Four Shagai Bones: Masters of Mongolian Overtone Singing

Imagine if, in their late years, Robert Johnson, Leadbelly, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Muddy Waters all got together for a session and tour. Well this CD documents the Mongolian equivalent of exactly that: the most experienced Khöömei overtone singers meeting the challenge of combining their own individual styles and approaches to this amazing way of singing.

The four Khöömei singers are: Sengedorj, the most experienced and now retired throat singer of Khovd Theatre in west Mongolia; Tserendavaa, one of the most respected singers and keepers of the tradition, who is still a herdsman from Chandman district, homeland of Khöömei; Odsuren, teacher to the professional singers at the university in the capital Ulaanbataar; and Ganzorig, one of the younger generation of professional singers.

These recordings feature improvisations based on traditional melodies that demonstrate the plethora of Khöömei techniques. ‘Khöömiini Töröluud’ explores this most fully with a good seven or eight different styles being introduced separately, ending with a group rendition of ‘Gooj Nana’, a classic up-tempo melody. But there are also showcases for the individual singers, and arrangements of old chestnuts such as ‘Altai Magtaal’, a praise song to the Altai mountains. The project was dreamt up by a young French ethnomusicologist named Johanni Curtet. It's not a studio recording and what you hear are tentative first steps: either recorded live to stereo in his home, without clear separation of the individual singers, or sound-desk recordings taken from a live concert.