Singing features at Troubadour folk club

The Troubadour Folk Club will hold its next concert on Saturday, April 28, at the Woy Woy CWA Hall with tuition from Christina and Chris Sainsbury and a performance from Bukhchuluun Ganburged (Bukhu).

The singing workshop will kick off the night from 5pm until 6:15pm and will consist of singing techniques and singing warm ups as well as instruction on singing two or three songs in three or four part harmony which will be performed at the following concert from 7pm.

Ms Sainsbury has been running choirs and singing workshops on the Central Coast for a number of years, including the Bouddi Voice Choir and Shakti Women's Choir.

She is well known for her kirtan (yogic singing of mantras) and has also sung in jazz, world music and art music ensembles.

She studied singing at the University of New England Northern Rivers where she completed her Bachelor of Arts in 1991 and then later completed a Graduate Diploma in Music Therapy at the University of Technology Sydney.

She is now working as a music therapist on the Central Coast.

Bukhu, a masters student of the Music and Dance Conservatory of Ulaanbaatar, will kick off the 7pm concert with his folk music of Mongolia.

He said that, in his music, he explores the aural dimensions of sounds generated by traditional instruments and harmonic overtone vocal techniques.

He aimed to present a contemporary take on the tradition of Mongolian bards of the middle ages and those of ancient times, acting as a national memory bank by working mythologies, historic figures and events into traditional verse form.

A cultural ambassador of his country, Bukhu combines Morin Khurr (horse head fiddle) and Khuumii (harmonic overtone throat singing) skills to transmit the harmony of Mongolian shamanic culture through time and space, said folk club publicity office Ms Willy Timmerman.

"He embodies the spirit of reinterpreted narratives through verse which is key to the enchanting powers of folk traditions, combined with influences from contemporary music woven into the fabric of these arrangements," she said.

"An accomplished composer of contemporary music in his own right, Bukhu's songs incorporate elements of genres as diverse as overtone throat singing, harmonic chant, folk, classical, blues, metal and, more recently, electronic and hip-hop."

He has played for audiences in France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Czech, Luxemburg, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Austria and Australia, with the Morin Khuur Ensemble, Khangal Quartet and Domog folk band.

Email, 10 Apr 2012

Willy Timmerman, Troubadour

Photo: Bukhchuluun Ganburged