Siberian throat singing

[EleanorT]

I saw a group of Siberian throat singers in a park (Belleville) in Paris about 5 or 6 years ago. The skies were thunderous, but the rain held off. It was amazing...

I bought a CD, but lent it to a friend, and have not been able to recuperate it.

I'd like to track down another one. All I can remember is that their name began with U, and I think it was a short...

Can anyone help me? Failing that, any suggestions of something of that genre.

[Charlie]

It was amazing..

I bought a CD, lent it to a friend..

bad idea, don't do it.

I'm notoriously mean, never lend records to anybody.

It's the only way...

Try Huun Huur Tu

[EleanorT]

Try Huun Huur Tu

That must be them! Thank you so much. Not surprising I could only remember the letter 'u' with so many in the title. I can see that they have since made a number of CDs, and that you've played them. There were many more than the four musicians I see pictured on myspace, but I'm sure they're one and the same.

For music that must be spectacular in its home setting, it wasn't bad with Paris stretching off in the background either.

And yes, you're right. It was a first and a last - I learnt my lesson!

[Jonathan E.]

I saw a group of Siberian throat singers in a park (Belleville) in Paris about 5 or 6 years ago. The skies were thunderous, but the rain held off. It was amazing...

Sounds almost like the music in its authentic setting.

If you can find the film Genghis Blues I think you might find it interesting. Here's a link to help: http://www.genghisblues.com/

Yat-Kha and Okna Tsahan Zam are two other interesting throat singing artists. Chirgilchin are a more traditional group you may like. Googling will produce lots of results but their site isn't loading for me right now.

There are also four Smithsonian Folkways releases of throat singing. Perhaps this is the most interesting:



Find it at http://www.folkways.si.edu/albumdetails.aspx?itemid=2523
or a list of all four at http://www.folkways.si.edu/searchresults.aspx?sPhrase=Throat%20Singing&sType=%27phrase%27

[Adam Blake]

The Tibetans do a pretty neat line in throat singing too. "The Singing Bowls Of Tibet" by Alain Presencer has a throat singing section. I don't know if it was ever issued on cd.

Re. lending stuff out: Charlie's absolutely right but in the enthusiasm of the moment it can be hard to stop yourself lending out your favourite records to people you think need to hear them. What you do is burn them a copy. This is just the same as doing them a tape but it takes a lot less time and costs a lot less money (in fact, the record industry pays but let's not get into that).

[Adam Blake]

I remember lending a rare Fairuz record to a young lady I was trying to impress. Then I found out she was stringing me along and had a Swedish boyfriend in tow (who was probably unfamiliar with the works of Fairuz). I had to deploy various undignified stratagems to get it back, involving intermediaries who were instructed to plead on my behalf. The bint in question proved remarkably resistant to giving it back - I think she liked it. But at the end of a long campaign, honour (if not decency) prevailed and it was returned to me undamaged. These days, when I play it I think of its travels and the hardships it endured on its way home - so perfectly echoed in the reverb drenched hauteur of the singer.

[garth cartwright]

Ghengis Blues is a great documentary - highly recommended!

Re lending out - what about when it's your other half and she doesn't even ask and just takes? Months later you look for a CD and find it missing and then realise where it's gone. A Spanish ex, when I announced frustration at not being able to find OK Computer said "Promise you won't get angry?" then told me she'd given it to her brother! Flo, when I went looking for my Gene Clark double, had managed to reduce it to a single. No idea, of course, where CD 1 went . . .

[NormanD]

I bought a CD, lent it to a friend..

bad idea, don't do it.

I'm notoriously mean, never lend records to anybody.

It's the only way...

Have you finished with that Warren Zevon CD I loaned you ("Life'll Kill Ya") in 1999? Thanks for the reminder.

[Charlie]

I bought a CD, lent it to a friend..

bad idea, don't do it.

I'm notoriously mean, never lend records to anybody.

It's the only way...

Have you finished with that Warren Zevon CD I loaned you ("Life'll Kill Ya") in 1999? Thanks for the reminder.

You lent me a record, Norman? Dangerous.

A bit like the way banks feel about each other right now, I wouldn't lend me a record. I'd know how easily it could disappear.

What are those things called that are causing so much trouble in the financial world, CDOs? The equivalent round here is a DCD, a Disappearing CD.

[NormanD]

You lent me a record, Norman? Dangerous.....I wouldn't lend me a record. I'd know how easily it could disappear.

Those were the days! I was naive and star-struck then, not knowing about a basement ankle-deep in unplayed CDs. Now, I'd rig it up with a tracking device or booby-trap it to explode if not played within three months.

After writing the post above I was in my local library and saw a copy there. So, do keep it (not that you'll ever find it).

[Jonathan E.]

I'm a bit like Charlie. I have a strict "no loaning out" policy and an almost equally strict "no returns of what I borrow" policy. I suspect that if I lived around the corner from any of you this would have become an issue. But I don't leave stuff around on the floor of a basement. I'm upstairs and everything is off the floor. Of course, I'm dealing with far less of a tsunami of CDs than I suspect Charlie faces.

[NormanD]

I have a strict "no loaning out" policy and an almost equally strict "no returns of what I borrow" policy.

Are you really saying here what it seems like you're saying, J? Especially the last part, which I find somewhat incompatible with what I think are your political views (at least as you've described them here, in previous controversies).

I've loaned stuff out. If I want it back, I'll ask, or remind. usually, I often forget. If I've not played it (talking about music here) in quite a while, then I just let it go, or replace it if I've forgotten where it's gone.

If someone needed it (however need is defined, in its personal variations) more than me, then so be it: keep it. If it's gone to a good (and maybe better) home, then Good Luck to the item in question. I knew of some anarchists who gave their cat away to the family it had decided to spend more time with. Now, to me, that is commitment - something I could never do.

I was reminded of this thread just this week when I received a message from a fellow Forumista about a tape I had sent a year ago, to help with a radio programme. Funnily enough, it was the same NME "World At One" mix that you've just posted (one for the next book, Howard!). Although I'd effectively given up on its return, and felt a bit churlish writing to remind, it came back - complete with a transposed CDr, as a bonus. I'd resigned myself to the "gone to a better home" principle, especially as some of the contents might have been shared on the airwaves.

Conclusion? Not much, about from things about decency and sharing your enjoyments, and what you give often comes back, even as something else.

Norman

PS And thank you again, Godwana Jill!

[Jonathan E.]

Norman,

I'm not sure whether I should make some preposterous claim about being Robin Hood, an extremely ardent archivist, or having this compulsion to always work my tongue around in my cheek. Or perhaps I have an uncontrollable desire to make false confessions. Rest assured that if I were to borrow something from you, I would make every effort to return it. Especially now. But I'm not sure anyone, whether anarchist or not, can "own" a cat; they'll live where they will. The one that has decided to live with us is keeping our dogs young and interested in life. She also practices the feline equivalent of throat singing almost continuously. I enjoy her company greatly when I'm outside. She loves to climb spindly little trees and then make a great fuss as they bend under her weight. She's not heavy but she's a hoot.