Very little indigenous music from the former Soviet Union is known to the West. This recording, from 1988, offers a rich sampling from many of the more than 100 ethnic groups within this vast region. The record begins with passionate Lithuanian lullabies and proceeds through ancient seasonal and ceremonial village songs from southern and northern Russia and the asymmetrical dance rhythms performed by Estonian bagpipers. From the distant Mongolian frontier, the amazing art of Tuvan multiphonic “throat singing” can be heard as well as the richly harmonic male choral singing still practiced in Georgia.
(if your interested in Tuvan Throat Singing i posted an album previously Chöömej, Throat-Singing From The Center Of Asia along with tracks featured in Herzog’s documentary Little Dieter Needs To Fly or is it Rescue Dawn?). An album called The Spirit of The Steppes (Throat Singing From Tuva and Beyond) can be got at Moon Musick.
