Tuva.rock - Sound Recording Review

New Internationalist, August, 2003

by Yat-Kha (Yat 003)

Coming from a land where electricity generators routinely pack up before midnight, it's mystifying how Tuva's Yat Kha--the word means both 'poor relative' and a Tuvan violin--manage to find the energy to rock out. But, led by guitar hero Albert Kuvezin, the quartet have produced an album that fairly gallops across the Steppes.

Combining racing guitar solos with sub-bass overtone vocals, tuva.rock is an album that embraces both past and present. Kuvezin--previously a founder of Hunn-Tuur-Tu, the Tuvan folk band who, alongside singer Sainkho Namchylak, put this former Soviet Asian state on the world's musical map, has found an easy balance between kanzat throat-singing and heavily amplified guitar and drums.

For all its party-time thrash metal tendencies, tuva.rock has moments of numinous delicacy. 'Amdy Baryp', a traditional love song possessed of a poignantly beautiful lyric, stands out as a poised duet between Kuvezin's gruff vocals and the lighter style of Radik Tiuliush. Its mood is something of an exception; 'Come Along' and Voyager' are more typical, jaunty songs, their complex rhythms imitating the beat of horses on the move.

Maybe Yat-Kha's lyrical prowess leaves something to be Desired--although it is possible that 'Hey! Nomads!/ Let's be playing rock / Tuva.Rock' sounds better in the native tongue. But Yat-Kha have time--and a serious engagement with the outside world--on their side.

Rating *** LG www.yat-kha.com

STAR RATING

EXCELLENT    *****
VERY GOOD    ****
GOOD         ***
FAIR         **
POOR         *