Core Members
Andy Bauer
Residence: Colorado, USA
Citizenship: U.S.A.
Languages: English, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Vietnamese, Uyghur and some Tuvan
Credentials: B.A. Asian Studies & Economics, MA Cultural Anthropology, Ph.D. Cultural Anthropology
Date of Birth: February 19th, 1983
Specialties: 12-String Guitar, American Folk Singing, Tuvan Throat Singing, Synthesizer, Uyghur Ghirjek, Tuvan Igil, Polyglot Vocals
Son of a woodworker family in Colorado, he became interested in music during the first year of high school and absorbed the enthusiasms of his mother and father for 70s rock becoming a 12-string acoustic guitar player interested studying and then singing in many different languages. He has collaborated with Greywolf Band, Alash Ensemble, and members of Huun Huur Tu as well as Tawn Touch songwriting with definite influences from Central Asian music and culture. He studied throat singing under Bady-Dorju Ondar and has been a surnayist for the Uyghur rock band Greywolf. He has a MA in Cultural Anthropology from Minzu University and is currently a Ph.D. candidate thereat. He has received an international scholarship for 8 consecutive years and mainly researches the contemporary songwriting and musical development trends in Central and Inner Asia. In 2011, he won 1st Prize for Innovation in the Minzu University Ethnic Arts Final Competition as well as 4th Prize on the Ghirjek during the Beijing International Instrumentalist Competition (Beijing, China). In 2015, he won an award for original composition, in the Khoomei at the Center of Asia competition (Kyzyl, Tuva) and an award for dedication to the international development of Mongolian and Tuvan Folk Music by an Inner Mongolian organization.
Activity Highlights
2002 Japan International Khoomei Festival (Tokyo, Japan)
2002 Tokyo Foreign Language University (Tokyo, Japan)
2011-2013 w/Greywolf (Columbia University/California University/Beijing)
2012-2013 Solo Concert w/Nanjing Bar (Nanjing, Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Guangzhou)
2012 National Amusement Park (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia)
2012 Performance and Lecture Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok, Thailand)
2013 Collaborative Concert “Winter” Swallow Hill Music (Denver, Colorado)
2014 Solo Performance w/Alash Ensemble (Beijing, China & Minzu University)
2015 Solo Performance in Kyzyl, Tuva (International Khoomei Festival & Competition)
2016 Living Mythologies “Inner Astronomy Tour” (Peking Uni., Minzu Uni., Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, Hangzhou)
2017 Wumeng Prairie Festival (Guizhou, China)
2017 Kongor-ool Ondar International Memorial Concert (Kyzyl, Tuva)
Collaborative Projects
1999 Formed rock band “Uriaha”
2002 Released first solo album “Withrough”
2001-2005 Cornell College Orchestra Bassist
2008 Formed “Elephants with Guns”
2011-Present Worked with Greywolf Band on studio albums and international tours
2012-2013 Worked on collaborative music project with H’mong musician Diegui and toured China
2014 Completed music field survey of Tuvan music after doing fieldwork with Valentina Suzukei
2015 Commenced work with Radik Tyulyush (Huun Huur Tu) and Azmat Hekim (Hanhong) for
2016-2018 Living Mythologies Inner Astronomy Tour (China, Russia, U.S.A.)
Radik Tyulyush (Радик Түлүш)
Residence: Kyzyl, Tuva (Russian Federation)
Citizenship: Russian Federation
Languages: Tuvan, Russian, English, German
Credentials: B.A. Music, MA Musicology
Date of Birth: June 25th, 1974
Specialties: Byzaanchy, Shoor, Igil, Tuvan Folk Singing, Tuvan Throat Singing, Jew’s Harp, Guitar, Cello
The son of a chauffeur father and doctor mother from the southwest of Tuva, Radik Tyulyush is working with great effort for the development of both traditional and contemporary Tuvan music as an inheritor of the folk art. Radik Tyulyush learned throat singing and Tuvan folk instruments from his grandfather and uncle at remote taiga sites during the summer and in this way learned the words and melodies of ancient Tuvan songs. He is a graduate of the Kyzyl School of Arts (Tuvan national instruments department) and the East-Siberian State Academy of Culture and Arts. He plays the igil and byzaanchy fiddles, the shoor end-blown pipe, the doshpuluur lute and the khomys (Tuvan jew’s harp). He has been a member of the Tuvan rock band “Uer” since high school which has released four albums. In the early 2000s, he worked with the pioneering group “Yat-kha” with whom he did extensive international tours. He worked on 2 of their albums one of which won first prize during the "BBC Radio 3 Award for World Music” competition. In February 2013, he released his second solo album entitled “Chalama”, which means colored ribbons tied to the branches of a tree in a sacred place or rather “ovaa” in Tuva. It contains his own new compositions that are direct extensions of traditional Tuvan music as well as his performance of traditional Tuvan songs passed down for generations. He is the youngest member of “Huun Huur Tu” and has played with the group since 2006. He has also participated in The Goshawk Project.
