Goucher Presents Performance by Tuvan Throat Singers

October 05, 2009 |

Goucher College is presenting a concert by Khogzhumchu, an ensemble of throat singers from the Republic of Tuva in Russia, on Monday, October 5, at 8 p.m. in the Hyman Forum of the Athenaeum.

The concert, which is free and open to the public, will be preceded by a public master class at 4 p.m. in Heubeck Multipurpose Room. For more information, contact Rory Turner at rory.turner@goucher.edu.

Throat-singing is the audible expression of producing two or more notes at once, originally developed in response to the sounds of the natural environment in which Central Asian nomad tribes roamed. Singers extract overtones by varying the shape of their mouth and pharynx: As a result two, three, or even four distinct tones can be heard at once. As the fundamental tone remains constant, melodies are sung with the highest overtone, resembling the sound of a flute.

The group consists of four masters of this ancient musical: Andrey Mongush, who founded Khogzhumchu in 2007 and leads the group, and Aykhan Oorzhak, Evgeny Saryglar, and Kan-Khuler Saaya.

Over the past two years, the ensemble has given a number of performances in Russia and abroad, including an appearance before the Dalai Lama at the first “Festival of Buddhist Culture of Russia and Mongolia” in India in 2007 and the annual “Ustu-Huure” world music festival in Chadan, Tuva, in 2008.

In 2009, Khogzhumchu performed at the “Ocean of Compassion” ethnic and rock music festival in the Republic of Kalmykia, the “Ocean of Compassion” charity concert in Moscow, and the “Mongl Xöömei” international symposium in Mongolia.

Khogzhumchu’s appearance at Goucher is part of the group’s first U.S. tour.

This event is co-organized by Goucher’s new Master of Arts in Cultural Sustainability Program and the college's Live Music House, with support from the departments of Music and Sociology/Anthropology, the Peace Studies Program, and the Office of Student Engagement.

Please click here for blog postings about Khogzhumchu at Goucher:
http://blogs.goucher.edu/culturalsustainability/2009/09/24/khogzhumchu-tuvan-throat-singers-at-goucher/.