"Throat singing" is the extraordinary vocal form in which one singer produces two or more voices at the same time, harmonizing with each other. This astonishingly beautiful ancient tradition is alive (and kicking!) in a few countries across Central Asia, south of Siberia. The best throat singers in the world come from Tuva, and among the best in Tuva are the members of Chirgilchin.

Igor Koshkendey has twice won the Tuvan International Throat Singing Competition, winning in all of the six styles of the genre. A winner of other international competitions as well, Igor's original compositions are as moving as Tuvan traditional songs.

A winner of the Tuvan competition at the age of 16 years, Mongoun-ool Ondar's innovative solos express and inspire profound feelings of tragic sadness or blissful joy, evoking echoes of John Coltrane or Jimi Hendrix.

Aldar Tamdyn won Best Instrumentalist at the 2000 International Folk Music Festival in Tuva and plays the traditional string instruments of the region, the morin-huur and the byzaanchy. A student of the older generation of masters, Aldar is director of the National Tuvan Orchestra of Traditional Instruments and builds the instruments played by Chirgilchin and other Siberian musical groups.

Join us for this astounding trio's night of incomparable musical brilliance.