Recap Huun Huur Tu at Stoughton Opera House

In all honesty, it was alarming to see producer Carmen Rizzo stationing himself behind two laptops on the stage of the ornate Stoughton Opera House Saturday night as Tuvan folk veterans (and Rizzo’s collaborators on 2009’s Eternal) Huun Huur Tu sat on the chairs in front of him. Would an electro-whiz sporting a five-o’clock shadow and business-casual outfit pull this special and rare experience within a New York house beat of the next Pure Moods compilation? Thankfully, the answer was no. As Rizzo’s beat crept into the droning igil arrangements of set-opener “Orphaned Land,” it became apparent that his sparse, IDM-tinged rhythms and sparse synth melodies—while adding a hint of Western influence—would not detract from Huun Huur Tu’s organic wash of Eastern folk. After two songs, Rizzo left the four Tuvans to play the rest of the set.

Between several songs, band leader Sayan Bapa thanked the crowd and attempted to tell stories about the next song (although the stories were often hard to comprehend through Bapa’s broken English). While the four members (each dressed in traditional Tuvan robes) all contributed slightly different vocal styles, they were all constantly switching instruments. Bapa often alternated between an acoustic guitar, an igil (a two-stringed bowed instrument native to Tuva), and a doshpuluur (another two-stringed instrument, but with a oddly trapezoidal body, and fingerpicked). Meanwhile, Radik Tyulyush switched between an igil and a Tuvan flute; Alexei Saryglar added a tribal thump of percussion, hammering away at a bass-y drum with bells at the top and Kaigal-ool Khovalyg played igil.

Khovalyg’s voice carried incredible range and was often the focal point of the performance. Whether he was crooning or utilizing various styles of Tuvan throat-singing (a style in which one vocalist sings two or more tones at once), he exercised incredible control Khovalyg voice, carrying one rumbling, sustained note while also conjuring up an additional melody to dance over it. In fact, one of the high points of the performance came when Khovalyg performed a traditional Tuvan song solo. In addition to singing, Khovalyg also evoked sonic imagery of forest wildlife and horses through a series of stunningly accurate grunts, calls, and whinnies in songs like “60 Horses In My Herd” and “Mother Earth, Father Sky.” Saryglar would also color in these visuals with galloping rhythms and horn calls.

If there was one mild drawback from the HHT’s performance, it was probably the unnerving chatter of bats—real, not vocalized—that chirped on through closing encore “Good Horses.” One of the critters even flew over the audience as Bapa told a story. The audience erupted in one huge gasp, but Bapa—who apparently hadn’t seen the bat—just thought they were gasping at his words, to which he bowed and replied “yes, yes, thank you.”

Toward the end of the set, Rizzo rejoined the group for a few songs, and the collaborators closed the set proper with the primal shuffle of “Ancestor’s Call.” Rizzo and HHT took a long bow as the audience gave a thunderous standing ovation. The tribal stomp of “Good Horses” wrapped up the band’s double encore and the bewildered audience chattered amongst themselves. We can only hope that this well-attended show will encourage the Stoughton Opera House to book more world music.