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.

Biography
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,” which refers to a type of small, Central Asian 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)

Current

 * Albert Kuvezin (vocals, Throat singing, Guitar, Bass guitar, Chanzy, Khomus, Yat-Kha)
 * Sholban Mongush (igil, vocal)
 * "Theodore Scipio" (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"