MovieChat Forums > Genghis Blues (1999) Discussion > Can you sing it Tuvan-style?

Can you sing it Tuvan-style?

posted 20 years ago by mfdesimone
4 replies | jump to latest

I was so enamored with this vocal technique that I taught myself the basics while I was watching the movie. I saw it in my college library, and as I walked home, I was singing Reeereeereeeerreeeee; bugging everyone around me. It was great!

This movie shows us a culture that I think we should really try model ours after. Such warmth is in their hearts that everyone who visits the country, or even watches this movie, feels completely at home.

Blah Blah Blah... I really was wondering how many people out there have tried the Throat Singing. Any success stories? What about the "Kargyraa" kind that Paul Pena is so good at? I can't do that to save my life!

[–] dyaniunicorn 20 years ago

Actually you should be very careful when attempting to do any kind of throat singing because 1)you could hurt youself (rare) and 2)there's a very particular way you have to do it.
Even Paul Pena didn't know how to do it right at the time this film was made...In fact, from what I've heard from the masters, he kind of sucked.

You need to breathe in a certain way, position your mouth, lips, tongue, throat...pretty much everything in your head and torso exactly right, and so on. The most important thing here is using the "chest voice" which isn't easy to do. What you were doing is probably the western "harmonic singing," which is much simpler (only making the harmonics, no chest voice).

Fortunately my father and I had the opportunity to study for a weekend with a master xöömeji (one of the only ones in the United States). I never tried it since I had a cold (women sound kind of funny when they try to do it anyway) so I only took notes, but after a year and many correspondences with our teacher, my dad has almost reached "decent" level.

[–] 20 years ago

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[–] equalizer5150 16 years ago

No but it would have helped if the movie explained how it was done. Wasn't that weird to have left that out? Why didn't they let us hear the other styles with the high notes instead of just the low didgeridoo sound?
I was kind of surprised that they didn't show Richard playing his blues (except for 1 or 2 songs)
Great film though!

[–] imdb-19412 16 years ago

The thing about explaining how it's done is that it's one of those things you really can't tell someone how to do. I taught myself how to do it when I had a bad case of bronchitis - the best way I can put it into words is that clearing your throat is a note you can hold, and adjust pitch from there. Hurts like the devil until you get used to it, so stock up on throat lozenges. :)

As to the other styles (that focus more on the whistling sounds rather than the low growling tones), Paul Pena was famous for his kargyraa. In the same way that a Louie Armstrong documentary wouldn't go into stringed instruments, a Paul Pena documentary wouldn't go into sygyt or khoomei.

Cheers!

- Cap'n Curry