Wow

Saw these cats at Towson University's Kaplan Auditorium this afternoon. Really fantastic. Tuvan folk music is like a melange of Chinese opera, Tibetan spiritual, Persian classical, and Irish jig (with a dash of cowboy/western theme music and Peruvian Andean piping thrown in).

That sound they make in their throats, however, is otherworldly. It's like crickets, birds, horses, wind, and something cooked up by Karlheinz Stockhausen. Very evocative stuff. I closed my eyes and was there, right along with them, a bird soaring overhead, a running stream nearby, galloping along on a fast horse. Lovely.

The dude at the far left can sing and play the flute at the same time. At one point they all were singing and playing jaw harps at the same time.