SAINKHO NAMTCHYLAK

Sainkho Namtchylak was born in the former Soviet Republic of Tuva in Southern Siberia, near the Mongolian border.
Her grandparents were nomads and her parents were both school teachers.
She studied music at the local college and went on her own to Moscow to complete her studies there.

While pursuing her normal college curriculum she also studied various Siberian lamaistic and shamanistic traditions, as well as the local Tuvan and Mongolian throat/overtone singing styles.
She then began her professional career as a folk singer with "Sayani", the Tuvan State Folk Ensemble, touring throughout Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Canada.

In 1988 Sainkho began to work with creative, improvisational musicians in the Soviet Union, striving to blend traditional ethnic elements with modern styles.
She was a key member of the ensemble "Tri-O " and she stimulated attention from the western media because her appearance was so exotic.

Suddenly the public encountered strange tunes, songs with two voices, overtone melodies blended with jazz, new music and ambient sounds in a transglobal context.
Mongolian overtone singing was already known in the West, but now it had been liberated from its esoteric corner in the World Music reservation. "It is the moment and it is the music - categories are not necessary". This is one of Sainkho's firm convictions.
She feels her powerful roots in the Tuvan traditions and uses improvisation to express and enhance them.

Sainkho currently spends time between Vienna, Moscow, Amsterdam and Milano, when she is not touring worldwide, performing both solo and with her new ensemble.

"Life is a great journey through illusion. Every moment of this journey is so intense. Some people play with it, some people try to learn how to win it, some people just pass through it!

... I'm sinking into every passing moment. And I'm grateful for this illusion which presents me every second with a new fruit to taste.

Sweetness, sorrow, anger, happiness, passion and depression. All is Fullness and Emptiness.

Oh, what a taste!
... I'm born naked and I will die naked.
All I can take from this great illusion called Life is my Spirit...".

Sainkho