- Khoomei: HUUN HUUR TU

Khoomei is the art of throat singing. It is one of many ancient arts springing from what is now the Russian Republic of Tuva which lies between Mongolia and Siberia. As mentioned in 2 previous post it is known to be the oldest forms of music making and it is part of the ritual of mimicking nature by the TUVAN.

The word Khoomei is described as throat singing and there are actually other styles like sygt and kargyraa which all these are overtones that can be done by the voice. This voice will produced a deep note and then harmonics layered on top of it which one can be a humming sound in the mid-range, and there will be a high whistling tone that can be moulded into a melismatic melody by the embouchure ( a wind instrument which player blows directly) of the singer's lip. So, sometimes there are 3 different pitches be heard from 1 person. It is done by 1 person at a time in an A-capella style for the Tuvan.

So, now! Do u feel amazed about the throat singers? Well, let's get into some details about the performers that perform the art of throat singing at our Sarawak famous Rainforest Musical festival?

The group that perform as the Khoomei are HUUN HUUR TU. The performers are :
Kaigal-ool Khovalyg




Sayan Bapa (Bapa is a versatile string instrumentalist, and performs on the doshpuluur, igil and acoustic guitar)




Radik Tolouche (Tiuliush) - He study igil at Arts School (Kyzyl).


Alexei Saryglar
Saryglar makes his mark as a sygyt singer, and his expertise with traditional Tuvan percussion and string instruments naturally extends into the art of piano playing.

As we know the Khoomei is usually done by 1 person but the HUUN HUUR TU has layered their four voices together and as a result can sound like a whole choir so they will be exrtraordinary and unique. Isn't that interesting to hear few different pitches jz made by a throat? It's name HUUN HUUR TU is a household name in the world music circles. Besides using their throat they have variety of instrument like:

igil (a Tuvan horsehead cello), khomus (mouth harp),

doshpuluur (Tuvan banjo), and the tungur (shaman drum). Their first appearance at RWMF was 2003 which they are the central Asian groups which have been a favourite exotic colour at the event. In year 2007, the 10th anniversary of RWMF they are brought back to entertain their music lovers.

How amazing it is about this performers and they are such an ancient follower of music singing? If you people are interested, hopefully this year RWMF will have their appearance on the stage so that you can open your eyes and ears to enjoy their performance which is really GReaT! I hope to get some of their music in some of our posts so be patience guys! And try to comment about what do you think? Thats all for todayyy.....:)