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.

History

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", after the yatkha (ятха), a Tuvan bridge 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.

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

Discography

thumb|right|Yat-Kha in Germany, 2005

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)
  • We Will Never Die (2021)

Members

Current

  • Albert Kuvezin (vocals, Throat singing, Guitar, Bass guitar, Chanzy, Khomus, Yat-Kha)
  • Sholban Mongush (igil, vocal)
  • "Naiys Dulush (drums)
  • Khuler Lopsan (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"
  • Official Russian site
  • Ivan Sokolovsky
  • Reality Film: Storm over Asia

References