Sainkho Namtchylak
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Sainkho Namtchylak is a singer originally from Tuva, a small autonomous Russian republic just north of Mongolia. She is known for her Tuvan throat singing or Khöömei.
Sainkho Namtchylak is an experimental singer, born in 1957 in a secluded village in the south of Tuva, an autonomous Russian state bordering Mongolia. She has an exceptional voice, spanning seven octaves and proficient in overtone singing; her music enmeshes avant-jazz, electronica, modern composition and Tuvan influences. In Tuva numerous cultural influences collide: the Turkic roots it shares with Mongolia, Xinjiang Uighur and the Central Asian states; various Siberian nomadic ethnic groups, principally those of the Tungus-Manchu group; Russian colonial government; migrant and resettled populations from the Ukraine, Tatarstan and other minority groups west of the Urals. All of these, to extents, impact on Sainkho's voice, although the Siberian influences dominate: her thesis produced while studying voice, first at the University of Kyzyl, then in the Gnesinsky Institute in Moscow during the 1980s focussed on Lamaistic and cult musics of minority groups across Siberia, and her music frequently shows tendencies towards Tungus-style imitative singing.
After graduating, Sainkho worked with several ensembles: the Moscow State Orchestra; the Moscow- based jazz ensemble 'Tri-O' (since 1989); various orchestras in Kyzyl although (incongruously) as far as I am aware she has not worked with the Sayaan Ensemble, the Tuvan 'folkloric orchestra'- a far less sanitised example of folk baroque than, say, existed in pre-independence Kazakhstan- that has housed many of Tuva's other important singers. However, for several years Sainkho annually invited foreign musicians to Tuva to promote Tuvan culture. In 1997, Sainkho was horifically attacked- possibly by A Russian neo-Nazi group- which left her in a coma for two weeks. Again, sources regarding this contradict- others maintain that she underwent surgery for a severe malignant brain tumour; regardless, 1997 marked an appreciable change in her life. Since then, she has been resident in exile in Vienna, and has also recorded more prolifically as a solo artist- although she has released over thirty albums in the past twenty years, only seven have been entirely solo.
[edit] Discography
- 1987 - Lost Rivers - Her most traditional recordings
- 1993 - Out Of Tuva - Mapping the interim time from 1987 to 1993; some folk, some baroque, some examples of ethno-pop and trans-Siberian songs pertaining to her thesis
- 1996 - Mars song - Duo with Evan Parker
- 1997 - Time Out - A personal album, given only to a handful of fnas, musically detailing the aftermath of the attack
- 1997 - Letters - Experimental voice pieces based on letters sent home to her parents while studying from 1980-1993
- 1998 - Naked Spirit
- 2001 - Stepmother City
- 2003 - Who Stole The Sky - the preceding two albums produced while in Vienna, showing a greater tendency towards both multicultural influences and electronica. Naked Spirit features a beautiful duet with Armenian duduk player Djivan Gasparyan; Stepmother City features several songs in English, as well as other Siberian influences- one track features prominent Tungus-style imitational singing, another the Bashkortori kurai; Who Stole The Sky further culturally diversifies with a band incorporating bansuri and kora players.
- 2005 - ARZHAANA"
- 2005 - TriO & SAINKHO FORGOTTEN STREETS OF ST.PETERSBURG"
