Tyva Kyzy: Women Throat Singers of Tuva

Seattle has a unique opportunity to hear the very first female Tuvan throat singer ensemble, Tyva Kyzy, in concert at:

Town Hall, 1119 8th Avenue, Seattle
Thursday, October 13, 2005, 7:30pm
Advance Tickets: Brown Paper Tickets
Concert information

This is how their website describes what they do:

“Tyva Kyzy” (“Daughters of Tyva”) is the first and for the moment the only women’s group in Tyva that performs all styles of Tyvan throat-singing. This form of multiple tone harmonic singing has however been practiced mostly by men and prohibited for women. The members of Tyva Kyzy dared to perform publicly this ancient art of singing in their own unique “feminine” style.

Future members of the ensemble conceived of the idea around 1995 without realizing that a male leader of the khoomei movement had also written an article advocating that women take up the style in the periodical, Khoomei. They first performed publicly in 1998 to a mixed reception than ran the gamut from enthusiastic embrace to rejection. While some Tuvans felt that women singing violated a cultural taboo (not to mention that it supposedly weakened male relatives and caused complications in childbirth!), several key male figures in khoomei encouraged the women. But the proof of the pudding is in the music and it speaks for itself as a graceful and elegant part of the throat-singing tradition. As in most traditions, change comes and is accepted fitfully. But Tyva Kyzy is well on the way to finding their rightful place among the greats of khoomei.

You may read a more extensive history of the group that also describes Tuvan attitudes toward women breaking the taboo against singing in the throat-singing style.

Listen to Tyva Kyzy:

Setkilimden sergek yr dyr (“Cheerful Song from the Soul”–hear 1 minute sample)

For an in-depth look at throat-singing and its roots in the naturalism of Tuvan culture and its animistic religion, see my blog post.

The best site for all things Tuvan is Tuva Trader, which also features Tyva Kyzy’s tour schedule.