Ensemble Tengir-Too and the Mountain Music of Kyrgyzstan

It was only after 11 months of frequent listening that I realized the focus of jaw-harp music is not the twang but the overtones. The rhythms and direct sound are background elements to the fainter melodies coming as a result of the mouth movements of the musician. The insight hit me like a landslide while listening to the first track of Ensemble Tengir-Too’s entry in the Smithsonian Folkways record series of the mountain music of Central Asia. I have been addicted to this compilation for almost a year now and I suddenly realized everything I thought about it was wrong.

It was a very humbling moment. Until then I was under the impression that the jaw-harp pieces are interludes and mood music between the lush orchestrations of the rest of the album. They are in fact among its densest compositions. The short period of resonance of the notes forces the players to use regular attacks resulting in fast meditative pulses of sound. The melodies rise expressively out of the drone; they’re not hard to hear if you know to listen for them. One can’t help but think of how symphonic this must come off in the steppes and valleys of Kyrgyzstan.

The jaw-harps act as a Rosetta Stone to the deeper relevance of the other songs. Listening to the music just behind the music brings to life the imagination of the people that celebrate it. The blends of lutes, fiddles, voices, and ocarinas creates new instruments in the air that exist only at that moment. They fade into nothingness when the music stops, coming back in the shades of a new song and its instrument. This is a document of the power of music, the real magic of sound, and what makes us make it in the first place.

But hey, if poetic trances aren’t your thing you’ve also got a thoroughly enjoyable collection of the all-purpose songs of an exotic nation. What has never stopped thrilling me is how contemporary it manages to sound. This made sense when I read into the history of Kyrgyzstan. I discovered that many of their folk traditions are the subject of constant revision. The nation has always been a crossroad along the Silk Road. It’s virtually equidistant to the cultures of India, China, Siberia, the Arabian lands, and Southeast Asia. Also having endured the rule of both the Mongols and the Soviets, Kyrgyzstan’s demographic combines the native races with resettled Europeans, Jews, and other Asians to the extent that this mix is the culture. It’s constantly changing and the traditions follow suit.

The free rhythms and odd phrasings of South Asia are brought into the more rigid structures and pacing of European music. The scales and melodies are tribal, but inventive and complex. The musicianship is furiously tight with an exhibitionist sense of humor and cleverness. The band loves their music and all that it represents and the emotions are visceral and undeniable. This is a record of un-Western music that easily catches Western ears and unfolds endlessly as its comprehensiveness grows. Great stuff!