AYARKHAAN
Ayarkhaan is the name of a long-established female vocal group from Sakha, also known as Yakutia, a republic within the Russian Federation. The group was created in 2002 with the personal initiative of Ms. Albina Degtyareva. Albina was born in the little village of Kyrgyday, Republic of Sakha, in Eastern Siberia, Russia and now is living in Yakutsk, the capital of the Republic, that is also formerly known as Yakutia. Currently she works as a khomus (Jew's Harp) music teacher at Yakutsk Music College and as the artist of Yakutia's State Variety Art Theater. Albina also has made research work for International Khomus Center (known also as Yakutsk Khomus Museum). Graduated from Yakutsk State University with major in the Sakha language and literature. Since 1991 she performs on stage as a professional artist. Well-known outside of the Sakha Republic and Russia. Considered as the promoter of khomus music. Her Jew's-harp playing is notable for gifted creativity, individual style, subtle technique, and strong improvisation. Her well-known compositions are At a Tethering Post, Lullaby, The World of Nature, Home Tunes, etc. She rediscovered and brought back to the listeners some of the oldest singing styles pof the Skaha people – nasal, throat, palatal singing. Those techniques are effectively used in Albina's music and theatrical performance. Being a khomus master-player, Albina Degtyareva deserved the right to be the honored representative of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) when it concerns the expression of her people's soul. She regularly participates in many official events arranged by Yakutia's Government within Russia and abroad. She took part in Days of the Republic in Moscow, St.Petersburg, Khabarovsk, China, Japan (EXPO 2005), and other places. Albina Degtyareva made music for a number of film and TV productions. For instance, the movies “The Echo of Centuries” (1984), “The Yakut Ballad” (2000), “Congeners” (2001). She appears on various CDs, released in Russia, Austria and Japan. She is also known as a skillful clothes designer for her stage shows. Her costumes done in traditional style earned the Grand-Prix of Yakutia fashion competition “Saharha” in 1997. She is a poetess as well. Her works have been published in printed media.
To promote the living Yakut ethnic music and singing, Albina Degtyareva established a group “Ayarkhaan” in 2002. This group performs many Jew's Harp based pieces, created and arranged by Albina, revives various lost manners of singing – khabarha yryata, tanalai yryata, etc. The concert program is based on inherent symbols of the shamanistic Sakha mythology: Creation of the World, Patron of Horses, sacral Birch Tree, blacksmiths' profession etc. Ayarkhaan's voices and Jew's harps appeal directly to spirits of nature and to listener's soul. Ayarkhaan was created in 2002 by sound alchemist Albina Degtyareva to share with the world this ancient shamanistic music of the Sakha people.From the outset, it should be said that this is one of the strangest, most exotic specimens of music Western ears could expect to behold. Ayarkhaan is a group of specialists in the art of playing the khomus, a metal instrument that fits in the mouth and functions like a Jew's harp. For years, Ayarkhaan have been leaders in the revival and preservation of the traditional music of Sakha, which has ancient animistic roots. Thanks to their live performances many almost forgotten singing techniques such as "khabarha yryata" and "tangalai yryata" (guttural and palatal kinds of singing) became popular again among the people. Only with the voice and khomus members of Ayarkhaan simulate sounds of animals, birds and nature. But these are not occasional sound effects or cheap tricks. Albina composes and arranges music for the world’s tiniest instrument. Her compositions are inspired by a tradition that has been handed down for centuries but also they reflect very modern musical thinking. She transforms ancient techniques and traditional melodies in to a work of truly epic scale, digging into the very source of music and linking “natural” and “spiritual”. Scholars, critics and the audiences alike have hailed Ayarkhaan as the vanguard sound of the Yakut khomus: “Hurricane of sounds from Yakutian khomuses substituting a violoncello, a saxophone, an electric guitar and not less than third of symphonic orchestra – that is the level of the mastery”. Apart of Albina, today’s five-piece Ayarkhaan includes two outstanding khomus players Nariyana Renanto and Alisa Savvinova, and also Albina’s twin daughters Nurguyaana and Tuyaara, who opened a khomus school in Moscow.
Albina Degtyareva and Ayarkhaan's stage performance and their self-developed costumes always create a furor and accept the warmest welcomes. One wouldn't expect such an impact from a few tiny ladies playing one of the world's smallest instruments. When in November 2009 Albina performed solo in Amsterdam in the Milky Way Club at Balkan Revolutia festival, the usually loud Dutch audience stood still holding breath from the very first to the very last note she played, only to explode in loudest applause of appreciation.
(Extracts from reviews by Uncle Dave Lewis and by Joshua Cheek are used this text).
~ 2003 Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation: “I know that there are many talented people in the North, but today I especially admired the professional performance of Yakut traditional music on khomus.”
~ 2004 Alexander Khloponin, Governor of Krasnoyarsk Region, Russia: “I was deeply impressed by performance of Ayarkhaan. I consider myself as the admirer of your creative work. Many thanks for your performance!”
~ 2004 Artemy Troitsky, journalist, music critic: “I have listened to khomus music many times, but I listen to khomus sounding as a whole orchestra for the first time. And I think that such songs, performed by Ayarkhaan, can nowhere be found in the world.”
~ 2006 Franz Kumpl, President of the International Jew’s harp society: “I thought that I knew sounding of Yakut khomus well but Ayarkhaan opened the new ways of playing this instrument.”
http://www.reverbnation.com/ayarkhaan
Ayarkhaan received numerous awards at various Russian and international ethnic/ folk music festivals. Among earned trophies, for instance, there are:
the Grand-Prix of
• the Russian Festival “The Lights of the North” (Syktyvkar, 2003),
• the 2nd World Ethno Music Festival “Sayanring” (Krasnoyarsk, 2004),
the laureate of
• the International Khomus Festival “Il Khomus” (Yakutsk, 2004),
• the International Live Music Festival “The Magic of the Voice” (Brozlav / Poland, 2005),
• the International Verbal Folk Traditions Festival (Warsaw / Poland, 2005),
• the International Khomus Festival (Kyzyl / Russia, 2005).
In the last years Ayarkhaan was a headliner of the following events:
• the International Live Music Festival in Chadan (Tyva / Russia),
• the International Ethno Music Festival in Moscow (Russia),
• the International Live Music Festival “Riddu, Riddu” in Minland (Norway),
• the International Turks Music Festival “The Music of the Great Steppe” in Kyzyl Orda (Kazakhstan).
Recognized as the best group at the V International Jew's-harp Music Congress in Amsterdam (the Netherlands).
Sayan Ring Festival, Shushenskoe. Albina is a resident member of the jury at this festival.
AYARKHAAN links
Information
http://ayarkhaan.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html
Videos
Live concert on Sayan Ring Festival in summer 2010.
http://vimeo.com/22406363
Band's promo film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAS70WlQz2AHYPERLINK
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