Voices of Tuva

Tuvan musician Sayan Bapa founded his band in 1992 with his friend Kaigalool Khovalyg. The quartet Huun-Huur-Tu tours China this month.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Since then, the band has toured parts of the world and worked with musicians across genres, such as collaborations with American string quartet Kronos Quartet in 1997, and a DJ remix, Spirits From Tuva, in 2003. In 2004, the group was nominated for the BBC World Music Award, considered the most prestigious in the world of ethnic music.

"For me, some of the collaborations have been interesting. We were trying to find where we all have common ground in music. We don't just try to mix for the sake of mixing. We are trying to find where all the sounds work well together," Bapa says.

Radik Tyulyush, 40, soloist of the ensemble, says: "Tuvan music is organic and natural. It mixes well with all traditional musical cultures as well as with contemporary music, such as electronic and rock. I believe that Tuvan music has no limits."

Tyulyush studied folk Tuvan music since childhood and learned khoomei from his grandfather. Before he joined the band in 2005, like many young people in Tuva, he listened to the music of Huun-Huur-Tu and attended all its concerts, and "absorbed the art".

"Listeners should come to a concert with an open heart. Both the listener and the performer will then be connected emotionally," he says.

IF YOU GO
9 pm, Dec 17. Yugong Yishan, 3-2 Zhangzizhong Lu, Dongcheng district, Beijing. 010-6404-2711