Reprinted from Green Man Review.
A favorite recording of mine is Volume I from Ensemble Üch-Süme-R, three young people from the Altai Republic where the former USSR borders China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan. These three musicians perform traditional songs of Altai and Khakassia, the nearby Siberian steppe region, in addition to contemporary songs of their own composition. The group’s name means three peaks, and is a reference to the holy mountains of the Khakass, as well as a reference to the musical trio.
The two young men, Emil Terkish and Erturk Jety-Sary, use four different overtone or throat-singing styles, mostly the mid-range khai but also in the high sygyt and very low karkiraa, as well as the koomoi style which produces both very high and very low overtones. They also sing in “normal” voices, as does the young woman Toma Tchousheyeva. They accompany themselves on a several traditional instruments: rattles and frame drums, a topshur or two-stringed lute; ikili or two-stringed fiddle; an end-blown flute called a shoor; a zither called chatkhan; and a type of jew’s harp called komus.
As might be expected from a region that has been influenced by so many Asian cultures, this music sometimes sounds Inuit, sometimes vaguely Kurdish or Armenian, sometimes Chinese or even Japanese, and of course very close to Tibetan or Tuvan because of the overtone singing.
It opens with a Siberian “Shaman dance,” with an introduction of soft frame drum beats and rattles, quickening into a rhythmic throat-singing duet that incorporates khai, sygyt and koomoi styles. It goes on for another 16 tracks of quite a bit of variety. There is “Chatkhan oiyny,” a chatkhan solo, the only instrumental. There is one unaccompanied song, a duet featuring Toma and Erturk on “Ulu chöl” a traditional Altai song about the great steppe, an impressive demonstration of vocal control and melody. There are short songs like “An’chy,” a traditional hunter’s dance on the jew’s harp and a fluttery flute, and “Irlik’s dance,” a demonic dance featuring drum, rattles and koomoi and khai singing, punctuated with lots of “ahhhhhhh” sighs. And there are longer works like “Topshuurym,” on the lute and jew’s harp, with khai vocals entreating the lute to sing stories of legendary warriors. In “Chir,” the chatkhan is plucked like a European harp as Toma and Erturk sing alternating verses and finally in unison.
I have two favorites. The first is “Argymak,” a song written by Emil about his favorite race horse, featuring the galloping sound of jews harp, rattle, and lute, and with Emil singing first in normal voice, then in khai. The second is the penultimate track, “Algystyg saryn,” a traditional Khakass song, a prayer for the motherland that is stark, simple and beautiful with just Emil singing in sygyt style and playing the lute and Erturk the jew’s harp.
The recording technique used is pristine, clear and sharp, beautifully presenting these musicians in a simple setting that gives the impression that they’re performing on a remote mountaintop. This is simply a lovely recording, and I hope to hear more from Ensemble Üch-Süme-R.
(Face Music, 2002)
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