Sainkho Namtchylak
Who Stole the SKy

I came across Sainkho's voice almost by chance a few years ago, but her expressive potential, the timbral variety, and her capacity for extension immediately amazed me.

Sainkho was born in 1957 in the Republic of Tuva, a region in southern-central Siberia bordering Mongolia, in a nomadic family. Fascinated by the characteristic songs of her land, she studied Siberian music traditions and the techniques of shamanic, lamaist, and Tibetan singing, eventually managing to blend them into a unique personal style that references diphonic modality. The overtone singing, or “throat singing,” is a special technique that allows the simultaneous emission of two sounds, overtones, and harmonics modulated with the throat or head, through a single vocal emission, traditionally practiced solely by shamans in Tuva.

In “Who Stole the Sky,” the piece that gives the album its name, Sainkho explores her full extension. From the guttural, harsh, and deep sounds of Tibetan monks, to the very high notes of a clear and crystalline soprano, interspersed with the low tones of a pure contralto. In “Predchuvsttvije” (Priceschinie), she becomes a sweet Indian voice accompanied by repetitive electro-pop rhythms, while in “Electric City,” she duets with the beautiful alto sax of Giancarlo Parisi in the most classic of jazz. For “Kaar Deerge,” as well as for “Music Mail to Tuva,” she expresses her more melodic side, reminiscent of the delicate voices that characterize Eastern singers, while with “Ohm Suha,” she turns towards the vocal settings of Turkish singers, to then return to the sounds of more religious and traditional India with “Temple of Maitreya.”

And finally, the hidden piece, the true gem of this album. Vittorio Cosma's arrangement and a magnificent Stefano Bollani on piano produce the wonder of pure melodic jazz, to which Sainkho adds bossanova nuances, accompanied by sudden high notes, in which her diphonic technique confuses and elevates the sound with shades of sweetness, harmony, and melancholy.

Of the three Italian productions, Naked Spirit in 1999 and Stepmother City in 2000, of which I want to highlight the splendid “Dance of Eagle,” this Who Stole the Sky is definitely the most homogeneous and least experimental work of this artist often described as “a little lady with a shaved head.”