Tonight, The Linda, WAMC’s Performing Arts Studio, will host Tuvan throat singing group Alash.
Albany is the group’s first stop on its U.S. tour, where audiences will hear music performed in a traditional technique that originated in a remote part of Central Asia.
WAMC’s Lucas Willard spoke with Alash members Ayan Shirizhik, Bady Dorzhu-Ondar and Aian-ool Sam – who also played a three stringed instrument called a doshpuluur. Alash manager Sean Quirk interpreted.
Yeah, it's a technique that uses the very nature of sound itself, uses physics. It's based off of the absolute fundamental nature of sound, but through clever manipulations of the vocal tract and understanding how vibrations work and resonance, a Tuvan singer, musician is able to produce distinctly audible, one from the other, multiple pitches in a vast range of different styles, a couple of which you heard in that song there. And it's a really fascinating thing that sort of forms one of the fundamental pillars of Tuvan music.
Do you use your ears, as much as you are actually physically feeling the vibrations when you're singing and harmonizing with the other musicians?
You know, when you are making music, you're using all of your sensory facilities that you have at your disposal. So, of course, your physical body is going to play a part. But since it's music, the ears are, of course, the most important.
Traditionally, where does Tuvan throat singing actually come from? And what's the actual history behind the art and behind the practice?
It comes from the nomadic way of life of the Tuvan people. The Tuvan people are traditionally nomadic and living in nature, in a very rich environment with lots of different landscapes. And being closely involved with the sounds of nature and the sounds of the animals that you're raising, the sounds of wild animals, the sounds of wind and water, it is considered by the Tuvan people to be something that they have been doing for a very, very long time that comes from a connection with nature and the sound of nature itself.
So, what styles of music do you listen to? And do any modern or popular styles of music ever inform or inspire you in creating art in a traditional form?
We listen to everything, you know? Being musicians, we have a very broad palette of tastes of things that we listened to, in the van, or wherever we might be traveling. And certainly, there has been, you know, a lot of interest from other musicians. And we've worked with a lot of other musicians exploring the fusion of those styles. And a lot of Tuvan musicians are doing this. And now there's guys younger than us that are continuing to experiment and in that sort of creative search. So, yeah, there's a real nice mix. For instance, Bady Dorzhu, who just answered that question, he and a musician friend of ours named Shodekeh in Baltimore, a couple years ago created a really interesting album that featured, basically, a mix of Tuvan music that stems from tradition, but also Tuvan music from the modern day as wellm mixed in with all kinds of different genres like beatboxing and rap, R&B, jazz, and produced an entire album of fusion music that ended up being really quite interesting.
Do you think it's important to continue to innovate on a very traditional style of music that has been passed down and preserved in one part of the world? Is it important to continue to move that music forward and innovate and evolve into its next life, if you will?
Yeah, you know, it's really a good idea. The music comes from a very ancient place, but we always try to make sure that the root remains very strong and healthy, because when the root is strong and healthy, then you can have all kinds of new searches for new ideas. And, you know, nothing ever stays in one place, nothing is permanent. And so as long as we do our best to continue a nice hold on that strong root that has come down from ancient times, it's very natural to have all kinds of innovation. And that's a good thing, because that's the natural state of things is to be in a state of change, development growth.
So Albany is the first stop on the tour, right? And where will you be traveling to and where will you be performing on this tour?
Yeah, yeah, this is our first show of this tour. We will be heading to New York to do a showcase at the American Performing Arts Presenters Conference, which is a great thing. And then from there, we'll be out in the southwest, we got a lot of gigs in New Mexico, Arizona, California and Nevada, then we go to Minnesota, and we'll be in the Midwest for a while. We will be in Colorado, and we'll actually be back in this neck of the woods towards the end of the tour. Not so far upstate here, but we do have a…the closest will be a show in Brooklyn on February 17. So yeah, we'll be out for about six weeks.
So when you're traveling and you're meeting and performing for new people, do you enjoy seeing the reaction and having people who are unfamiliar, come to your shows and be introduced to something that has a very, very long history?
Yeah, you know, that never fails to be interesting for us. People have all kinds of reactions and for instance, we do a lot of work going to schools and we'll do presentations on Tuvan music for school kids from kindergarten age all the way through college. And people tend to forget themselves sometimes for the first time when they're hearing such a surprising sound coming from a human, people sort of lose a little bit of their self-control and you know, they can make some interesting faces and reactions so yeah, it never ceases to be interesting for us.
