Speaking of Kazan, it’s an amazing city to see for the World Heritage kremlin site (and to eat sweet Tatar treats and traditional triangular meat pastries, but that’s a whole other story!). Housing the sixteenth-century Annunciation Cathedral, the legendary Söyembikä Tower and the remarkable Qol-Şärif mosque, the Kazan Kremlin is stunning.

As I’m always one for a tale, the Söyembikä Tower caught my attention. Apparently, or so the story goes, the tower’s namesake was the lovely Söyembikä, the last Tatar queen of the Khanate of Kazan. After conquering the khanate in the sixteenth century, Ivan the Terrible turned his attentions to Söyembikä in the form of a marriage offer. Söyembikä agreed on the condition that Ivan’s artisans complete this tower in one week. The impossible was achieved and the tower finished within the specified time period.

I don’t know how the subsequent conversation ran, but perhaps it was something along the lines of Söyembikä wanting to survey the structure and take one last look at her lands. Of course she threw herself off the highest tier of the tower rather than marry the subjugator of her people.

(So there’s some scholars out there who date it from the seventeenth or eighteenth century, but who let’s truth get in the way of a good story?)

The tower used to be part of the world-famed group of leaning towers, but the estimated incline of 194cm has been largely remedied by stabilisation and straightening measures during the 1930s and 1990s.

By way of homage to Tatarstan and the famous Tatars of the arts, history and politics – have a look at this clip by Alisa Husainova a.k.a SuperAlisa. Using a blend of Tatar and Russian language lyrics, and combining Tatar folk melodies with tongue-in-cheek electro beats, SuperAlisa is well… how else can I say it… super good!