Sainkho Namtchylak - where water meets water: bird songs & lullabies '2023

Tracks list

Following their critically acclaimed collaborative album with Tinariwen in 2016,
Sainkho Namtchylak and Grammy Award-winning producer Ian Brennan return with a
set of improvised songs recorded on the abandoned islands of Venice where
Brennan has resided for the past 10 years. Sainkho speaks four languages (Tuvan,
Russian, English, and German), but chose for this project to sing phonetically
in the "language of nature". The album was recorded outdoors, 100% live, without
overdubs, and with water as the main accompanying instrument. "People don't
realize how big the Venetian lagoon is. It is full of abandoned islands. Its
history stretches over 1500 years and tells the story of the inhabitants'
struggle for survival. That fight continues today, where, in the face of mass
tourism, most residents have been displaced and the population has dwindled to
the point that the centre of Venice has been largely deserted," says Ian
Brennan. In contrast to an era where image takes precedence over sound, the aim
of this project was to create an "audio film" indelibly imbued by time and
place. One of the tracks was recorded on the most haunted island in Venice, a
place many consider to be the most haunted place on the planet. It is estimated
that 160,000 people died there from the plague and it is rumoured that over 50%
of the soil is made up of human ashes. A psychiatrist who was conducting brain
surgery experiments on patients eventually committed suicide by throwing himself
off the tower of the asylum. Sainkho's multi-octave voice can be heard bouncing
off the walls of this former asylum, creating an otherworldly reverberation.
During another song, a search and rescue mission is underway, pulling swimmers
from the ocean. The helicopter flew overhead while Namtchylak and Brennan
recorded on the roof of the fortress from which the Venetians sunk one of
Napoleon's ships after his 18th century invasion. Sainkho Namtchylak is one of
the few female throat singers from Tuva. She began studying both the traditional
Tuvan repertoire and overtone singing, a practice until then reserved only to
men. Battling against misogyny at the beginning of her career, she has gone on
to release over forty albums. In 2000 she released Stepmother City with
Ponderosa Music & Arts which reflected on her ambivalent sentiments towards her
move to Western Europe and her need to develop her link to Eastern spirituality.
The album was followed by Time Out in 2001 and Who Stole the Sky? in 2003. Her
music is an intertwined mix of tradition and innovation which draws on the
Siberian and Mongolian music tradition to reach modern sounds, all tied together
by her pure and enchanting voice.



Tracklist:
1 01. Sainkho Namtchylak - Inside Asylum (00:41)
1 02. Sainkho Namtchylak - Search & Rescue (03:36)
1 03. Sainkho Namtchylak - Migration Trails (06:38)
1 04. Sainkho Namtchylak - Rising Tides (17:11)
1 05. Sainkho Namtchylak - At Pier's Edge (05:01)
1 06. Sainkho Namtchylak - Reverse Healing (01:45)
1 07. Sainkho Namtchylak - Singing To The Sea (04:49)

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