My Seven-String Chadyghan: Songs from the Khahas North

The chadyghan is a long wooden box of a zither, exquisitely played here by Khakassian singer and instrumentalist Yulia Charkova from south Siberia. She coaxes out gentle minor and major pentatonic melodies by expertly plucking and stroking the metal strings with her right hand. Her deft left hand creates glissandos, vibratos and different pitches, while the resonant qualities of the chadyghan and the two drone strings imbue a fluid, wave-like feel to most of the pieces. ‘Shira Lake’ is a fine example of her feel and technique in performing instrumental pieces. It was learned from a 1960s archive recording, with help from her father Sergey, who made Charkova's instrument as well as initiating her into the Khahas (south Siberian) music traditions, such as khay throat singing. Khakassia is an autonomous republic within the Russian Federation, bordering Tuva. It is very rare for a woman to sing khay – Charkova being the first Khakas woman to sing it in performance – and, unlike many Mongolian/Tuvan throat-singing styles, khay does not usually have overtone melodies. Her technique is a sub– harmonic style in her middle register, in which the articulation of the words stresses various regions of the overtone spectrum. It is the words and the timbral quality that is the more important aspect and Charkova does a fine job of this on the bouncey ‘Chadyghan Űni’ showing with ease how to alter from khay to her standard singing voice which, on most of the album's tracks, has a soft keening lilt.