"Dingildai" by Igor Koshkendey

The music sample presented this time around titled “Dingildai” by Igor Koshkendey comes from Tuva. Also known as the Tyva Republic, Tuva is a federal subject of Russia that lies in the center of Asia in southern Siberia. Most people who live in Tuva are Tuvans, however they mostly speak Russian. This song is sung in a voice quite different from what is prevalent in Western music. I am not totally sure of whether or not the performers are using a Western scale, but considering they are not Westerners, I’m assuming they are not. The sound is too different, I feel, for it to be a Western scale. I do not think is a tonic, the tone seems to stay the same, except when the singers do an odd throat noise every so often. I believe the is a harmony and I feel like it would be dissonant, because the song sounds complicated, even though the voices are fairly even throughout. The harmony then switches to consonant when the drawn out throat noise happens specifically. The instruments’ sounds actually seem to match the singers’ voices well, both being harsh, throaty, and “off pitch” to what we are used to in the Western world. The man and woman’s voices are sung in rounds, never matching up quite at the same time when they sing together. There seems to be interlocking among the musicians and singers. It is hard to tell if it is heterophony, homophony, monophony, or polyphony, but I think it is heterophony. The long throat sound might be a drone effect.

From my research I discovered that Igor Koshkendey is a Tuvan musician. Before I researched him I assumed the music and the musician was Russian and I was not far off. When I looked him up he did not appear as an individual, but as a band established in 1996. This band is called Chirgilchin which translates to “dance of the air in the heat of the day” or “miracle” in Tuvan. It consists of, of course, Igor Koshkendey, and then Mongun-ool Ondar, Aldar Tamdyn, and Aidysmaa Koshkendey. I learned that he is an expert at the Oidupaa style which is a type of kargyraa, otherwise known as Tuvan throat singing. He has mastered six different throat-singing styles as well as is working on his very own. Tuvan throat singing is a type of singing where one of more pitches sound at the same time over a fundamental pitch which produces a unique, interesting sound. Tuvan throat singing originated from male herders who would throat sing. These days women are starting to practice Tuvan throat singing as well (as we heard in this music sample.) It seems that throat singing was a result of geographic location and culture. This is due to the open landscape of Tuva which allows for a the sounds to carry a wide distance. Many throat singers practice near rivers and mountain sides.

I did not particularly like the song or how throat singing sounds, but it was entertaining. It’s fascinating to hear new types of techniques of making music that I have never been presented with before.