On Thursday night I went to one of the most amazing concerts I've ever attended. The Mongolian Morin Khuur Orchestra is making its first visit to Canada. Two of its eight performances are in Saskatchewan (Saskatoon and Regina), mostly because of strong agricultural ties between Sask. and Mongolia. The University of Saskatchewan was partly responsible for the visit. The beautiful, traditional Mongolian clothing was an exotic contrast to the European elegance of Third Avenue United Church, but the music brought western and eastern classical music together brilliantly. Some of the instruments were the same as western ones (piano, flute and tympani), others were very similar (ex. resembling a cello), and some looked quite different (ex. a "horse-headed fiddle" that is held vertically on the musician's lap).

Shar Chimedtseye, referred to in the program as a "merited actress", gave a vocal performance that stunned the audience (in a good way). Other highlights were a Mongolian folk dancer, a graceful female contortionist, and men who did traditional throat singing that differs from the Inuit type.

The diatonic throat singing in Mongolia (and some other parts of central Asia) is called huumii (overtone singing). "The melody is formed by changing the shape of the mouth cavity as the resonating body for the vibration of the vocal cords, which at the same time makes it easy to emphasize the tone of the melody by strongly producing vowels." Each singer creates two tones, which combine to form a third "overtone".