Few films have ever made me so just plain happy as the 1995(?) documentary Genghis Blues, about American blues singer Paul Pena's trip to the land of Tuva to compete in a throat-singing symposium.
A little background on why I was so happy watching this. When I was 16, I attended the second ever University of Wyoming Summer High School Institute, an absolute life-changing experience when I first began truly to believe that it's fun to be smart. At Institutes end, we all were presented with a big box of books, lots of intellectual time bombs that are still exploding in our lives to this day like Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, John Edgar Wideman's Brothers and Keepers, Russel Baker's Growing Up and my all-time favorite, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman by Nobel-winning physicist Richard P. Feynman.
Surely You're Joking is still one of my favorite books and definitely my favorite bit of autobiography, the subtitle "Adventures of a Curious Character" telling all. It's an utterly charming look at selected memories from the childhood, early education, and even the Los Alamos years of the guy in charge of many of the calculations used in making the first atomic bomb. Some people dislike its honesty about Feynman's attitude towards women, his impatience with stupid or unimaginative people, and the fact that he had fun doing the research that led to the unleashing man's most destructive invention to date, but as a story of how being willing to ask why, experiment and try new things can lead to a satisfying and interesting life it can't be beat.
A few years later, I happily watched a Nova special on PBS entited "Last Journey of a Genius" or some such, all about the last years of Richard Feynman, his friendship with Ralph Leighton, and their mutual obsession with discovering whatever happened to Tannu Tuva, a country that had issued a series of beautiful postage stamps in the 1930s and then disappeared. Turned out Tuva had been absorbed by the Soviet Union but its people were still doing their best to preserve their native culture, including nomadic herding, fantastic costuming and throat singing, which is the coolest sounding music in the universe, hands down. Feynman didn't know so much about the throat singing at first, but the fact that the country's capital city is Kyzyl was enough for him. He was that kind of guy.
The end of the special played a recording that Feynman and Leighton's Tuvan pen pal had sent them of this throat singing, and it blew my 18-or-so-year-old mind, that music.
Years later, I was living in Somerville, MA, a somewhat far-flung suburb of Boston, and lo and behold, a group called Huun Huurtu, Tuvan throat-singers, was doing an American tour and had a date at the Somerville Theater. I grabbed all my best pals and went. Best concert of my freaking life. The performers even gave a little workshop afterwards to teach some of the basics of throat singing, which allows the singer to emit two or even three notes at the same time; a basic note and one or two harmonizing tones above or below it. There are something like six different styles, each achieved a different way: sygyt, which imitates whistling breezes and birdsong, kargyaa, more like howling winds and very deep and earthshaking when done by a master, khoomei, more in the middle range, dumchukataar, more like throat humming, ezengileer which mimics the rhythms of horseback riding (horses being a big, big deal in a steppes culture --these people also drink fermented mare's milk) and some more styles that I can no longer read off the notes I took all those years ago. Accompanied by drums and very cool-looking stringed instruments with names like igyll which I may have misspelled but I don't care I just freaking love this stuff.
I have all of Huun Huurtu's albums and listen to them very, very often.
So, back to Genghis Blues and Paul Pena, a blind blues singer who discovered throat-singing on shortwave radio while looking for a Korean language program and taught himself how to sing in the kargyaa style. He managed to show off his skills after a concert by Kangar-ol, another famous Tuvan on a world tour and Pena and Kangar-ol have been friends ever since.
During the backstory that served as the films first act, the participation of Ralph Leighton and reference to Feynman's last obsession were heavily referenced and Leighton helped with the assembling of a group of documentary filmmakers, sound engineers, a public radio host and a few musicians to accompany Paul on a visit to Tuva. They took with them some Feynmanalia including a bumper sticker that says "Feynman Lives!", the presentation of which to Kangar-ol put big wet tears in my eyes.
I got to see the rivers, hear the spoken language and see the scenery of Tuva. I heard examples of all the styles of throat singing, even as demonstrated by little elementary school kids. And I watched Paul Pena's very emotional personal journey through the land whose people nicknamed him "Earthquake" for his powerful kargyaa.
Oh, good god did I love this film.
1 comment:
I too have seen the story of Paul "Earthquake" Pena and would have to say that it was a remarkable story indeed.
To think that even now there is a culture who, for god knows how long, has held an almost magical secret as that of Tuvan throat singing.
A definate must see, it may even change your perspective on life. I can still feel the impact every time I hear throat singing and the Earthquake.
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