Okna Tsahan Zam Explained

Okna Tsahan Zam
Birth Date:1957 4, df=yes
Birth Place:Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast, Russian SFSR, USSR (now Republic of Kalmykia, Russia)
Genre:Throat singing
Occupation:Folk singer
Years Active:1990-present

Vladimir Okonovich Karuev[1] (born 2 April 1957), better known by his Kalmyk name Okna Tsahan Zam,[2] is a Kalmyk folk singer, known for his throat singing and as a performer of the Kalmyk national epic Jangar.

Biography

Okna Tsahan Zam does not have a traditional music education. According to an interview he gave to Tim Cope, an adventure filmmaker and author, he was educated in Moscow as a nuclear engineer and worked at a nuclear power plant. He turned to Kalmyk culture in his twenties and became a performer of the national epic Jangar. He toured extensively in Mongolia, as well as in Europe.[3]

Okna Tsahan Zam performs in the Khoomei style, a type of Tuvan throat singing, common in Mongolia, Tuva and Siberia. In 2005, he collaborated with Tanya Tagaq, a Canadian Inuit throat singer, and Wimme, a Sami yoiker from Finland, to release the recording Shaman Voices.[4] According to The Concise Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, he "intersperses traditional Mongolian stringed and wind instruments and throat-singing styles with natural steppeland sounds and experiments with urban remixes".[5]

Okna Tsahan Zam is a recipient of the Mongolian Order of the Polar Star, the highest civilian award Mongolia can present to a foreign citizen.[6] In 2002, he was awarded the Mongolian Golden Microphone Award for his song Edjin Duun.[7]

Notes and References

  1. Russian: Владимир Оконович Каруев, pronounced as /ru/
  2. Kalmyk; Oirat: Окна Цаһан Зам, pronounced as /okˈna t͡saɣanˈzam/, Mongolian: Охийн Цагаанзам|translit=Okhiin Tsagaanzam, in Mongolian pronounced as /ɔxiŋ t͡sɑɢaːnˈt͡sɑm/
  3. [Tim Cope]
  4. C. Parker (2005): Shaman Voices, The Wire, Issues 251-256
  5. Ellen Koskoff:The Concise Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 2
  6. http://www.kalmykianews.ru/2011/djangarchi-karuev-orden-mongolia/ "Vladimir Karuev awarded the highest order of Mongolia"
  7. https://www.last.fm/music/Okna+Tsahan+Zam/+wiki Okna Tsahan Zam