Tuva had achieved legendary status among a small group of devotees fascinated by the phenomenon of throat-singing, in which a single vocalist produces two or even three notes simultaneously by selectively amplifying harmonics naturally present in the voice. For these devotees, part of the allure of Tuvan throat-singing has undoubtedly been the mystery of Tuva itself. Ringed by mountains, desert, and thick taiga forest where descendants of the aboriginal Siberian forest people still herd reindeer. Tuva seems to be on the way to nowhere.
HUUN-HUUR-TU was founded In 1992 by Sasha Bapa with his brother, Sayan, and two other musicians, Kaigal-ool Khovalyg and Albert Kuvezin. Ever since they have tried to focus on the performance of "old and forgotten songs", as Sasha put it. “HUUN-HUUR-TU” means "sunbeams", or the vertical separation of light rays that one can see out on the grasslands just after sunrise or just before sunset.
Using traditional instruments and drawing subtly on 20th-century composers, funky rhythms, and the palette of electronica, Huun Huur Tu transform ancient songs into complex acoustic compositions.
The whistling of the high-mountain wind forms eerie overtones and postmodern statement. The repeated thrum of a string against wood and hide turns into a meditative, evocative figure straight from the avant garde. The descendents of isolated Siberian herdsmen make serious, strangely universal music out of some of the planets quirkiest acoustics.
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