— The ensemble from Tuva is notable for the broad stylistic range of their music, especially for khoomei, the famous Tuvan throat singing.
Kaigal-ool Khovalyg, the Bapa brothers — Alexander and Sayan — and Albert Kuvezin founded their khoomei quartet in 1992 under the name of Kungurtuk, which they changed soon after.
"Huun-Huur-Tu" (Хүн Хүртү in Tuvan) means sunbeams piercing clouds, to which the musicians liken singing voices.
Huun-Huur-Tu's music produces a magical impression. Drawing on the Tuvan folk heritage, the music further develops throat singing traditions, to the accompaniment of ancient folk instruments: the doshpuluur (three-string plucked lute, a distant ancestor of the banjo), the igil (two-string fiddle with a carved elliptical body), the khomus (jaw harp) and different kinds of drums, alongside the conventional guitar.
The group sang in concerts and for sound recordings with such stars as Stevie Wonder, Frank Zappa, Ry Cooder, the Kronos Quartet, Mickey Harte and Bob Weir (The Grateful Dead), Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Ravi Shankar, Trilok Gurtu, Fun-Da-Mental, the Kodo drummers, Hazmat Modine, The Chieftains, and the Angelite women's choir from Bulgaria.
Some of the Huun-Huur-Tu performers toured the United States with the Tuva ensemble in 1993, captivating audiences with their sensational music. That year also saw the release of the singers' first album, "60 Horses in My Herd." They have appeared since then at almost all world music, jazz and rock festivals, and have sung about a thousand concerts in every part of the world. They made 16 tours of the US and Canada, and sang many times in European countries, Japan, Australia, Mexico, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.