Choduraa Tumat - Belek: The Gift. Throat singing by Tuvan women (2005)

As the title suggests, this album is Choduraa`s “gift” for her listeners as well as an expression of her own musical gift. Andwhat agiftitis! Her vocal range is astonishing. She slips with ease between the glottal gymnastic of throat-singing to the plaintive tones of a lullaby or love song, and the ritual imitative calls of animal husbandry. Her instrumental ability is equally impressive as she conjures up the taiga and steppes of Tyva with the igil fiddle or khomus lute and sings of

Her love with the demir khomus jew’s harp/ she shines as a beacon for women – in Tyva and worldwide – for having the strength to break the traditional genbder taboo and perform khoomei, and for standing up to be counted among the wonderful musicians of  Tyva”.

                                                        Dr Carole Pegg - director of “Inner Asian music”, UK ; Senior Researcher at the University of Cambridge, England.