Tyva Kyzy, live at the Great American Music Hall, 2/11/07
I was first introduced to Tuvan throat-singing via Werner Herzog's documentary on Russian Mysticism, Bells From the Deep. The film contained a brief scene featuring a young throat singer emitting strange, enchanting frog-like vocalizations, often sounding like two people at once (I would later come to know it as overtone singing). Needless to say, I was hooked. Luckily, Herzog himself was present at the screening, and somebody beat me to the punch in asking him about the scene, to which he replied, "It's a Tuva singer." Anybody who has seen any of Herzog's documentaries knows that Herzog is after a concept he calls "ecstatic truth", which bears little relation to actual (or accountant's) truth. Ecstatic truth is a deeper sort of truth, and Herzog plays fast and loose with actual "facts" in order to reach this truth. Due to this, his documentaries can be frustratingly uninformative when one needs to know something. This is why I say that it was lucky Herzog was in attendance and could clarify that particular point. If he hadn't been, I might have forever been in the dark and you wouldn't be reading this article.
Of course, at the time, there were virtually no Tuvan cds on the market. I found one song on Voices of Forgotten Worlds, a multi disc compilation of world music, and a cd by a singer named Sainkho Namtchylak. Sainkho is definitely worth tracking down, but much of her work diverges quite widely from traditional Tuvan music - most of her output has more in common with the likes of Diamanda Galas. I had actually purchased her most traditional cd that day back in the early nineties - "Out of Tuva."
Fast forward to 2007 and we find no shortage of Tuvan musicians. Huun-Huur-Tu are probably the best known, with bands like Yat-Kha and Chirgilchin also touring widely. I've seen a number of Tuvan concerts over the years, but this was my first time seeing Tyva Kyzy (T'va K'say), an all-female group of throat singers. The concert was introduced by the guy (at the moment, his name escapes me) who runs the very helpful Tuva Trader website. He asked for a show of hands from people who had heard male throat singers before. Many hands went up. Then he asked for a show of hands from people who had heard female throat singers before. Fewer hands went up, but still enough to impress him. He told us that in Tuva, one in three males are throat singers, but only about 50 women in the whole country practice the art. He then went on to explain that the next song, featuring khomus (jaw harp) and cha khomus (bow harp, much like Buffy Sainte-Marie sometime uses) was actually kind of a game, where the women not playing would try to guess the subtext of the song - in other words, the khomus player would shape her mouth to form words while playing. This became evident when the song started, with the musicians listening and sometimes nodding their heads and silently laughing. After this, we were treated to a demonstration of the seven styles of Tuvan throat singing. After this, the band launched into an evening of songs played on the igil (Tuva's version of the violin) and other traditional instruments, including a type of dulcimer, shaman's drum, rattles, etc. The vocalists sometimes sang together, sometimes solo. Due to the nature of throat singing, it often sounded like there were more vocalists than there actually were.
After a short intermission, giving the audience a chance to swarm the merchandise table (I bought Tyva Kyzy's debut cd, Setkilemden Sergek Yr-Dyr/A Cheerful Song From My Soul, and drooled over the more expensive how-to book/cd on overtone singing), Tyva Kyzy came back on and played a second set, culminating with an encore of Chuguruk (if I'm getting that right), a song usually sung by male singers. In this version, the song changes from being about horses and beautiful women to being about horses and brave men. Tuvan culture places great importance on the horse. Most of the songs have rhythms reminiscent of galloping horses.
It was a real treat to hear an all-female Tuvan band. Sometimes the vocals were in the high-pitched style that I (possibly due to my ignorance) generally associate with female folk singers from other asian cultures. Sometimes it was in the low-pitched, guttural kargyraa style. Sometimes both at once. I don't pretend to be expert enough to make a distinction between all of the different styles of throat singing, but the information is out there for those who want to know more. Pure Nature Music offers workshops and camps.
The next day, Tyva Kyzy were scheduled to play a concert at a school in the poor Hunter's Point district as a thank you to a local arts organization that had helped promote the Great American Music Hall show. Hope the kids liked it.
As for me, I've been inspired to pull out all of my Tuvan cds and listen to them again. Due to the excessive nature of my cd consumption over the years, it's going to take awhile.
