Huun-Huur-Tu - The Orphan's Lament (1994)

Huun-Huur-Tu - The Orphan's Lament (1994)

world | 1cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 370MB

Shanachie

Allmusic:
From the first track, their second album, Orphan's Lament grabs your attention with "Prayer" -- the deep, unearthly, sounds of Tibetan Lamaist chant. Next they move to khoomei singing. Known in the West as "throat singing," the performer produces two or more high- and low-pitched tones simultaneously. The resulting sound -- somewhat eerie, somewhat haunting -- is a combination somewhere between the sounds of a long whistle and a Jew's harp.
But Huun Huur Tu also adds new elements to the traditional sounds of Tuvan music. In addition to the igil, a two-stringed horsehead fiddle played with a bow, and the khomuz, a Jew's harp, (both traditional instruments) the group has incorporated percussion -- not a usual device in Tuvan music. Their use of a large goat-skin drum, generally reserved for shamanistic rituals, gives a rhythm to their music, making it very appealing to a Western ear. Similarly, their use of pouch rattle (made from a bull's scrotum filled with sheep knucklebones) adds a beat.
The fact Huun Huur Tu plays together, as a group, is itself unusual. Not content to blindly follow traditional Central Asian folk music, Huun Huur Tu's four, sometimes five, performers create an ensemble that offers a complex, fascinating, and harmonious mixture.

Tracks
-01. "Prayer - 2:32
-02. "Ancestors - 3:55
-03. "AA-Shuu Dekei-Oo - 2:51
-04. "Eerbek-Aksy - 2:05
-05. "The Orphan's Lament - 6:44
-06. "Kaldak-Khamar - 2:36
-07. "Steppe - 4:05
-08. "Borbanngadyr - 3:54
-09. "Chiraa-Khoor (The Yellow Trotter) - 4:52
-10. "Exile's Song - 4:13
-11. "Eki Attar - 2:22
-12. "Irik Chuduk (The Rotting Log) - 6:11
-13. "Sygyt - 2:53
-14. "Agitator - 1:55
-15. "Khomuz Medley - 4:50
-16. "Ödugen Taiga - 6:55

sample & buy: Orphans Lament

The Bulgarian Voices "Angelite" feat. Huun-Huur-Tu - Fly, Fly My Sadness (1996)

The Bulgarian Voices "Angelite" feat. Huun-Huur-Tu - Fly, Fly My Sadness (1996)

world | 1cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 290MB

JARO 4197-2

Allmusic:
In the 1990s, it was discovered that the Bulgarian and the Tuvan people have the same roots, both originally inhabiting Central Asia. Because of great migrations more than 1,500 years ago, the original Tuvan somehow split in two groups; a group ended in what is now known as Bulgaria and the other in what is today Tuva. Because of numerous assimilations, Bulgarian people got assimilated to the Slav of the Balkan and the Tuvan to Mongolian tribes. As is obvious, the music of both groups evolved quite differently, yet both are fascinating. It was Mikhail Alperin who had the original idea of bringing together a Bulgarian choir with a Tuvan group. Here they are: the Bulgarian Choir Angelite and Huun-Huur-Tu -- two distant "cousins" meeting again after more than a thousand years, but this time through music. Alperin wrote all of the compositions, based on Bulgarian, Tuvan, and Russian traditions. The results are absolutely mesmerizing. This CD is a vocal meditation of the most divine spirituality, deeply grounded in more than 1,000-year-old traditions.

Tracks
-1. "Fly, Fly My Sadness" - Alperin, Kenov - 7:43
-2. "Legend" - Alperin - 7:38
-3. "Wave" - Alperin - 7:19
-4. "Lonely Bird" - Alperin - 10:57
-5. "Mountain Story" - Alperin - 10:16

sample & buy: Fly My Sadness

Huun-Huur-Tu - 60 Horses in My Herd (1993) (eac-log-cover)

Huun-Huur-Tu - 60 Horses in My Herd (1993)
world | 1cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 290MB

Shanacie 64050

Allmusic:
With this album, the members of Huun-Huur-Tu prove beyond a doubt that they're the bridge between the past and present in Tuva: the past because they have deep respect for the tradition (utilizing traditional instruments such as igil and doshpuluur in addition to the wonderful ankle bones of sheep in bull testicles), and the present as they bring in contemporary elements (guitar and -- previously unknown in Tuva -- the concept of harmony singing). Of course, it's the throat singing that's the highlight, showcased perfectly on "Tuvan Internationale," where unearthly overtones are produced in the throat, amplifying harmonics, often two or three notes at a time. They take chances, although even their own material doesn't stray far from the tradition, with the omnipresent rhythm of horses (the real sound of Tuva) carrying all the songs. Perhaps the piece of greatest interest is "Song of the Caravan Drivers," included here as an homage to Frank Zappa, with whom they worked before his death. This is folk music, to be sure, but of a kind to mystify and engage the Western ear with its exotic flavors. Don't be fooled into thinking it's a novelty, however; for Huun-Huur-Tu this is a record of life in Central Asia, not just as it was, but as it remains.

Tracks:
-01 - Sygyt - Lament of the Igil
-02 - Mezhegei
-03 - Oske Cherde (Foreign Land)
-04- Eshten Charlyyry Berge (It's Hard to Be Parted from a Friend)
-05 - Kombu
-06 - Khoomei (Throat-Singing)
-07 - Kongurei
-08 - Fantasy on the Igil
-09 - Bayan Dugai
-10 - Tuvan Internationale
-11 - Kargyraa
-12 - Ching Soortukchulerining Yryzy (Song of the Caravan Drivers)

Personnel:
*Kaigal-ool Khovalyg (voice, igil, toshpuluur, chanzy);
*Sayan Bapa (voice, igil, Tuvan percussion);
*Albert Kuvezin (voice, guitar);
*Alexander Bapa (Tuvan percussion)

sample & buy: Sixty Horses in My Herd