Yat-Kha Explained

Yat-Kha
Landscape:	yes
Background:	group_or_band
Origin:	Tuva, Russia
Genre:	Folk rock, Tuvan music, overtone singing, ethnic electronica, heavy metal
Years Active:	1991–present
Website:	http://www.yat-kha.ru/en/
Current Members:	Albert Kuvezin and others
Past Members:	Ivan Sokolovsky and many others

Yat-Kha is a band from Tuva, led by vocalist/guitarist Albert Kuvezin. Their music is a mixture of Tuvan traditional music and rock, featuring Kuvezin's distinctive kargyraa throat singing style, the kanzat kargyraa.

Biography

Yat-Kha was founded in Moscow in 1991, as a collaborative project between Kuvezin and Russian avant-garde, electronic composer Ivan Sokolovsky. The project blended traditional Tuvan folk music with post-modern rhythms and electronic effects. Kuvezin and Sokolovsky toured and played festivals, and eventually took the name "Yat-Kha", which refers to a type of small, Central Asian zither similar to the Mongolian yatga and the Chinese guzheng, which Kuvezin plays in addition to the guitar. In 1993, they released a self-titled album on the General Records label.

Since July 21 2001, they have been performing a live soundtrack to Vsevolod Pudovkin's 1928 silent film Storm Over Asia.^[1]

Their 1995 song "Karangailyg Kara Hovaa (Dyngyldai)" is featured in the Apple iPhone 15 "Titanium" commercial.^[2]

Discography

Albums:

• Priznak Gryadushchei Byedy (1991)
• Khanparty (1992)
• Yat-Kha (1993)
• Yenisei Punk (1995)
• Tundra's Ghosts (1996/97) - remastered version of Yat-Kha released by Ivan Sokolovsky)
• Dalai Beldiri (1999)
• Aldyn Dashka (2000)
• Bootleg (2001, live)
• tuva.rock (2003)
• Re-Covers (2005)
• Bootleg 2005 (2005, live)
• Poets and Lighthouses (2010)

Members

Current

• Albert Kuvezin (vocals, Throat singing, Guitar, Bass guitar, Chanzy, Khomus, Yat-Kha)
• Sholban Mongush (igil, vocal)
• "Theodore Scipio" (Bass guitar)

Past

• Evgeny "Zhenya" Tkachov (drums, Percussion)
• Radik Tiuliush (vocals, Throat Singing, Morin Khuur, Igil)
• Sailyk Ommun (vocals, Yat-Kha)
• Makhmud Skripaltschchikov (Bass guitar)
• Aldyn-ool Sevek (vocals, Throat singing, Morin Khuur, Igil)
• Alexei Saaia (vocals, Morin khuur, Bass guitar)
• Ivan Sokolovsky (Synthesizers, Percussion)

Appearing on Poets and Lighthouses with Albert Kuvezin (Voice, Acoustic Guitar)

• Simon Edwards (Acoustic Bass guitar, Double Bass, Marimbula, Mbira, Appalachian Dulcimer)
• Giles Perring (Acoustic Guitar, Piano, Harmonium, Backing Vocals, Drums, Percussion)
• Sarah Homer (Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Recorder)
• Melanie Pappenheim (Backing Vocals)
• Lu Edmonds (Cumbus)
• Neil Cameron (Scottish Small Pipes)

Awards

• 1991 recognized by Brian Eno, one of the international judges at the first Voices of Asia Festival in Almaty, Kazakhstan
• 1995 French RFI "Decouvertes Est" prize for Yenisei Punk
• 1999 German Critic's Prize for Dalai Beldiri
• 2002 BBC Radio 3 "Award for World Music"

External links

• Official Russian site
  • • Ivan Sokolovsky
• Reality Film: Storm over Asia

Notes and References

1. Book: Donnelly, K.J. . 8 April 2016 . Donnelly . K.J. . Wallengren . Ann-Kristin . Today's Sounds for Yesterday's Films: Making Music for Silent Cinema . Palgrave Macmillan UK . 19 . Chapter 2: How Far Can Too Far Go? Radical Approaches to Silent Film Music . 9781137466365.
2. https://abancommercials.com/apple/iphone-15-pro-titanium-commercial/226294/ AbanCommercials.com: Apple iPhone 15 Pro | Titanium TV commercial 2023