ALASH ENSEMBLE
Thursday, September
22
4:00PM-5:00PM
Ferrell Hall auditorium
CulturalActivities@wvstateu.edu
Summary
Throat singers from the Tuva Republic
Details
http://www.alashensemble.com/
A one-hour educational/musical program will feature Alash Ensemble, a trio of throat singers from the Republic of Tuva. The audience will learn about the unusual history, culture and music of Tuva, which lies south of Siberia in an area three times the size of West Virginias, populated by only 300,000 people. Tuva was historically inhabited by nomadic herdsmen whose close, spiritual relationship with their environment informed their native music. Exercising complex control of the vocal tract, a Tuvan throat singer imitates multiple nature sounds simultaneously, from low guttural growling to high-pitched chirps, making harmonic music unlike anything common to western culture.
The group will show how Western culture has influenced their music and, in an act of cultural reciprocity, WVSU students under the direction of Dr. Dirk Johnson will perform a song using this ancient, difficult, highly unusual vocal technique.
The final ten minutes will allow questions and answers from the audience.
contact Dr. Johnson: djohnson17@wvstateu.edu (304) 766-3342 or Mr. Wolfe:rwolfe@wvstateu.edu 766-3188
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