Two Toned Tuvans

by Tara Quealy, February 25, 2008

For 15 years the members of Huun-Huur-Tu have been putting their country’s musical tradition on the map. They will be bringing their otherworldly hymns to Rosendale Theater this month. While most performers can only sing one note at a time, these men can produce two or three notes simultaneously making their voices reverberate like computerized chants. Their instrumentation of igils (horse-head fiddles), dospuluurs (banjo-like instruments), khomus (mouth harps), and dungurs (large flat drums), bring a natural, tranquil feel to their music while their voices sound synthesized.

By manipulating the throat, diaphragm, and mouth, the singers can adjust the length and vibrations of tones created when air travels from the lungs past the vocal cords. Tweaking not only the rate at which the vocal cords open and close, but the manner in which they do gives their voices a shaky, bouncy quality. This technique, called throat singing, produces a number of pitches simultaneously, sounding as if multiple voices are emanating from a single singer.

Hailing from Tuva, a small country sandwiched between Siberia and Mongolia, Huun-Huur-Tu has emerged as the country’s musical ambassadors. The first throat singers of the country sought to duplicate sounds of nature, like rushing water and swishing winds. By transforming the sounds of the natural world into music, throat singers make vocal “maps” of physical landscapes in their songs. The first throat singers were herders and farmers who held a strong belief in animism; that natural objects were inhabited by spirits. Imitating the sounds of nature through their music, throat singers are able to link themselves to the physical environment. The ancient music is learned more from being passed down from generation to generation in Tuva, rather than being taught formally. However, with Huun-Huur-Tu popularizing the music, there are now throat-singing workshops around the world.

Formed in 1992, Huun-Huur-Tu has had some lineup changes and the band today consists of Sayan Bapa, Kaigal-ool Khovalyg, Radik Tolouche, and Alexei Saryglar. Huun-Huur-Tu, meaning sun propeller, refers to the propeller-like separation of light rays that often occurs just after sunrise or just before sunset: a process similar to the refraction of sound in the band’s singing. The band originally formed to concentrate on the traditional songs of Tuva, but Huun-Huur-Tu’s members also recognize their music’s need to grow, which has inspired a collaboration with the Bulgarian women’s choir Angelite on the CD Mountain Tale (Jaro, 1998).