Earth Sounds Ensemble mix the Native and the otherworldly
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Throat singer Shinetsog Dorjnyam
“All four musicians draw inspiration from the same source,” said tour organizer Aziz Rahman, president of the Indo-Mongolian Society of New York, “the natural environment and the sounds of nature. They have a deep respect for the traditional roots, and they are committed to preserving the culture of their people, but they take the initiative and go beyond the traditions, bridging cultures through their work.”
Rahman previously worked with Dorjnyam when he organized a tour featuring Japanese and Mongolian musicians in 2009. A master of Khoomei, a throat-singing technique that uses manipulation of the tongue, lips, jaw, and diaphragm to create harmonic melodies of two or three simultaneous tones, the Mongolian singer left Rahman breathless. “I liked him because he was young,” he recalled, “barely in his 20s. He and his group, the Morin Khuur Ensemble, were experimenting with a mixture of traditional sounds and rock influences and creating very interesting music. He had the kind of heavy chops that I was seeking, but he was trained in the Western classical tradition.”
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Yatga player Munkh-Erdene Chuluunbat
None of the musicians of the Earth Sounds Ensemble had met prior to their first concert, in Albuquerque on Sept. 21. “I brought [Kent] and the Mongolians together for a Skype phone call,” said Rahman. “They were able to jam and [Kent] realized that he needed a didgeridoo in a different tuning to be in synch with [the throat-singing].”
Rahman first heard Chuluunbat during a trip to Mongolia in 2009, as she plucked the 12 strings of her yatga, a zither-like instrument reserved, traditionally, for the Mongolian court and monasteries. “She has such an incredible way of electrifying an audience with her playing,” he said, “and she goes above and beyond what anyone has done on that instrument before. I saw her and her band play a rocking number and I knew that I wanted to work with her.”
Kent and Nakai bring a global range of experiences to the Ensemble. Inspired by Aboriginal music that he heard as music director for Circus Oz, in Australia, Kent has collaborated with musicians from around the globe, including Airto Moreira (Brazil), Zakir Hussain (India), Habib Koité (Mali), and Tuvan throat singers Chirgilchin. “He’s an incredible musician,” said Rahman, “very versatile, and he has enormous range. He’s taken the didgeridoo all over the map.”
Classically trained as a trumpet player, Native American flutist Nakai, 66, is no stranger to musical experimentation. His discography, made up of more than three dozen releases, including the only two Native American albums awarded a gold record (for sales of 500,000 copies), reflects an ongoing commitment to expanding the possibilities of his indigenous instrument. “I like to hear how the flute blends,” he explained from his home on the outskirts of Phoenix, “with instruments and voices from other parts of the world.”
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Didgeridoo player Stephen Kent
A prime force in the resurrection of the Native American flute, an instrument rendered nearly extinct by centuries of forced assimilation, cultural suppression, and the influence of religious missionaries, Nakai has continued to transform the woodwind into an important voice of world music. A list of his past collaborators includes a Hawaiian slack key guitarist, an Israeli-born Philadelphia Orchestra cellist, a Tibetan flutist/vocalist, a new age pianist, a classical composer, a Japanese woodwind ensemble, and a Native-jazz fusion group. The featured soloist when the Omaha Symphony premiered Philip Glass’s “Piano Concerto No. 2: After Lewis & Clark,” in 2004, Nakai has made guest appearances with more than a dozen symphony and chamber orchestras.
“I’m a member of a world culture,” said Nakai, “a mixing of every ethnicity that has come to this continent. My grandfather came from Egypt centuries ago and [my people] stayed on this continent and became part of the American Indian tribes. I want to contribute my voice to what we are, as a multicultural community, rather than just to my Native American voice. I want to show that we could celebrate the uniqueness of Native people in the languages of the modern music and in the diverse varieties of arts experiences that we have in America.”
Although new age enthusiasts have embraced his atmospheric melodies, Nakai’s music represents much more. “It has nothing at all to do with the new age,” he said, “but with my perspective of being in the world at the moment, seeing both the beauty and the ugliness, and being a participant in a world that changes all the time.”Try BostonGlobe.com today and get two weeks FREE.Craig Harris can be reached at craigharrismusic@gmail.com
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