Okna Tsahan Zam

Okna Tsahan Zam (also known as Vladimir Karuyev, Владимир Каруев) (b. 1957) is a Kalmyk Mongol folk singer, known for his throat singing and as a performer of the Kalmyk national epic Jangar.

Okna Tsahan Zam
Born1957 (age 63–64)
Republic of Kalmykia
GenresThroat singing
Occupation(s)Folk singer

Biography

Okna Tsahan Zam does not have a traditional music education. According to an interview he gave to Tim Cope, an adventure filmmaker and author, he was educated in Moscow as a nuclear engineer and worked at a nuclear power plant. He turned to Kalmyk culture in his twenties and became a performer of the national epic Jangar. He toured extensively in Mongolia, as well as in Europe.[1]

Okna Tsahan Zam performs in the Khoomei style, a type of Tuvan throat singing, common in Mongolia, Tuva and Siberia. In 2005, he collaborated with Tanya Tagaq, a Canadian Inuit throat singer, and Wimme, a Sami yoiker from Finland, to release the recording Shaman Voices.[2] According to The Concise Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, he "intersperses traditional Mongolian stringed and wind instruments and throat-singing styles with natural steppeland sounds and experiments with urban remixes".[3]

Okna Tsahan Zam is a recipient of the Mongolian Order of the Polar Star, the highest civilian award Mongolia can present to a foreign citizen.[4] In 2002, he was awarded the Mongolian Golden Microphone Award for his song Edjin Duun.[5]

References
  1. Tim Cope (2015): On the Trail of Genghis Khan: An Epic Journey Through the Land of the Nomads, Bloomsbury Publishing, ISBN 978-1608194469
  2. C. Parker (2005): Shaman Voices, The Wire, Issues 251-256
  3. Ellen Koskoff: The Concise Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 2
  4. "Vladimir Karuev awarded the highest order of Mongolia", Kamykia News
  5. Okna Tsahan Zam, Last.fm
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