March 1st, Alash, Tuvan throat singer's assembly

Dartmouth's Outreach brought Mascoma High School, Alash, an ensemble of Tuvan throat singers, for an all school assembly on March 1st. The assembly was part of a two-weeks residency with Alash at Dartmouth's Hopkins Center for the Arts. Mascoma greatly enjoyed the performance and many followed Alash to their next show at the Rollins Chapel at Dartmouth. There was an overwhelmingly positive reaction to the performance -- it was beyond what the students could have imagined. We are grateful to Dartmouth Outreach for this amazing show. Below is information from their web site:

"Testing the limits of vocal ingenuity, throat-singers can create sounds unlike anything in ordinary speech and song - carrying two musical lines simultaneously, say, or harmonizing with a waterfall. (Theodore C. Levin and Michael E. Edgerton, Scientific American, September 20, 1999).
Alash, an ensemble of young musicians from Republic of Tuva, Russia, will perform traditional throat singing accompanied by indigenous instruments, in its only New York concert. Named after a Tuvan river, the group was created in 1999 under the artistic leadership of Ondar Kongar-ool (pictured performing with Alash), a prominent Tuvan musician and protagonist of the Award winning film Genghis Blues. Alash has won numerous awards in festivals and competitions throughout Russia, Central Asia, and Europe."