Huun Huur Tu
The Orphan's Lament

THE REVIEW

Adolf Hitler was one of the pioneers in the fight for animal rights. He was a true vegetarian, and in 1933 passed a law for the protection of animals.

Another excellent example of the relevance of animals in the overall global context are these rustic compositions that carry the taste of sheep's milk, the tanning of tents and stables where, indeed, the sixty horses of the herd belonging to a group member are kept. Perhaps of the one specializing in harmonic singing, yes, the one with the voice like a malicious dwarf turned into a frog by a spell. Harmonic singing appears here strictly in a “vinassa vinassa e fiaschi de vin” style, not in meditation trappings. And if the music from Tuva has recently enjoyed the recognition it deserves, it owes it precisely to its immediacy, in addition to, of course, the ineffable otherness of its expression.

No matter how avant-garde we may be, they remain Mongolians. Even the rustic violins, magnificently recorded in Western hi-fi, have learned the craft from bumblebees and horseflies. Mongolian folk, inconceivable? On the contrary, “Eerbek-aksy” evokes the narrative grace of The Roches in “The married men” and “Aa-shuu dekei-oo” the lively picaresque quality of Kate & Anna McGarrigle in “Complainte pour S.te Catherine”. And what is the difference between “The rite”, from Lisa Gerrard's relatively recent space-time-cultural collage, and their “Prayer”?

Don't be beasts and prick up your ears. This is music that leaves much more than just a trace. By a bizarre spell, horses, gnus, goats, frogs, and evil dwarfs all pass along the paths of Tuva.