2/4 - Tuvan Throat Singing

First of all:



I received a cd of Huun Huur Tu today. Out of boredom and lack of anything better to do, I'm going to see where I can take this.

Huun Huur Tu is a quartet of musicians from Tuva, a Russian province on the border of Mongolia. They play igil and doshpuluur, the stringed instruments; some drums and a Khomus, which is kind of a like a Jew's harp; but their real claim to fame is their throat singing, which consists of singing a drone while singing an overtone (or overtones) of that note. I can kind of do it, but it's pretty tricky.

In Tuva, they have a contest at a festival each year to see who's the best throat singer in each of the styles: Khoomei, Sygyt, and Kargyraa. There are also combinations of the styles, like Chylandyk, and there's even a style where they sing through their nose:



Sorry, that guy's not Tuvan. But it's the best one I could find.
He's goofy.

Here's the article on it, if you're curious. I definitely was.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuvan_throat_singing
Or, the Alash Ensemble has a great website, with examples on each of the styles:
http://www.alashensemble.com/about_tts.htm

Anyways, I was listening to my cd, and I could hear parts of the music that sounded like they were inspired by other regions of the world. Like this one for example, sounds similar





I mean, sure, different scales, and Indian classical music uses gamekas and stuff to embellish, whereas the throat singers have a much more limited scale. But I thought it was interesting how both cultures use the drone, and have a lead vocal, and use other instruments to complement or add to what the lead vocalist is doing.

There's another track in the CD called "Dangyna;" it uses something that sounds like an accordion, and has a Russian feel to it. I guess that makes sense, since technically, Tuva is a part of Russia, but I always feel like they're almost Mongolia, and this one track has such a different, distinctively Russian sound unlike any of the other tracks.

I found it, but I can't embed it, because it's in a different language:
http://www.vidyoara.com/izle/447389733079/huun-huur-tu-dangyna/
You have to close out of the ad, so click "ragat" which is on the lower right corner, and say how old you are. It'll load after that.

Little parts of this cd remind me of Chinese or other oriental music, and different parts remind me of Native American music. I really like how it all fits together.

This is the last one for now. It might be my favorite.



Have a good day, and thanks for reading.

M