Nasanjargal Ganbold & Johanni Curtet (MN/FR) – Etnosoi!

Imagine for a moment the cultural homeland of Mongolia’s steppes. A place where traditional music links to the environment and nomadic philosophy.

Mongolian soundscape strives in dialogue with nature through their instruments, such as the morin khuur horse fiddle or the tovshuur lute, as well as with their voices, through praises or throat-singing.

Nasanjargal Ganbold (aka Nasaa), a master in the field, comes from the Altai, the cradle of khöömii in Mongolia. Nasaa excels in different khöömii and throat singing techniques. As a multi-instrumentalist, he contributes to the renewal of traditional music through the creation of arrangements using morin khuur fiddle, bishguur oboe, and tovshuur lute. After abundant soloist and collaborative career, production, and release of CDs with groups Börte, Hosoo-Transmongolia, and Sedaa, his latest musical project from 2023 is co-founding a quartet Tengerton as well as performing in a duo with Mongolian folk singer Sara Teamusician.

Through the accompaniment of Johanni Curtet, a specialist in throat-singing in the West whose rich ethnomusicological background raises awareness of the diverse Mongolian tradition in academic and filmographic circles, they create musical worlds dedicated to nomadic culture through a journey far beyond the mountains, reaching into the wide open spaces. To provide a setting for the vocal art of khöömii, their repertoire strives to imitate the sonority of nature, praises to the surrounding entities, ancient and contemporary poems, solo instrumental pieces, and throat-singing improvisations.

The collaboration between the diverse Mongolian musicality enriched with the quality of the ethnomusicological approach leads the audience on a unique journey through harmonics where the art of khöömii unites them.

Nasanjargal Ganbold – khöömii, throat-singing, morin khuur fiddle, tovshuur lute, bishguur oboe, mouth harp
Johanni Curtet – khöömii, throat-singing, dombra lute, guitar, mouth harp

Nb! Nasanjargal Ganbold replaces Batsükh Dorj mentioned in the advance information for this concert.

Duration: 1 hour 15 minutes

More information about the concert and the festival: etnosoi.fi