Amulet by Sainkho Namtchylak

Amulet is a compilation of performances by Sainkho Namtchylak, who sings and vocalizes while Ned Rothenberg plays his horns. While the selections are drawn form a myriad of concerts, they've been assembled here rather seamlessly. Sainkho has a wide range of sounds, octaves and vocal techniques, and like any good free improviser moves swiftly from one idea to another with confidence. A duo like this allows for a lot of freedom and movement, and sound exchanges that are communicative without being obvious.

There are a couple of traditional tunes included, from Tuvan and Saami, bringing in some strong folk melody and whisking Sainkho away from sound poetry in one fell swoop. This is clearly about singing world music now. I don't actually know where Tuvan and Saami are, and peering closely at the liner notes doesn't enlighten me any further. A quick bit of surfing over to a link about Sainkho Namtchylak reveals that Tuva is located in the Tannu Mountains on the Siberian border in northwestern Mongolia and has a tradition of throat singing, aha, voila.

Good fun for fans of avant-garde improvisations and a fascinating display of Sainkho's strong vocal techniques. She got some more recent albums than this one, and they promise to be equally interesting.

---

Leave a comment

name
email (if you want to be notified)
<-- Please retype the word you see here:
Notify me when someone replies to this post?

---