Tuva

I’m gonna have to make this quick. I’m supposed to be doing Tuva today. Well, Tuva (Тува́) or the Tyva Republic (Респу́блика Тыва́) is really not an independent country, but a federal subject of Russia (a republic or state). It lies in the geographical center of Asia, in southern Siberia. The Republic shares borders with the Altai Republic, the Republic of Khakassia, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Irkutsk Oblast, and the Republic of Buryatia in Russia & with Mongolia to the south. Its State capital is the city of Kyzyl. I wanted to present the unique throat singing or overtone singing that is prevalent in Tuva. After I looked around I realized that there is a great deal of current interest in all things deep throated, so most of the music is readily available. I’m going to post a few things as example & then move on.

The real story is Mongolia. I wasn’t having any luck finding anything worthwhile for Mongolia & I’d been relatively successful in my journey so far so I reached out to some of my music maven friends for help. Well my friend Waldo sent me some Mongolian music…nearly 20 Gigabytes worth…yes, that’s right, as Glenn Quagmire says, “Giggity- giggity-giggity” Gigabytes. After sorting through the redundancy & junk, there are still about 15 GB. I'm listening to it as fast as I can & this is some righteous shit. So all I can say is, in the next few days, look out…here it comes.

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For now, check these out. Yat-Kha is a band from Tuva, led by Albert Kuvezin. Albert Kuvezin (Альберт Кувезин) is a Tuvan guitarist & throat singer. He was one of the founding members of the Tuvan folk ensemble Huun-Huur-Tu. Huun-Huur-Tu is probably the band responsible for the current interest in Tuvan music. Kuvezin is the leader of the Tuvan folk/rock/electro/post punk band Yat-Kha.

Here is their version of  “In-A-Gada-Da-Vida”. You’re gonna love this.  

(decryption code in comments)

& here’s an album of Tuvan Throat Singing in the horekteer style so as not to leave you high & dry.

Various – Tuvan Throat Singing Virtuosos, Unesco Z. K. Kyrgys, 2002.

decryption code in comments

Enjoy & prepare for the Mongol Horde,

NØ