‘Huun Huur Tu’

The Huun Huur Tu ensemble from the Tuva Republic in the Russian federation has taken throat-singing to concert halls all over the world. The ensemble recorded with Frank Zappa and played with Ry Cooder on the soundtrack for the 1993 film Geronimo: An American Legend. In this concert, their singing, with its characteristic overtones, is combined with some rarely heard instruments. The igil is a kind of violin with two strings; the chanzy is a three-stringed bow with a wooden horse's head; while percussion is provided by the Xapchyk, a rattle made from bull's testicles and bones from a sheep's foot.