Yat-Kha

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 (), 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

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"