Tuva Archives - Owl Medicine: Shamanic Healing

Return of the Mongols

OK, I know. I’m weird. I love me my Tuvan throat singing and I’ve not been shy in sharing that love with you, my peeps.

If you recall, I mentioned that even though I refer to throat singing in general as ‘Tuvan’ throat singing, it actually originated in and is endemic to the culture of southwestern Siberia (the Altai region), south central Siberia (Tuva), and Mongolia.

Of course, that’s because all of the political boundaries separating these countries didn’t exist back when throat singing originated. But just as there are languages, and dialects within those languages, that share a common root, the same applies to the phenomenon of throat singing.

Mongolian Folk-Metal

I’ve already given you a flavor of throat singing from the Altai Republic. And then some examples of Tuvan throat singing. Tonight I’m going to give you a fascinating and modern take on this form of singing by introducing you to The Hu, a Mongolian folk-metal band. Yeah. You read that right. Folk-metal.

And it is some crazy awesome music, if I do say so myself.

Beyond loving the 21^stcentury interpretation of my beloved throat singing, I find the cinematography in the video for this song (Yuve Yuve Yu) succeeds in capturing aspects of the astounding beauty of the Mongolian landscape.

I have to admit that the lyrics to this song stir something deep within me also. I resonate with the desire of these musicians to urge their Mongolian kin to reconnect with the legendary ferocity of their ancestors and their astonishingly successful leader. Their ferocious nature, though, remains an unmistakable core thread of their being, no matter where you look or whom you meet.

Reconnecting to the Ferocity of Life

But the ferocity is not what you might expect, meaning war-like or antagonistic expression. Rather, the Mongolians and southern Siberians (Tuvans) I’ve met live ferociously. They love and laugh and share themselves with a wildness and intensity that mirrors the harsh environment in which they live: the vast steppes, mountains, and taiga.

Indeed, I’ve learned a lot more about Chinggis (Ghengis) Khaan since traveling to Tuva in 2003 and then returning to Mongolia and southern Siberia in 2017. Fascinatingly, his values and beliefs resulted in the Mongols being instrumental in cultivating and disseminating education, literacy, and religious freedom throughout their vast empire.

There is something to the inherent wildness of the steppes and the nomadic way of life that appeals to me at the deepest level. Granted, much has changed in the way many Mongolians and Tuvans live, including moving to cities, such as Irkutsk, Kyzyl, and Ulaanbaatar. I feel it is the wild essence that The Hu are calling their countrymen and women to remember and reclaim.

I need to post. Maybe I’ll write more about this another time… In the meantime, I hope you groove to this as much as I do.

Sculpture in Main Square of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia – photo by L. Weikel

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Photo by Ilya Naymushin

Khoomei

Based on some of the comments I received since last night’s post, I thought I might write a little more about Tuvan throat singing.

Technically, I suppose, I should just call it ‘throat singing’ and not add the ‘Tuvan’ adjective. This is especially true since just last night I enjoyed the skilled performance of Altai Kai – a group from the Altai Republic in southwestern Siberia.

Throat singing, which is technically a type of overtone singing, is often referred to as Tuvan throat singing, khoomei, and sometime Mongolian throat singing. I’ve mostly heard it referred to as either Tuvan throat singing or simply khoomei.

Republic of Tuva – South-Central Siberia

Just east of the Altai Republic (which is actually now part of Russia) is the Republic of Tuva, which, perhaps oddly enough, I consider one of my homelands.

Yes, I know; it’s hard to comprehend how or why I could consider it so. But the knowledge and feeling within is visceral; it is without a doubt a spiritual homeland to me. Prior to 2003, I never would have imagined this could be my experience, and yet…

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, when I experienced my first auditory experience of Tuvan throat singing (before I actually went to Siberia a few months later), it sent shock waves through my system. The CD I was listening to was a great introduction: Back Tuva Future and featured Kongar-Ol Ondar, probably one of the greatest Tuvan throat singers ever. Ondar was hugely instrumental in bringing awareness of this form of singing to the United States in the ‘90s, and tragically died in 2013, only 51 years old. Willy Nelson collaborated on that album, which added an interesting twist, too.

Bert Dag – Home Away From Home

I didn’t realize it at the time, but listening to that album over and over, I was actually being schooled in some of Tuva’s most popular folk songs. This was brought home to me when I was visiting a very small village in the south of Tuva called Bert Dag.

One of the first days I was in Bert Dag, the families who were aware of my visit proudly called me outside to meet this adorable, seemingly shy little boy – he could only have been 3 or 4 as I recall – so I could hear him sing for me. Not only did this tiny person start singing some khoomei (which, when you hear that guttural sound emanating from a man or woman, it’s one level of amazing – but resonating out of a little boy?), but he was also singing one of the songs I recognized from the CD! Indeed, it was one that speaks of the loss of their homeland and makes my heart ache every time I hear it.

Wow – thanks for that memory.

I realize I’m not giving you much more information on this traditional technique in this post. But beyond the links I provided yesterday, and above, here is another group that I had the great fortune to listen to and experience up close and personal twice, just this year: Alash Ensemble. I saw them in both Connecticut and Flemington, NJ.

In closing out this post, I just want to say that in my experience, khoomei is not just an art form. It is also a gateway to shamanic travel (journeying).

Hmmmm.

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