There are many throat singers in Tuva, but "Tuvinian Shalyapin" -Kongar-ool (name) Ondar (last name) was specially invited to the camp by "Paradise" to sing for the tourists. This man is so promoted, that he is more often abroad than home, and even recorded a disk together with famous jazzman Pol Pena. Kongar-ool teaches throatsingins at the Kizyl College of Arts, and his students play national instruments and sing together with him in an ensemble. One of them, 18-years old young man, was working such wonders with his throat, that we even couldn't help asking him to emit somethingspecial with his "inhuman" voice. He did - and his voice was standard.
I could estimate the combination of throat singing and jazz only in Moscow, when I heard a disc that Ibought fromKongar-ool. The tandem is very peculiar, I liked that. But was was the most interesting, two weeks later after my arrival from the trip I found it out that my progressive kids-teenagers "expropriated" the disks and listen to the "cute" music with pleasure.
On the whole, we should admit, that these sounds, simultaneously deep as canyons and high like mountains and long like steppes, make a some hypnotic action on the listeners, it just captivates them. How can it be explained in other way, that the next day we all were peeping, scratching and groaning together, trying to simulate that what Kongar-ool and his students were doing with their voices. And since we couldn't succeed, we bought small khomuses in a suveneer shop in Kizyl, these are the small Tuvan instruments, and started mastering them. We should amnit, that the most persistent were a success. Anyway, Victor Cheporenko, the general director of "Krasniy Telefon" ("Red Phone"), even was accompanying songs of our Tuvan guide woman Aldinai with khomus. And our tourists also buy Tuvan hats and robes in Kizyl with pleasure, adornments and statuettes made of agalmatolite - a beautiful stone which is called "soap" because of its softness.There is a monument of the centre of Aia in Kizyl, that is symbolically located not far from the place of two rivers conjunction - Biy Khem (Big Yenisei) and Ka0Khem (Small Yenisei). Further the famous, crossing Siberian from the South to the North, great Yenisei starts. We have been to the Buddhist temple and even heard the sermon of the real lama. But the main part of the Tuvan program - is, of course, shamans.

To be continued.
Irina Tyurina