Tuvan Music

Fans of Tuvan throat singing rejoice: right next door to Tuva lies Mongolia: a people with a language very different from the Tuvans, but with many other things in common - including throat singing.   Yes, more sounds to explore, more singers to discover.

 Dangaa Khosbayar is a great discovery; in fact, he's received many awards for his singing. In 1995 he won the grand award as best Mongolian singer in a national contest.

 Like many male throat singers, he can sing some very low notes; but at the same time put out whistling-like overtones that are very high-pitched and seemingly inhuman.

 As this is Dangaa's first album to be released outside of Mongolia, some decidedly non-Mongolian instruments were very tastefully added.

 The didgeridoo fits like a glove, which most music fans probably assumed it would, while sitar and hand percussion also do a good job of enhancing, not interfering, with voice.

 The production team of Pat Pangea and Wolfgang Paukstatt deserve credit for helping, not getting in the way of, Dangaa's amazing voice.

 Just like his Tuvan compatriots, Dangaa's songs center around themes relating to horses and family life - not that most listeners outside of Mongolia will even realize words are involved, much less interpret them: no, this is more like an instrumental album but done with the human voice - an incredible one.

1. Lost Rivers by Sainkho Namtchylak
2. When the Sun is Out You Don't See Stars by Peter Kowald, Werner Ludi, Butch Morris & Sainko Namtchylak

 Fans of 'free' or 'outside' jazz will probably enjoy and be amazed by the singing on these two recordings.

 Sainkho Namtchylak become semi-famous for her Tuvan throat singing on her album OUT OF TUVA: it was an eye-opening, ear-popping recording of female throat singing (very unusual, even today) with Western pop elements. World music fans around the globe loved it.

 The singing on these two cds is very different, although there's some throat singing. Most of the vocals are more experimental.

 There were a mere handful of singings in the 1960s who tried this sort of thing with very limited success. Imagine, if you will, if Yoko Ono had been a highly trained signer with a background in throat singing but still had avante guard, no holds barred ambitions.

 The album WHEN THE SUN IS OUT YOU DON'T SEE STARS really reminds of those 1960s jazz attempts by singers long forgotten: this is definitely a jazz production - very outside or 'free' maybe, but musicians with jazz backgrounds will appreciate it.

 LOST RIVERS is Sainkho improvising on her own. Sometimes she sounds like a wild bird like a hawk or a waterbird; at other times a low growl that sounds pleading, then almost screaming.

 It's all very intense and definitely not for everybody - but it sure beats Yoko Ono and is technically skilled and deft.

1. Aldyn Dashka
2. Tuva Rock

  Like all Tuvan vocal groups, Yat-Kha features deep, resonant throat singing that goes to the bottom of the well, sometimes fused with higher-pitched overtones, but somehow this group is different: less high-pitched overtone singing (that ringing sound), more in between 'normal range' vocals.

 The use of electric guitar and bass is also different from what we're used to hearing from Tuvan groups - but I think it's the rhythm sense that sets this group apart; it's so subtle, but it's there as a moderate, still-driving pulse which makes Yat-Kha's music easy to listen to for those raised on rock and roll or similar Western pop sounds.

  The full-time group consists of five men plus two others; all of whom play instruments. Only the bass player doesn't sing. 

 Cut seven, 'Takh-Pakh Chasky Tan', sounds like a fusion of Tuvan throat singing with fiddling hoe-down music and Celtic, but is actually a tune from Khakassia, a country north of Tuva. The peoples of these two countries are related, some by marriage.

 Cut 8, Bai-La Mongun', is one of the few without a strong rhythm sense.

 Like much Tuvan music, there is a great love of place and history in the lyrics (none of which you'll understand). And like their neighbors the Mongolians, horses also figure frequently in the lyrics.

 The number of singers varies with each cut, though it's never stated in the liner notes the number of singers on a particular song can vary from one to perhaps five or more.

 All in all ALDYN DASHKA is a very interesting cd and Yat-Kha an intriguing group:  though no one singer stands out as amazing on his own, the overall effect of the group is wonderful.

 ALDYN DASHKA is a great addition to any collection of Tuvan music or world music.

 Holy mackerel, Yat-Kha's ALDYN DASHKA didn't prepare us for TUVA ROCK -  or did it? While ALDYN DASHKA had hints of a subtle rock beat in parts, TUVA ROCK is 'in your face' rock n roll; or at least parts of it are.

 These boys have been definitely listening to post-1960s rock music: subtle acoustic guitar or screaming electric with a pounding beat. It takes a while to get used to this, coming from ALDYN DASHKA.

 Is this the future of Tuvan music: Western folk and rock concepts blended with throat singing and Tuvan instruments? If it is (and I suspect this is the wave of the future), Yat-Kha will go down in history as an early pioneer of the sound.

 Not that other  Tuvan singers haven't recorded albums fusing Western and Tuvan styles; but Yat-Kha is the first group we've heard to do it with such an (occasional_ hard edge, and to make the sound within the group rather than simply having a producer graft Western arrangements to Tuvan folk music.

 Oddly enough, the group seems to have shrunk down to only three members from a previous high of five to seven.

 So now we have the most untraditional Tuvan group shrunk down t the traditional trio; but unlike other Tuvan trios, one member of this group is a full-time drummer/percussionist who also adds African drums to the mix. Wild!

 Frankly speaking we didn't like TUVAN ROCK as much as we loved ALDYN DASHKA, but with every listen it grows on the listener.