Sakha Traditional Music

Sakha traditional music is the indigenous music of the Sakha (Yakut) people of north-eastern Siberia, centred on the khomus, a lamellate jew's harp whose buzzing, overtone-rich twang is shaped by the player's mouth, breath and glottal stops into an imitative, almost vocal sound world. Around it stand the olonkho, a heroic epic sung solo for hours or whole nights, and the improvised toyuk song, alongside shamanic chant, the osuokhai round dance and ritual blessing verse (algys). Repertory is transmitted orally by recognised masters; breath and resonance, not harmony, carry the expression, and much of the music remains bound to rite, season and place.