Sunday, March 09, 2008

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.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I know you've already seen it, but I just thought this was a good opportunity to plug Adrian and Roko Belic's fantastic doc "Genghis Blues"

it's pretty hard to imagine there being a more amazing story that deals with Tuvin singing out there... it won sundance, and was nominated for the Oscar in 1999... not to mention the filmmaker is one of the nicest, most creative guys we've ever met!!!

check his new one, Beyond the Call, getting tons of critical acclaim with just a few select screenings so far...

http://www.beyondthecallthemovie.com/


enough of the plugs, but this guy needs all the word of mouth he can get to keep making the films he makes!

:) jv