Amazing Tuva throat singers perform in Shelburne Falls

By JOHNNY MEMPHIS

Published on January 20, 2006

Huun-Huur-Tu, the acclaimed throat singers of Tuva, are performing Jan. 20 at Memorial Hall in Shelburne Falls. If you think Shelburne Falls is out of the way, just be glad you don't have to go all the way to Tuva to see this amazing act. Tuva is a haul, located in southern Siberia, north of Mongolia, in the exact geographic mid-point of Asia.

The landscape of Tuva is sparsely settled grasslands, boreal forests and mountain ridges and horse-riding is still big there. The music Huun-Huur-Tu brings from Tuva is like Mongolian cowboy music that imitates the rhythms of the horses and the natural sounds of their world. Cowboys in the Wild West sometimes yodel or whistle as they ride along and these cowboys from the Wild East can sing and whistle at the same time. Their mesmerizing throat-singing (called ''xoomei'') produces a low drone note and a buzzy whistling melody on top, like a tandem bagpipe and tin whistle.

Huun-Huur-Tu are wonderful musicians who not only sing but also masterfully play indigenous percussion and instruments like the igil, a kind-of two-string, bowed cello. Sometimes they even strum a six-string guitar which only adds to the cowboy vibe. The band started in 1992 and they have become the international ambassadors of Tuvan music with four albums released on Shanachie Records since 1994. Decked out in their brightly colored silk robes, Huun-Huur-Tu are also one of the best dressed bands in world music.

Huun-Huur-Tu performs Jan. 20 at 7:30 at Memorial Hall in Shelburne Falls and tickets are $25 at the door, $12.50 for 18 and under.