Indigenous Lifeforms, a Siberian art collective from Yakutia, produce collaborations between ecstatic/psychedelic performers of Siberia/Central Asia with improvisers and alternative music creators from other countries.
On Siberia Extreme, Chyskyyrai (real name: Valentina Romanova) collaborates with Tim Hodgkinson and Ken Hyder, who have been performing together since 1978 and are known for their explorations of shamanic cultures and free jazz. They have worked with the Soviet Jazz Federation for many years and, in 1990, the pair visited Siberia as the Shams. Their stops included Yakuia in the northernmost republic of Siberia, where Chyskyyrai comes from.
Chyskyyrai sings in a variety of traditional vocal techniques, drawing on folk songs and animal imitation, but most of all on the ancient mythological epic Olonkho, which has many archaic delivery styles. Traditionally, the Olonkho storytellers or olonkhosuts traveled from community to community, tribe to tribe, and performed the same function as a shaman. Mostly they were regarded as spiritual guides, teachers and keepers of cultural values. Their performances could last for several days, and were not just entertainment but also the way of teaching that people are not separate from nature and attuned them to it.
Indigenous Lifeforms’ Siberia Extreme begins with “Khara Tuun,” an extraordinary track with vocals which at times sound like a bird of the chicken family and at others like some spirit rising from the depths. The ethereal singing, the expressive high rises and the incredible warble achieved at the end is at once frankly weird and at the same time has an odd familiarity to it. There is occasionally a definite Nina Hagen-esque touch – and at others, Chyskyyrai is in another place entirely.
“Tuul” is more open in texture with resonant percussion, adding atmosphere to the deeply emotive vocals. You do not have to understand the words to comprehend the emotional content of the vocal lines. “Degeren” is a mystical beast of a number with several rhythmic patterns echoed in the drums and vocals. The almost talking tone of the vocals is mesmeric, and the change of rhythm, coupled with sharp whispy intakes of breath, adds an air of urgency in the final section.
“The North” is atmospheric, eerie and evocative of wild spaces, and is backed by deep, resonant strings and steady percussion. The rhythm picks up, achieving a trance-like state, over which the vocals weave and morph from deep chest voice to wails and chirrups like a forest full of animals until the quietening of the ending. “Khomus” has warping, metallic-sounding strings under strange percussive devices.
“Chabyrghakh Oghoto” is packed with sounds, some familiar, others unknown and ethereal. A bonkers sax interlude sings and hails its presence as the wholly foreign vocals vie with it for attention. A stand-out track, this has many parts, and each is different and packed into just under six minutes. The punky, punctuated vocals are superb, and once again, the language is foreign but the message understood. The rhythmic patterns are just glorious.
“Mokkuor” finishes Indigenous Lifeforms’ Siberia Extreme, with the singer in shamanic mode, shouting the story and delivering tuneful episodes one after the other, over punchy rhythms and off-set reactionary phrases. There are birds aplenty, strange spiritual essences and a 12-minute journey into sounds of a different nature.
This unique recording captures the essence of spiritual, shamanic story-telling, and the union of very Western improvisation under the searing, soaring vocals is somehow incredibly engaging. An interesting thing about this particular culture is that only women preserved the possessed (menerik) or trance (kuyar) style of singing. The men lost it, and according to Misha Maltsev, the agent who introduced me to the music, the men are simply scared of women singing in a possessed manner.
Maybe they should be. Indigenous Lifeforms’ Siberia Extreme is magical music.
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