Aisen Doidu: The Visionary Who Redefined Yakutia's Cultural Identity
YAKUTIA.INFO. Today, March 3, would have marked the 85th birthday of Aisen Dmitrievich Sivtsev—known as Aisen Doidu—a playwright, prose writer, poet, artist, renowned screenwriter, and opera and theater actor. On this day, we publish an article by Alexey Pudov in memory of Aisen Doidu, reflecting on the legacy of this multifaceted and extraordinarily talented man.
For Aisen Doidu, turning eighty was little more than a formality—a number that, at most, only slightly limited his physical abilities in his later years. In spirit, he always remained attuned to the fresh currents in culture and to the younger generation, with one exception: IT. Gadgets and the internet never quite won him over. The celebrated Yakut writer, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and artist—the eldest son of Dmitry Konopovich Sivtsev (Suorun Omolloon), Yakutia's People's Writer—was drawn throughout his life to the original, even the avant-garde, in creative expression, as well as to a deep love for his small homeland, his native wooden Yakutsk.
In his youth, his poetry found no official recognition, and he only began publishing in the late 1980s and 1990s. Yet unlike many of his contemporaries, broken by the rigid ideological constraints of the era, he never despaired. He learned to meet such trials with philosophical calm. Many of his peers did not survive the strain—some could not endure it. He later remembered a number of his youthful friends in his novella Heavenly Misfits, which you can listen to in the audiobook linked below.
Literary scholars note: "At the heart of his work lie existential questions of humanity in a globalized world." Without exaggeration, Aisen Doidu can be considered Yakutia's first modernist—a singular embodiment of cultural dualism, blending ethnic and European influences. Over time, these two strands coexisted in harmony within him, forming a productive creative partnership that generated profound experiences and emotions, transformed into the aesthetics of his literary lines, film frames, paintings, and musical allusions. Many know him as one of Yakutsk's first stylish dressers. This, too, became a credo of his generation: "We were the first" or "Life should be met with irony…" You can see more in the video below and in his interviews.
His interests were vast, including the ancient history of the Sakha people. In one of his essays, he wrote: "The Sakha people (Yakuts), in language, way of life, culture, and faith, are an integral part of the ancient Turks who once inhabited the vast expanses of Eurasia. For millennia, they held sway over many peoples and lands, including Europe, Iran, and China…" (source).
Rooted in traditional folk philosophy, spirituality is an organic and essential part of the ancient Yakut-Sakha faith in Aiyy Tarah, a form of Tengrism from which the world's major religions—Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity—later emerged. By the way, I believe the concepts of "religion" and "spirituality" are synonymous, as both equally uphold core human values—faith, kindness, and love—that shape the lives and destinies of individuals and entire peoples, both now and in the future.
His creative motto became: "Without love, there is no creation."
Aisen Doidu was the author of several books, plays, film scripts (both documentary and feature), and ballet librettos, including "Aha5aanan" ("The Open Door"), "Abaahyllar Muonnyahatara" ("A Collection of Sketches"), "Bäyer D'ono" ("Our Own People"), "Ergillii" ("The Return"), "Mäne Khallaan O5oto" ("Manchary, Son of the Eternal Sky"), and others. His plays were staged at the Sakha Theater and other theaters in the republic, such as "Bäyer D'ono" ("Our Own People"), directed by S. Sivtsev, "Mäne Khallaan Uola Vahylay Manchary" ("Vasily Manchary, Son of the Eternal Sky"), and "Aattaakh Poet Arbit" ("The Poet Arbit of Aattaakh"), directed by S. Potapov.
Aisen Dmitrievich was a member of the Union of Russian Writers, the Union of Russian Journalists, the Union of Cinematographers of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the Union of Russian Artists, and the Yakut branch of the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments. He was also an Honored Cinematographer of Russia and an Honorary Academician of the Academy of Spirituality of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).
