Huun Huur-Tu and The Bulgarian Voices Angelite: Fly, Fly, My Sadness

More good news from the Tuvan front: recordings continue to pour forth from that remote slip of land in Outer Mongolia known as Tuva, and the appeal only seems to grow. Shanachie recently put out two new titles which nicely expand the available Tuvan discography, without fear of dilution.

Boundary-hopping can be dangerous in world music, where the merging of two or more traditions can spell crossover nightmare. But cultural synthesis works wonders in the case of the rapturous meeting of Tuvan group Huun Huur-Tu and the Bulgarian Voices-Angelite (formerly with the French name Le Mystere de Voix Bulgares), on the album Fly, Fly My Sadness (Shanachie 64071: 44:09). The meeting is more logical than you might expect, both cultures having originated in the Asian Altai Mountain area and migrating to their respective homelands. On music composed or arranged by Mikhail Alperin, the two celebrated groups find a common ground, especially in terms of their vocal techniques-the Tuvan throat singing and the beguiling harmonic sense of the Bulgarians, for instance-at once non-western and similar to folk traditions in the west.

Originally Published January 1, 1997