>>PREVIEW
HUUN-HUUR TU
Friday, October 20
Knox United Church
It is said that the legendary warlord Genghis Khan so loved his "dog of war," the battle-winning Subetai, that he allowed his general’s home region of Tuva to retain its autonomous identity even as his empire swallowed Asia. A genuinely unique Russian province located just beyond Mongolia’s northern border, Tuva remains a truly fascinating and culturally significant nation within a nation to this day. Tuvans and Mongolians alike share the musical phenomenon known as throat-singing, the mysterious technique that allows individual vocalists to produce more than one tone at a time.
Throat-singing or over-tone singing, as it is also known, is called khoomei or xoomei and is part of an ancient tradition that honours the natural world. Drawing on their culture’s shamanistic roots, the musical ensemble known as Huun-Huur Tu embodies the spirit and history of the 150,000 Turkic descendants of the nomadic people of the boundless steppes.
"It is difficult to describe how Tuvan singing is different than that of the Inuit or Tibetans. It’s the techniques involved and the way we use our palate and the tension and relaxation of the vocal chords," explains Huun-Huur Tu’s singer and co-founder Sayan Bapa. "These are the sounds of nature and our people – we aren’t just creating tones, we are singing in the Tuvan language which is very old and interconnected with our environment."
Enhancing their spine-tingling, multi-tonal ballads with string, woodwind and percussion instruments, Huun-Huur Tu gathers the elemental energies of earth, air, fire and water and uses them to transport their audience to the group’s spiritual homeland. Unusual, yet completely accessible at the same time, Tuvan music is a tradition that has survived despite adverse conditions. It has at last emerged from geographic isolation to claim its place on the world music stage. Members of the band were featured in the hit film Genghis Blues, which chronicled the voyage of Paul "the earthquake" Pena, a blind throat-singer from San Francisco who returned to his mother’s Asian birthplace to participate in Tuva’s biggest annual throat-singing competition.
"Yes, I encountered Mr. Pena on the streets of our home city. He was visiting the music school with a good friend of mine. It is traditional in our culture for musicians to meet up and travel together. This not only attracts more people to our performances, but allows us to learn from each other and to exchange musical ideas. Most of the musicians in our group, like Alexei Saryglar, have been together for at least 13 years, one member, Radik Tolouche, joined us a year ago, but I have known Kaigal-ool Khovalyg for over 25 years. That’s a long time! He also plays the igil (a two-stringed lute) and I play other instruments like the doshpuluur (a long-necked lute) and the guitar.
"We all have our specialties, which we enjoy sharing with each other and our audiences. Many people around the world have heard us now because of the movie and our CD Altai Sayan Tandy-Uula, but you must see us live. When we are onstage there is a special thing that happens and we all become connected as one." |
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