huun huur tu

late sunday night at womadelaide 2007
the big act for the night was salif keita and band
drew a huge crowd to the main stage and wowed us all
thankfully that was enough for most of the crowd
my experience of womad is that the locals don't like late nights
much rather be tucked up in bed ready for the work the next day
than searching out some obscure music from out there in the world
but not me - i learnt several years ago to keep going
some of the most sublime moments of the weekend
have occurred sprawled out on the grass
under a beautiful star-lit sky
cool breezes wafting over a sunburnt body
coping quite nicely with a happily fed tummy
and a respectable intake of south australian red wine
the musical soul complete sated with a day's superb music
and then ready to be gently eased down by the final performance
last year some genius organiser included huun huur tu on the bill
they presumably flew halfway around the world for this show
to perform for an hour in front of a few hundred or so music fans
as usual i had no idea what to expect with this group
though throat-singing had been mentioned in the program
having seen the gyuto monks several years earlier
it seemed we were up for another fine festival closing act
but they were even better than expected
not only did they do the throat-singing bit
but they each played a traditional instrument
that gave the music a great beat, rhythm and organic feel
each member of the four piece group wore a different coloured satin outfit
looking to me very much like a take on sgt pepper
there was dialogue between the songs
mostly giving us a bit of insight to their home country
a place called tuvu nestled just above mongolia
these guys seem to be constantly touring the world
they have performed at a number of large festivals
and have recorded many albums of diverse songs
since the show i have discovered a piece of music
performed by an ex-member of the group named albert kuvezin
a cover of a well-known song titled when the levee breaks
which gives some indication of their place in the musical world
the following clip is from a french festival
has a bit of the band warming up out the back
and then on-stage delivering their unique music
memories of midnight sunday in adelaide's botannical gardens
blissed out on some beautiful soul music