Yat-Kha

Yat-Kha hails from Tuva, a remote, mountainous Central Asian republic that lies close to Mongolia, where the nomadic population is vastly outnumbered by the horses and livestock they herd. Under communism, religious leaders and artists were “re-educated” or forcibly conscripted into the military while age-old folkways such as khoomei (overtone or throat-singing) were repressed or twisted into more generic expressions. But since the breakdown of the Soviet system, individuality is once again flourishing and Western listeners are dazzled by these profound, mysterious sounds. Led by throat singer/long-zither player Albert Kuvezin, whose preternaturally deep, synthesizer-like voice can perch on the edge of an overtone for a small eon, the group has applied a contemporary edge (from punk to heavy metal) to age-old folkways with no loss of authenticity. Having made several albums, including the soundtrack to Storm Over Asia and won a BBC Radio 3 Award, Yat-Kha has finally succeeded in putting the music of their homeland on the map, in their own way and on their own terms.