‘Okna Tsaha, & Bayambajargal Gombodorj - Les chants des steppes’

Okna Tsahan Zam is a Kalmyk singer, the name for the group of people of Mongol origin who came from what is now the Chinese province of Xinjiang (Oriental Turkestan) and who settled along the western shore of the Caspian Sea. Kalmyk tradition, founded on a culture of exile which became established in the European part of the present-day Russian Federation, has succeeded in preserving their heritage. Okna Tsahan Zam and the Mongol singer Bayambajargal Gombodorj will celebrate their shared culture. Accompanied by Epi, who plays the morin-kuhuur, a traditional stringed instrument that is typically Mongol, they will bring traditional laments from Mongol epics of the past back to life through very specific singing techniques: overtone singing, in which the singer produces two notes of different frequencies, and “long song”, which is characterised by circular breathing (air is inhaled through the nose and exhaled through the mouth at the same time) which creates continuous sounds.