Huun Huur Tu Throat Singers

February 16, 7:30pm - 9:30pm
Leeward Campus, Leeward Community College Theatre Add to Calendar

Huun-Huur-Tu, having completed its fourteenth tour in North America, and a veteran of concert and festival performances in nearly every country of Europe, has emerged as the foremost international representative of Tuva's remarkable musical culture. Tuvans not only transform the sounds of the natural world into music through imitation; they also make sonic "maps" of physical landscapes which may be expressed in texted songs, throat-singing, whistling, or other types of vocal production. For the Tuvans, one of the purposes of music seems to be to offer detailed and concrete descriptions of topography.

In short, Tuvan music is not abstract, like most Western music, but radically representational, by imitating or aesthetically representing the sounds of nature.

The following performers make up this touring production of the Huun-Huur-Tu Throat Singers.

Kaigal-ool Khovalyg
An extremely talented, self-taught overtone singer, Khovalyg worked as a shepherd until the age of 21, when he was invited to join the Tuvan State Ensemble. He settled in Kyzyl and started teaching throat singing and igil. A co-founder of Huun-Huur-Tu, he left the State Ensemble in 1993 to devote his attention to the newly formed quartet. He has performed and recorded with the Tuva Ensemble, Vershki da Koreshki, the World Groove Band, and the Volkov Trio. Covering a range from tenor to bass, Khovalyg is particularly known for his unique rendition of the khöömei and kargyraa singing styles.

Sayan Bapa
Sayan Bapa, child of a Tuvan father and Russian mother, grew up in the industrial town Ak-Dovurak. He received his musical training in Kislovodsk, Northern Caucasus, where he played fretless bass in a Russian jazz-rock band for several years. In the early 1990s he returned to Tuva to study his roots and became a member of a folk-rock band, performing traditional Tuvan music on electric instruments. A co-founder of Huun-Huur-Tu, Bapa is a versatile string instrumentalist and performs on the doshpuluur, igil, and acoustic guitar. As a vocalist he is currently specializing in the kargyraa style.

Anatoli Kuular
Born in rural Chadan, Kuular was a shepherd before becoming a professional musician. Having perfected his virtuoso throat-singing abilities as a former Soviet-style concert performer of Tuvan folk music, he excels in the borbangnadyr style. He participated in two Smithsonian Folkways recordings on Tuvan music and nature sound imitations (1990 and 1999). As a member of the Tuva Ensemble he traveled to the US in 1993, having joined Huun-Huur-Tu to replace Albert Kuvezin. An accomplished tenor vocalist, Kuular also performed with the Khomus Ensemble, and his instrumental expertise focuses on the byzaanchi and mouth harp.

Alexei Saryglar
Alexei Saryglar, the youngest member of Huun-Huur-Tu, joined the ensemble in 1995 to replace Alexander Bapa. He completed his musical training in Ulan Ude as a percussionist for classical and popular music, and became a member of the large Russian state ensemble “Siberian Souvenir.” A multi-talented performer, Saryglar makes his mark as a sygyt singer, and his expertise with traditional Tuvan percussion and string instruments naturally extends into the art of piano playing. Like the other members of the ensemble, he resides in Kyzyl when not on tour.


Ticket Information
$10 to $20 advance, $15 to $25 at-the-door • Go to www.etickethawaii.com, call 483-7123 to charge by phone, or visit any UH Ticket outlet

Event Sponsor
Outreach College, UH Manoa

More Information
Rachel, 956-8246, css@hawaii.edu, http://www.outreach.hawaii.edu/community/programs/2008/EVENT-EV009148T.asp

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