EVERY GENRE PROJECT - April 10 (100 Day Special!) - Altai Traditional Music

Genre of the Day - Altai Traditional Music

Album of the Day - XXI Century by Altai Kai (2006)

April 10, 2024

To kick off this article, I wanted to celebrate 100 days of this column! It’s been a challenge, but I wouldn’t trade any of the genres I’ve experienced thanks to this blog for the world. A top reader of mine suggested that I rank all the albums I’ve heard. While that sounds like an undertaking beyond my scope—and one of the biggest things I’ve learned is that you can really enjoy any music if you give it enough time—I thought it’d be fun to make lists of the 10 most enjoyable genres and the 10 most challenging. Enjoy! Thank you for reading! <3

100 DAY SPECIAL! 

Most Enjoyable Genres

1. Funkot (Bandung bergoyang by Barakatak)

2. Dub (King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown by King Tubby)

3. UK Drill (Alpha Place by Knucks)

4. Bachaton (Self-Curated Anthology)

5. C-pop (babyMINT Loading… Fun! by 薄荷水晶)

6. Exotica (Mambo! by Yma Sumac)

7. Amami shima-uta (Amami by 朝崎郁恵 [Asazaki Ikue] & 高橋明)

8. Zhabdro gorgom (Music From the Mountains of Bhutan by Sonam Dorji)

9. Neurohop (Polychrome by KOAN Sound) 

10. Son jarocho (Sones of Mexico by Trío Aguilillas)

Most Challenging Listens

1. Serialism (Schoenberg: Streichquartette I-IV by Arnold Schoenberg)

2. Martial Industrial (Masse Mensch Material by ROME)

3. Moombahcore (Every Weekend by Hadouken!) 

4. Black MIDI (Potential by Sunik Kim)

5. Japanese Hardcore (Far East Hardcore Punk by Enslave)

6. Pipe Band (Bagrock to the Masses by Red Hot Chilli Pipers) 

7. Tecnobrega (Jaguatirica Print by Luísa e os Alquimistas)

8. Future Bounce (Self-Curated Anthology)

9. Spectralism (Les espaces acoustiques by Gérard Grisey)

10. Saeta (Saetas by Salako)

While European Russians might constitute the densest and most relatively liveable parts of the massive country, in terms of how we as Americans perceive Russia, the nearly 9% population of Turkic peoples that still reside across most of the central and eastern parts of the country often flies under the radar. While Siberia conjures up images of the gulags and general inhospitality, so many groups have been living and surviving there for centuries. Today’s genre is a picture into the hardships, joys, and ancient history of that life. 

The Altai have a particularly fascinating cultural history. Traditionally practicing shamanism and animistic faiths, the Altai fiercely resisted the proselytizing efforts of Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism to retain their cultural heritage. In the early 1900s, some Altai thinkers went even further to try and culturally set apart their ethnic republic with the development of Burkhanism, a religion that sought to unite disparate Turkic groups and eschewed certain shamanic practices while retaining some as well as incorporating elements of Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity. While ultimately suppressed by the suspicious Soviets, it represents the unique cultural situation of the Altai and the desire to not be subsumed into any other culture, an impulse that lends itself into their music.

Another more musical phenomenon that is embedded in traditional Altai music: throat singing. Synonymous with the music of many Turkic and Mongolian cultures, throat singing is likely a product of the environment: it carries well over vast expanses of land. Physiologically, research sort of eludes me on what exactly is happening in the larynx while throat singing. As best I can understand, it’s just really deep singing that produces overtones that make it sound as if multiple tones are emanating from one’s throat. However, there are also throat singing techniques—there are a few, all producing different pitches—that reach deep into the vestibular folds that are connected to the vocal cords but aren’t actually part of them, producing an extremely deep, rich sound. 

Today’s genre feels like folk music in the truest form: each song encompasses both female and male singers, singing across the whole range of the human voice from the deepest throat singing to beautiful soprano cooing. Additionally, the music incorporates the environment around to truly situate the listener in the Altai Republic. There’s ambient noises of dogs barking, bird sounds, and horses neighing. While many of the songs bring a sense of drama and dark-edged lute strumming that create a heavy solemnity, there’s also brighter moments like “Summer” representing the reprieves of summer in treacherous land. “Play, Play, My Khomus” brings in out-of-left-field local instruments, one of which resembles the didgeridoo. It’s an excellent listen that feels cinematic in its sense of cultural grandeur and deep connection to place.