Vocal Evocations of Sakha-Yakutia, Siberia (2)

Sakha traditional music is the indigenous music of the Sakha (Yakut) people of northeastern Siberia. It centers on epic chant (Olonkho), ritual incantations (algys), improvisatory song (toyuk), and highly developed timbral techniques, especially the khomus (Jew’s harp). The sound world is characterized by monophonic vocal lines ornamented with glottal shakes, trills, and overtone-rich timbres; flexible, speech-like rhythms; and drones or ostinati produced by the khomus or frame drum. Much of the repertoire imitates the natural environment—wind, rivers, reindeer, horses—and encodes cosmology, ethics, and communal memory. While deeply ancient and rooted in shamanic practice, Sakha traditional music has continued to evolve through contact with neighboring Turkic and Mongolic cultures, Russian liturgical and folk traditions, and modern stage practice.