huun-huur-tu

Huun-Huur-Tu is a quartet of Tuvan throat singers / musicians.

They have worked with Frank Zappa, Ry Cooder, The Kronos Quartet, and also with electronica wizard Carmen Rizzo.

 

 

  huun huur tu: ancestors call
    (2010, cd, usa, world village)

hht_ancestorscall.jpg (3389 bytes)

     

 

 

     from: the negative dialectics of poodle play, ben watson p. 530

this group, "from beyond the arctic circle", played at "soiree" at the zappa's home in february 1993, along with the chieftains, l. shankar and johnny 'guitar' watson.  this event is documented in the a&e biography as well as the late show, produced by nigel leigh, bbc2 march 11, 1993.

      from: charles ulrich (chulrich@interchange.ubc.ca)

tuva is "beyond the arctic circle" in the same sense that eugene is-- they're both outside it. tuva ranges from 49 to 53 degrees north latitude. the southern border is thus comparable to vancouver, bc, while the northern border is comparable to dublin, ireland. the arctic circle is at 66 degrees 33 minutes.

     from: patrick neve

the tuvan throat singers were featured without credit on civilization phaze III, dio fa being the song.  nevertheless they still attended fz's "soirees" (plural) and have dedicated many a concert to his memory. i have yet to find an official site, but here is a good page by the friends of tuva, featuring lots of information about tuva and throat singing in general.  it features massive discographies and even singing lessons.

http://feynman.com/tuva/index.html

     from: florian summerer (uzsdg3@uni-bonn.de)

i just went to see a concert of the tuva-band huun huur tu. at this concert the manager told us that this band huun huur tu produced a song with frank zappa in 1993. but it was never released. so now i search for anybody who has a copy of this song because i really would like to hear the results of this interesting cooperation. is there anybody able to help me with adresses or names of people who worked with zappa at this time?

      from: charles ulrich (ulrich@sfu.ca)

1. civilization, phaze III (barking pumpkin, umrk 01) features throat-singing by one of the members of huun-huur-tu on the track "dio fa".

2. a brief video clip of fz, huun-huur-tu, the chieftains, johnny "guitar" watson, and l. shankar can be seen in the fz biography shown in the uk on bbc and in the us on a&e.

3. a different, almost as brief, audio clip from the same evening can be heard on frank zappa: american composer, broadcast on public radio international. i believe this is available on realaudio at zappa.com.

4. i believe that the track you're looking for will be on the album dance me this, which will be released by barking pumpkin shortly before the ninth circle of hell thaws under.

--charles

     from: ingalls38 (ingalls38@aol.com)

there's an article on the tuvan throat singers on cnn.com. very brief fz reference.

http://www.cnn.com/showbiz/music/9906/04/ondar.wb/index.html

      from: ryan davenport (sleds@home.com)

kongar-ool ondar was at zappa's house during the tuvan's visit, although he was not a member of huun-huur-tu - only two of the four members of that group were present. and yes, the visit occurred during the tuvan's 6-week tour of the us in early 1993.  here is a link to the friends of tuva page which includes a lengthy story about the tuvan's visit to zappa's house: http://www.feynman.com/tuva/txt/newsletter/wheel.html

following is a brief excerpt from another page on the friends of tuva site:

"the late frank zappa's last work, "civilization, phaze III", has just been released.  the two cd set features an amazing composition featuring the throat-singing of kaigal-ool khovalyg and anatoli kuular, recorded at zappa's studio in january, 1993.  the composition is awesome --- when i heard it, i imagined frank zappa out in the cosmos, tapping into the energies of the universe. i haven't heard the rest of "civilization, phaze III", but it is reportedly a very powerful opus. the cd set can be ordered by first calling the zappa hotline at (818) 786-7546 (= (818) pumpkin), which will then provide you specific information.

postscript: as it turns out, the only throat-singing apparent on the "civilization, phaze III" cd is some sampled kargyraa at the start of the track "dio fa". the amazing composition referred to is actually scheduled to appear as part of "dance me this", which has not yet been released. --- october, 1998."

      from: ingrid verhamme (iverham@dialupnet.com)

got the video "tuvans invade america"? from the tuva trader at

http://www.feynman.com/trader/

it contains a 5min video clip with fz and chieftains, johnny guitar watson, kaigal-ool khovalyg and tolya kuular (of hht) and ondar (fwiw - the rest of the tape is pretty interesting).

      from: stu mark (stumark@earthlink.net)

here's a url for a really good article on the tuvan throat singers:

http://www.sciam.com/1999/0999issue/0999levin.html

     from: ingrid verhamme (iverham@dialupnet.com)

and note that huun-huur-tu now has their own web site:

http://www.huunhuurtu.com/

discography:

* 1993 60 horses in my herd (shanachie)

* 1994 orphan's lament (shanachie)

* 1997 if i had been born an angel (shanachie)

*      with the bulgarian voices (angelite)

* 1996 fly, fly my sadness (shanachie)

*      various artists

* 1996 deep in the heart of tuva ((ellipsis arts)

* 1996 frank zappa- civilization, phaze III

 

concerts

 


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soundtracks various artists