my life. She said "you were absent". True. She also said she loved it.https://blog.attelkom.net/tamada/2022/05/400-again.html Sat, 21 May 2022 23:50:00 +0600toihttps://blog.attelkom.net/tamada/2022/05/400-again.html Ordo, 400 guests, the big chandelier, no rules, no masks, nobody in a corner. After two years of silence I came out at 6 and the hall roared before I opened my mouth. I forgot my joke. I said "welcome home" and the bride's grandmother stood up and cried and everyone stood. Prices are up, of…https://blog.attelkom.net/tamada/2021/08/halls-with-rules.html Sat, 14 Aug 2021 22:00:00 +0600covidhttps://blog.attelkom.net/tamada/2021/08/halls-with-rules.html Halls are open for 100 guests. The rule: tables of six, masks until the first toast. The bride and groom asked: "Can we still have the dance?" I said: "Yes, but with one person at a time." So at the first dance I told every guest to dance alone, wherever he was, at his table. A hundred people…