Artist: Huun-Huur-Tu
Genre(s):
Folk
Ethnic
Miscellaneous
Discography:
Malerija
Year: 2003
Tracks: 10
Spirits From Tuva (remix album)
Year: 2002
Tracks: 12
Where Young Grass Grows
Year: 1999
Tracks: 15
If I'd Been Born an Eagle
Year: 1997
Tracks: 15
The Orphan's Lament
Year: 1994
Tracks: 19
60 Horses In My Herd: Old Song
Year: 1994
Tracks: 12
60 Horses in My Herd: Old Songs and Tunes of Tuva
Year: 1993
Tracks: 12
The distant region of Tuva, one of the new countries formed with the adjournment of the U.S.S.R., has produced one of the world's most unusual vocal groups, Huun-Huur-Tu. Masters of the throat tattle fashion of xoomei, in which a singer produces deuce or iII notes simultaneously, the chemical group has been warmly by an international following. According to Jazz Times, "a bumpkinly joy and unadulterated expresiveness descend out of these musicians". Analyzing Huun-Huur-Tu's music, The Chicago Tribune, wrote, 'it is unfamiliar yet very accessible, an preternatural simply deeply spiritual music that is rooted in the sound of nature". Dirty Linen took a standardized scene, claiming, "this music is both very religious and depressed to earth, grounded in a strong good sense of place, yet its attract is universal." In addition to recording their own albums, the members of Huun-Huur-Tu have contributed their unique vocals to albums and/or performances by Frank Zappa, The Chieftains, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, The Kronos Quartet and L. Shankar and Ry Cooder's soundtrack of the film, Geronimo. Their ongoing collaboration with Angelite, the Bulgarian Woman's Choir under the counsel of Mikhail Alperin, has yielded deuce memorable albums -- Fly, Fly My Sadness in 1994 and Great deal Tale in 1998. Although its name translates literally as "sunlight propeller", Huun-Huur-Tu represents a great deal more. In a 1994 interview, institution percussionist Alexander Bapa explained, "(the name of the stria refers to) the vertical seperation of light rays that are often seen on the grasslands just after dawn or just earlier sunset". Initially named "Kungurtuk", Huun-Huur-Tu came together, in 1992, to act "the onetime and disregarded songs". Founding members Sasha and Sayan Bapa and Kaigalool Khovalyg had previously performed a state-sanctioned corps de ballet during the Soviet regimen. Although Tuvan music had traditionally been performed by a solo singer or player, the group legal of Huun-Huur-Tu set them aside. Huun-Huur-Tu has experienced several force changes. Original phallus Anatoli Kuular left to form a fresh band, Yat-Kha, in late 1993, and was replaced by Anatoli Kuular, a captain of the borbangnadyr stylus of singing and a virtuosic role player of the mouth harp (xomuz) and byzanchi. Percussionist Alexander Bapa left wing, in 1995, to become a producer in Moscow, and was replaced by Alexander Siraglar, a sygyt isaac Bashevis Singer, string player and precussionist.
Tom Russell
