You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve been asked this question:
Them- “Have you seen the documentary ‘Genghis Blues’? It’s about this blind American blues singer who learns to throat sing on his own and manages to get to Tuva for a throat singing competition.”
Me- “Uh…yeah…I was in it.”
For those of you who might not have heard of this one- It was made in ’95 for the International Symposium of Throat Singing in the Republic of Tuva, Russia. Paul Pena, the blind, black blues singer from San Francisco was famous for the song he wrote, Jet Airliner, recorded by the Steve Miller band. He’d discovered Tuvan singing via shortwave radio around 1990 or so. So he imitated it, and got quite good at the deep sound of ‘kargyra’.
I’d first met Huun Huur Tu, the Tuvan ensemble, back in 1993 at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. I jammed with them backstage and they invited me to the symposium then. Then the following year, while I was a tour member of Crash Test Dummies, I ran into them again in a TV studio in NYC. Again, I found myself jamming with them. It was in the cards that I was to go there, though it took several months of red tape. No computers, only aging Russian FAX machines.
Turned out I was the only female foreigner to perform (western overtone singing). They picked me to be one of the judges in the competition, along with several experts in various related occupations. It was a great honor, though I didn’t really feel so qualified to judge their own art form. They claimed that my style most resemble ‘sygyt’. The official competition involved around 100 teenage boys and a couple of girls. This took about 3 days to complete, so they interspersed the foreigners in the program (mostly for comic relief).
Paul was treated royally. The omni-presence of a somewhat eclectic film crew from California must have been quite amusing for them. As was the sound of American blues being interpreted through their ‘kargyra’. The film suggests that Paul won the kargyra category, but in actuality, it was more like an honorary prize. They nicknamed him ‘Earthquake’.
It was difficult to keep track of who was who in this fast paced contest. It was especially hectic when I had to leave my post and go up to perform, without any preparation. I leaped backstage, came up with a little acapella theme in about 10 minutes. Later on in Canada, I wrote the instrumental parts and recorded it on my first CD. It’s called ‘Tuva on Rye’.
The most rewarding part of the competition was seeing the grand prize winner ride off into the sunset on his new pony, dressed in his new national costume.
During the week, there were daily lectures by the likes of shamans, ethnomusicologists and scientific researchers. I enjoyed a presentation from a couple of young guys from Khakassia, with their ‘kai’ throat singing. It is like epics being channeled. The main singer just up and quit abruptly after a while, citing that spirit tapped him on the shoulder.
Oh, and getting back to that documentary- it was nominated for an Academy award. And if you watch it, you’ll see me near the end, on the stage wearing a white skirt, for about 8 seconds.
Here’s a photo gallery from the symposium.
Here’s an article written by ‘Living Treasure’ shaman Mongush Kenin-Lopsan for the Symposium. It’s about the origins of throat singing.
Here’s a video of Paul Pena performing during the documentary filming.
CommentIn the late 80′s, someone gave me a cassette with examples of overtone singing around the world at the time. I’d only just heard of overtone singing myself, so none of the names were recognizable yet. Julia Heyward was one of them. She began her career in the 70′s, very early for this type of music, which was minimally seen in those days. She combined performance art, multi- media events which included working with Laurie Anderson. Her latest activities seem to be centered around giving presentations and lectures, most recently November 2010, with new media works.
It is truly avant- garde and over-the-top. The piece of music I have linked here is the only one I had access to at the time. The various textures she created proved to me the vastness of flavors the voice is capable of. Some of it, (third section) I didn’t even realize was a human voice (this might be done along with the nose flute, but I’m not sure). Anyone know for sure? There was no electronic trickery involved. She manages to combine yodeling, overtoning and lyrics simultaneously. She demonstrates not only amazing technique and improvisational ability, but a certain silliness that tends to endear yours truly. It’s in the spirit of child-like innocence and experimentation. Her sheer lack of inhibition is truly inspirational to me. I think that from that point on, my life purpose altered somewhat to include this scope of “I don’t care what anyone thinks!” What freedom!
This attitude has led me down a sideways path of performance opportunities. There are some I’d describe as ‘shamanic’ for lack of a better word. When I’m on stage, whether it’s solo or unrehearsed guest spots with other musicians (particularly percussionists, but the most gratifying has been a few occasions with Tanya Tagaq, Inuit throat singer), I go into a more or less trance state, and the audience barely exists. The body moves of its own accord. Usually this dance like activity only happens in my living room. Every now and then, I’ll poke my head up and remember the wisdom of connecting with your audience. Which seems to shake them up even more.
So, if vocal improvisation is a calling in your life, I highly recommend Julia Heyward as a leaping off point. And BTW, if you ever get the chance to study with Bobby McFerrin, go for it. I’ve been trying for years.
blog post about Julia Heyward from Nov 2010
The most well known track from Julia Heyward- Mongolian Face Slap
A fantastic gigantic resource for avant- garde artists of all descriptions is ubuweb.com
Northern Canadian Inuit and Tuvans both have throat singing traditions, although their forms have distinct differences. In some ways, you could say they are mirror images of each other in this regard.
For the Tuvans, it has traditionally involved men only from times immemorial. If women did it, they did it in secret, lulling their babies to sleep, even with the superstition that they would be invoking curses or infertility. Only recently have women been accepted to throat sing in Tuvan society.
For the Inuit, it has always been the women, in pairs, engaging in these throat singing games, to pass the time while the mates were off hunting. They face each other very closely, and make deep rhythmic grunting sounds into each others mouth cavities. It ends when one of them starts laughing. And in recent times, men have begun joining in with the women.
With both traditions having sounds from nature as original inspiration, these days, they have evolved into somewhat updated and popular forms for the rest of the world. The major contributors to this phenomenon are Tuva’s Huun- Huur-Tu, and Canada’s Tanya Tagaq.
I’ve experienced first hand some of the uncanny similarities between Canadian native elders and Tuvan shamans though. For some reason, unbeknown to me, I’ve been wholeheartedly accepted into their rituals, without even asking.
I’ll compare my (offered) spirit naming ceremony with the Ojibway elder in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with my shaman encounter in Tuva, Russia.
The Canadian elder wore an elaborate headdress, full of feathers and various animal bits, etc. His costume was colorful and beautifully embellished with native artwork. He was surrounded in the small room by large quantities of drums and animal paraphernalia on the walls.
He went into a ‘trance’ and sang and danced, chanting in a channeled kind of way. He hit a large frame drum. This went on for a few minutes, then he abruptly sat down and came back to normal consciousness, explaining what he had learned during his sojourn.
The scenario with the Tuvan shaman was IDENTICAL in all regards. Even their facial appearances were similar, with the same red pigmentation of skin. They could have been brothers.
It just so happens that Winnipeg is the exact longitudinal center of Canada, and Tuva is the exact center of Asia. You could probably dig a hole straight through the earth at one point and come up at the other. I think that’s pretty cool.
Tuvan shaman 1995
