Les Esprits Écoutent: The Spirits are Listening

There are stunning sounds on this compilation of music by Siberian indigenous peoples, drawn from Buda's Siberia CD series, which was recorded by Henri Lecomte between 1992 and 2011. Listen, for instance, to the Koriak women's throat-singing lullaby; the bird-song, deep growls and falsetto of the Chukchi reindeer-hunter in his evocation of spring's tundra awakening (with drum accompaniment); the Nivh old lady's fiddle trills or the fabulous tremolo falsetto of the Ulch shamaness from the Amur Basin.

These Siberian reindeer-herding, hunting and fishing communities believe that any music performed is heard by spirits, a shamanic belief they share with their Turko-Mongol southern pastoralist neighbours. There is, however, a difference in musical training between these communities that sometimes makes them uneasy bedfellows on this compilation: some of the Altaians, Sakha and Buryats heard here have been trained in a Western musical system, under Communist rule. The throat-singing rendering of a topshuur lute song from Aleksei Kalkin, an Altaian, for instance, would fit happily onto world music stages, as would the technically perfect improvisations of Sakha khomus mouth-harp player Ivan Alexeev, who has been recording since 1969. The liner notes are also frustrating, with a lack of information. Advice? Use this excellent taster to propel you towards the more satisfyingly documented five-star CD series.