Cowboy Music of the Steppes
Feb. 16th, 2008 10:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kateelliottTwin A and I went to see Huun Huur Tu tonight. Yes, the Tuvan throat singers. No, it really doesn't seem possible that they can do that, and no matter how impressive and weird it sounds in a recording, it's way more impressive and weirder heard live when it is obvious that those multiple sounds are coming from one guy, no hands, no instruments, no hidden levers. Plus, the percussive beat, when they use it, is clearly evocative of a horse's gait.
We have one of their early CDs, which is good, but I kind of wondered if I would get bored over a 2 hour concert.
No. Actually, they were amazing. The second to last song was a 12+ minute piece that was, as it said in the program, a "sonic map of the physical landscape". "For the Tuvans," the program goes on, "one of the purposes of music seems to be to offer detailed and concrete descriptions of topography. In short, Tuvan music is not abstract . . . but radically representational." It was transporting.
Their 2007-08 tour is almost over (there are a couple more dates), but if you get a chance to see them now or later, and you like world music, a huge recommend from here.
Their website, with links to YouTube clips, discography, tour dates, etc.
We have one of their early CDs, which is good, but I kind of wondered if I would get bored over a 2 hour concert.
No. Actually, they were amazing. The second to last song was a 12+ minute piece that was, as it said in the program, a "sonic map of the physical landscape". "For the Tuvans," the program goes on, "one of the purposes of music seems to be to offer detailed and concrete descriptions of topography. In short, Tuvan music is not abstract . . . but radically representational." It was transporting.
Their 2007-08 tour is almost over (there are a couple more dates), but if you get a chance to see them now or later, and you like world music, a huge recommend from here.
Their website, with links to YouTube clips, discography, tour dates, etc.