Alash: Tuvan Throat Singers, workshops and concert

Alash, the acclaimed Tuvan throat singers, will make be returning the hbC this fall. They've got some spectacular new songs and they're using some new instruments. They've also put out a new CD.

Beginner's Workshop: Tuesday, Nov. 15th 7pm-9pm
Concert: Tuesday, Nov. 15th 9:30pm-10:30pm
Advanced Workshop: Wednesday, Nov. 16th 7pm-9pm

Suggested Sliding Scale Donations:
concert: $15-25
one workshop: $20-40
concert + one workshop: $30-45
both workshops: $35-70
concert + both workshops: $40-80 "read more" for tickets...

Alash Ensemble: Music from Tuva...

THE TINY REPUBLIC OF TUVA is a giant when it comes to mastery of the human voice. The ancient tradition of throat singing (xöömei in Tuvan) developed among the nomadic herdsmen of Central Asia, people who lived in yurts, rode horses, raised yaks, sheep and camels, and had a close spiritual relationship with nature.

WHERE IS TUVA? Tuva (sometimes spelled Tyva) sits at the southern edge of Siberia, with Mongolia to its south. Over the centuries, Tuva has been part of Chinese and Mongolian empires, and shares many cultural ties with Mongolia. Early in the 20th century it came under Russian influence, and in 1944 it became part of the USSR. Tuva is now a member of the Russian Federation.

A UNIQUE CONCEPT OF SOUND. The Tuvan way of making music is based on appreciation of complex sounds with multiple layers. Whereas the western cellist aims to produce a focused, pure tone, the Tuvan igil player enjoys breaking the tone into a spray of sounds and textures. Absolute pitch is less important than richness of texture. Multiple sonorities are heard together as an inseparable whole. This idea may be illustrated by an anecdote about a respected Tuvan musician who was demonstrating the igil, a bowed instrument with two strings tuned a fifth apart. When asked to play each string separately, he refused, saying it wouldn’t make any sense. The only meaningful sound was the combination of the two pitches played together.

TUVAN THROAT SINGING. Despite what the term might suggest, throat singing does not strain the singer’s throat. The singer starts with a low drone, then breaks up the sound, amplifying one or more overtones enough so that they can be heard as additional pitches. The western listener may be interested in identifying which of the overtones become distinctly audible, but the Tuvan listener enjoys the entire array of pitches, hums and buzzes as aspects of one sound, like facets of a diamond.