Spring Break
'Genghis Blues' sheds light on forgotten culture
Paresh Jha
Issue date: 4/1/09 Section: Commentary
"Honor is a small word," musician Paul Pena said upon receiving a 1st-place award at the Khoomei Symposium in 1995, "I don't know how to put into words."
A similar feeling comes to mind upon describing Pena's story in the film "Genghis Blues," which was presented at the Student Union Theater yesterday at 2 p.m. Pena was a blind blues musician who had worked with the likes of Jerry Garcia, Frank Zappa, and B.B. King. He was probably most well known for two things. First, for writing the song "Jet Airliner," which became a well-known hit for the Steve Miller Band in the late 70's. Second, for his story and role in the Sundance recognized documentary "Genghis Blues," about Tuvan throat singing.
The documentary chronicled Pena's journey to a small distant land in central Asia known as Tuva to participate in a throat-singing contest. Tuva used to be an independent nation, from around 1929 to 1944, but is currently part of the Russian Federation, and is well known for traditional throat singing, a unique musical technique wherein the singers manipulates resonant tones from the back of their throats. The sound resulting from this technique is difficult to describe; it is a truly different sound that creates the illusion of more than one person harmonizing with each other. In fact, it does not even sound like something human, instead seeming like a noise that would come from some sort of instrument. The remarkable aspect of Pena's story is the fact that he simply taught himself the technique and the language by simply listening to a few recordings.
After stumbling onto Tuvan throat singing and learning the technique, Pena hooked with people who had the same passion for rare international music as he did. Together, they decided to go on an expedition to Kyzyl, Tuva and document the whole thing. What resulted was an amazing journey about an outsider finding peace within himself and with others in the most unlikely of places. Not only did Pena win the contest in Tuva, he gained the respect of everyone there, and was able to perfect the throat-singing technique and Tuvan language better than most of the natives.
A similar feeling comes to mind upon describing Pena's story in the film "Genghis Blues," which was presented at the Student Union Theater yesterday at 2 p.m. Pena was a blind blues musician who had worked with the likes of Jerry Garcia, Frank Zappa, and B.B. King. He was probably most well known for two things. First, for writing the song "Jet Airliner," which became a well-known hit for the Steve Miller Band in the late 70's. Second, for his story and role in the Sundance recognized documentary "Genghis Blues," about Tuvan throat singing.
The documentary chronicled Pena's journey to a small distant land in central Asia known as Tuva to participate in a throat-singing contest. Tuva used to be an independent nation, from around 1929 to 1944, but is currently part of the Russian Federation, and is well known for traditional throat singing, a unique musical technique wherein the singers manipulates resonant tones from the back of their throats. The sound resulting from this technique is difficult to describe; it is a truly different sound that creates the illusion of more than one person harmonizing with each other. In fact, it does not even sound like something human, instead seeming like a noise that would come from some sort of instrument. The remarkable aspect of Pena's story is the fact that he simply taught himself the technique and the language by simply listening to a few recordings.
After stumbling onto Tuvan throat singing and learning the technique, Pena hooked with people who had the same passion for rare international music as he did. Together, they decided to go on an expedition to Kyzyl, Tuva and document the whole thing. What resulted was an amazing journey about an outsider finding peace within himself and with others in the most unlikely of places. Not only did Pena win the contest in Tuva, he gained the respect of everyone there, and was able to perfect the throat-singing technique and Tuvan language better than most of the natives.
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