Hi TL. Lately I realised that I listen to a lot of amazing music that other people may not be exposed to, so being the philanthropist that I am, I thought that I would share.
For my first blog I'll be focusing on artists that originate from Tuva, a small republic on the north-west border of Mongolia. The Tuvan people have a lot of oral traditions, ranging from brief riddles to epic tales that take hours to recite, and are probably most famous for khoomei, or Tuvan throat singing.
Khoomei essentially uses the tongue to form a resonating chamber in your mouth, and by adjusting the size and shape of that chamber you can bring out or suppress different harmonics from a fundamental note that is produced in the throat, thus adjusting the pitch. Through careful control of the throat and diaphragm two or three notes can be produced simultanueously and manipulated to form melodies.
Confused already? This video is a great example of some of the styles that arise from this technique:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTCJ5hedcVA An example of Tuvan throat singing
Traditionally khoomei was performed solo, with the focus on the harmonics and timbre rather than rhythm. Singers would travel for hours in order to find the right river or cave to enhance their throat singing, and also took long pauses in their performance to give nature a chance to respond. More modern renditions often involve ensembles of instruments and voices.
I first discovered Tuvan throat singing through the group Huun Huur Tu. Formed in 1992 and still recording and performing today, Huun Huur Tu originally focussed on traditional Tuvan folk songs. More recently they have been branching out into different genres, including their most recent album "Eternal" (2009), which is a collaboration with electronic artist Carmen Rizzo.
Huun Huur Tu use a lot of imagery from their homeland, and drum rhythms frequently echo the galloping of horses across the steppes. Songs range from spiritual to humorous, and are most certainly uplifting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd-5gn5RMnk Dyngyldai is a humorous song in which the singer addresses his friend
The next artist I want to introduce is Sainkho Namtchylak, born in Tuva in 1957. Here she was exposed and began to practise throat singing, even though it was generally reserved for males and females were actively discouraged from it. Her work is a lot more experimental than Huun Huur Tu, and she incorporates elements of avant-jazz and electronic music with traditional Tuvan throat singing. Her voice is amazing and she has the ability to span seven octaves (think a whole grand piano).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAF7zQ-hyDQ Sainkho shows off her voice in 'Midnight Blue' from 1998's Naked Spirit
In 1997 Sainkho was allegedly attacked by Tuvan racketeers, leaving her in a coma for 2 weeks. She moved to Vienna where she has recorded more prolifically as a solo artist, whereas most of her previous work had been collaborative.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrW4BhJ4Y6o 'Let the Sunshine' from 2001's 'Stepmother City'
A third group is Yat-Kha, who mix a more rock oriented sound with kargyraa, a form of khoomei that has a deep, almost growling sound. As well as their original songs they have covered songs such as Motorhead's 'Orgasmatron' and Santana's 'Black Magic Woman' featuring throat singing (these can be found on youtube).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4IwxzU3Kv8 Kat-Khem, from the album Yenisei Punk (1995)
Pioneers of the genre that will be known as Throat Rock
So here I've presented three artists that incorporate Tuvan throat singing into modern styles of music. If you still thirst for more artists you can check out this list as a starting point.
In future blogs I'll probably focus on a single artist or album that would fall under some kind of experimental or avant-garde genre, as I already have a few in mind. Note that I'm am definately no expert on these things and I basically took this as an opportunity to learn a lot myself.
Damn... thats pretty cool stuff. I've actually heard huun huur tu before and have a couple of their albums but I hadn't heard any of these other artists. How did you first get introduced to the throat singing style?
I'd like to add a recommendation for the amazing documentary; Genghis Blues about a blind american musician who travels to Tuva to participate in a throat singing competition. It's a musical bonanza, besides being interesting for geographic and cultural reasons as well.
On March 28 2010 08:48 tree.hugger wrote: Awesome subject for a blog.
I'd like to add a recommendation for the amazing documentary; Genghis Blues about a blind american musician who travels to Tuva to participate in a throat singing competition. It's a musical bonanza, besides being interesting for geographic and cultural reasons as well.
Watched this in my Eastern European class, awesome documentary!
I'm sure there's some cultural merit to this singing technique, but the first video made me want to stab my ears. The second video was nice, but didn't really sound like throat singing anymore.
i assume your research solely based on youtube and wikipedia? My friend lives in Kyzyl and he said it is very very weird that someone dug this deep into it. This music isnt even popular, very archaic traditional singing. Most young people cant even do this anymore
like he said, strange that someone cares, i guess everyone has his own hobbies
This is some pretty neat stuff, but I'm afraid it's not for me. Second video is pretty aight though, and thanks for this blog. Must've taken some time to put together.
On March 28 2010 08:22 meeple wrote: Damn... thats pretty cool stuff. I've actually heard huun huur tu before and have a couple of their albums but I hadn't heard any of these other artists. How did you first get introduced to the throat singing style?
Basically just by random chance. When I see something interesting like this I'll usually check it out. I started with Huun Huur Tu's album Altai Sayan Tandy-Uula and basically just expanded from there.
On March 28 2010 08:48 tree.hugger wrote: Awesome subject for a blog.
I'd like to add a recommendation for the amazing documentary; Genghis Blues about a blind american musician who travels to Tuva to participate in a throat singing competition. It's a musical bonanza, besides being interesting for geographic and cultural reasons as well.
That looks awesome. I'll have to watch it some time, thanks a lot.
On March 28 2010 09:29 notsoeloquent wrote: i assume your research solely based on youtube and wikipedia? My friend lives in Kyzyl and he said it is very very weird that someone dug this deep into it. This music isnt even popular, very archaic traditional singing. Most young people cant even do this anymore
like he said, strange that someone cares, i guess everyone has his own hobbies
Yeah, I basically just used various internet sources to learn about it. Interesting to hear from someone who actually lives there though. I think it's not that surprising that it isn't so popular nowadays, especially in the city as more modern influences take over. I guess there will always be some people who like to keep the culture alive though, so I doubt it will die out completely.
On March 29 2010 11:01 [Fin]Vittu wrote: CAN SOMEONE PLEASE MAKE AN ALVIN AND CHIPMUNK VERSION OF THE FIRST VID lmao
1. Download audio (http://www.vidtomp3.com) and Audacity. 2. Change pitch to 115-130% of original. 3. Re-upload with Alvin the Chipmunks picture. 4. ??? 5. Profit.
Ive been practising my throat singing for a while now
Ive got a pretty decent karygryaa (mispelt lol) but sygyt is IMPOSSIBLE
I have no freaking idea how people do a good sygyt - i make the resonating chamber but the overtones arnt nearly as high as the whistle register and they are EXTREMELY quiet - i can barely hear it! Ive never seen anyone do sygyt in real life but the videos make me so jealous - esp people who can do it just after a few hours!
EPT![[image loading]](http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/3029/tuvansteppes.jpg)
