Alazhymny/My Alash

This release is essential for fans of Tyvan throat singing. It features unique archive field recordings made in Tyva from 1967 and Radio Moscow recordings from 1977 of the late great khöömeizhi (master throat singer) Oorzhak Khunashtaar-ool. Producer/promoter Bernard Kleikamp of Pan Records must be congratulated for curating the CD. Khunashtaar-ool was born in 1932 in the countryside, became a shepherd and learned the tradition orally from local singers and teaching himself. By chance he became known as one of the few khöömeizhi who could proficiently khöömeileer (sing) the five current main khöömei styles: sygyt (high whistle-like harmonics), khöömei (fluid overtones with or without words), kargyraa (sub harmonic singing), borbangnadyr (rippling overtones, sometimes imitating the flow of a river) and ezengileer (‘stirrup clicking’ styles).

The 20 field recordings, complete with background animal sounds, and some drop outs were made by Moscow musicologist Vyacheslav Shchurov and are titled by the name of the style of khöömei. The importance of these lie in the fact that they are not performative in the sense of how we hear khöömei on the stage today. However, Khunashtaar-ool’s khöömei was so impressive that he was invited to Moscow and inadvertently began the tradition that can be heard on his nine Radio Moscow recordings. The comprehensive liner notes are fantastic making it the complete package.