Bluesmen's World(Music)

Tuvan throat singing meets the electric guitar on the steppes and rocks!

"The voices are extraordinary, ranging from a melodic ox bellow called kargyraa to the "whistling" sygyt style that suggests a flying saucer revving its hyperdrive. But Aldyn Dashka improves on its predecessor, Dalai Beldiri, with songs as memorable as the throat singing within. When Albert Kuvezin croaks the tender nature tune "Chorumal Bodum" in a rock-bottom bass timbre that might make Bigfoot quake, he's handsomely framed by a two-stringed igil fiddle, throbbing electric guitar, and trotting bass. "Kozhamyk" contrasts Kuvezin's gravelly tones with Aldyn-ool Sevek's heroic operatic tenor that's as clear as a Siberian stream. Both are lifted by a vowel-packed chorus and wah-wah guitar figures that somehow fit right into a folkie song about the attributes of local womenfolk. Just a hint of dub piano complements the brew.

The third album from Yat-Kha finds them very much refining the process begun on their first two albums. The throat singing remains the central focus, but their way of framing it in a wondrous mix of modern and ancient instruments has become very subtle indeed, whether it's the reverse cymbals behind "Oy Adym" or the programming and textures of "Chedi Tei" and "Takh-Pakh Chaskhy Tan." As before, the guitar plays a very important part, played by bandleader Albert Kuvezin, giving a real jolt (along with Alexei Saaia's bass) to the acoustic lineup, and hurling it into another dimension, even though he doesn't use distortion or power chords.

01. Oy Adym (My Gray Horse)
02. Tozhu Kyzy (Tozhu Girl)
03. Chorumal Bodum (I am a Traveler)
04. Kozhamyk (Ditty)
05. Chedi Tei (Seven Hills)
06. Tyva Kyztar (Tuvan Girls)
07. Takh-Pakh Chaskhy Tan (Spring Breeze)
08. Bai-La Mongun (Rich Silver Mountain)
09. Oi Moroz (O Frost)
10. Sambazhyktyn-Yry (Song of Sambazhyk)
11. Khary Kyigy (The Call)
12. Aldyn Dashka (The Golden Cup)


Yat-Kha from Tuva:
Albert KUVEZIN – voice, guitar, yat-kha
Aldyn-ool SEVEK – voice, igil, morinhuur
Alexei SAAIA – morinhuur, bass, bvoice
Zhenya TKACHOV – kengyrgy, percussion, voice
Mikhail "Mahmoud" SKRIPALTSCHCHIKOV – bass
Sailyk OMMUN – yat-kha, voice
Radik TIULIUSH – vox, igil
Aias-ool DANZYRYN – voice, shanzi

Guests from London:
Martyn BARKER – snare-drum on "Kyigy"
Steve GOULDING – drum-kit on "Oy Adym"

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