Sainkho Namtchylak‬

Sainkho (Tuva)

A voice from otherness
by ANTÓNIO CERVEIRA PINTO

When one think that Amanda Galás is the most radical voice around, we stumble upon Sainkho, an eclectic singer and performer who's guttural tones and extreme plasticity surpass almost everything done so far by human voice. This is form, art as art as Reinhardt once named the human capacity of infinite modulation. But then concept is also strong within Sainkho variety of songs, not only is terms of avant-garde strategies, but also as a deeply anthropological approach to popular collective expressionism. What a wonderful experience to listen to her voice!

Sainkho Namtchylak is an experimental singer, born in 1957 in a secluded village in the south of Tuva. She has an exceptional voice, proficient in overtone singing; her music encompasses 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 Old Believers; 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 Gnesins 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.

— in Wikipedia

Dance of the eagle

Digital Mutation (live vers)
Jazzy overtone swing
Let the sun shine (remix vers)

Lost rivers

Red Orange

Running tapes

Tuva Blues

by Sainkho at MySpace