Activity Highlights
2007 Gotan Project (Adelaide, SA, Australia)
2009 TFF Rudolstadt 2009 (Rudolstadt, Germany)
2011 World Music Shanghai (China)
2012 Hollywood Bowl (Los Angeles, CA)
2013 Womad (Malmesbury, UK)
2013 Festival Für Vokalmusik "A Cappella" (Leipzig, Germany)
2014 Improvisation concert with Tanya Tagaq and her band, Toronto (Aga Khan museum)
2015 Royce Hall UCLA (Los Angeles, CA)
2015 Great American Music Hall (San Francisco, CA)
2015 CTM Siberia (Novosibirsk, Russia)
2015 Paléo Festival (Nyon, Switzerland)
Collaborative Projects
1999-2000 Worked in the folk group “Tyva”
1995-Present Member of Tuvan rock group “Uer”
2003 Served as director of the Tuva National Orchestra
2005 Released first solo album “Tuva: Spirits of my Land” w/Cambridge University ethnomusicologist Carole Pegg
2011 Tamikrest and Huun-Huur-Tu live at Philharmonie Berlin (Germany)
2015 Joined the Living Mythologies project in 2015 with Andy Bauer and Azmat Hekim, producing 1st album now.
2016 "Arctic Ice Music" Fordefestival 2016 Project with Terje Isungset, Evie Mark & Beatrice Deer, Sara Marielle Gaup Beaska, Maria Skranes (Norway)
Azmat Hekim (ئەزمەت ھىكىم)
Residence: Beijing, China
Citizenship: People’s Republic of China
Date of Birth: December 10th, 1973
Specialties: Percussion (Xinjiang Hand-drum, Dolan Drum, Cajón, African Drums, Conga, Bongo & Arabic Drums, Horse Hoofs
Azmat Hekim was born into an Uzbek artist family in the Aksu region of northwest China. His grandfather an educational practitioner that immigrated from Uzbekistan to China in the mid 20th century. He was interested in dance from a young age enrolling in the Aksu Dance company in his late teenage years. At the time, due to demand he was dispatched to Urumqi to learn percussion by the company with various masters, surprisingly he found himself deeply in love with the world of beats and rhythms determined to master many forms of traditional and contemporary percussion. Soon thereafter he left the group and moved to several different parts of China during the 90s participating in various ensembles and live performances. In 2000, he moved to Beijing to commence an active and rich music career involving himself with various types of projects. On the one hand, he has worked with groups focused on developing traditional Uyghur music and on the other, he has also made major contributions to the activities of contemporary Uyghur ensembles. Other than this he has taken part in a plethora of ethnic music projects. In the Uyghur percussionist category this type of breadth is rarely seen and is one of his key distinguishing points. He has a rich international performance track record in addition to all kinds of music activity within China. He has participated in music programs such as Chinese Folk Songs and Gather Happily Under One Roof on central television.
Tran Nguyen (Nguyễn Phương Trân)
Residence: Colorado, USA
Citizenship: Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Languages: Vietnamese, Chinese, English, Russian and some Tuvan
Credentials: B.A. Chinese Language, MA Ethnology, Ph.D. Ethnology, Post-Doctorate in Folklore
Date of Birth: December 4th, 1982
Specialties: Vietnamese Folk Singing and Contemporary Multilingual Singing, Dan Bau, Guitar
Born into an academic/intellectual family in Hanoi, Vietnam. Tran’s parents and two sisters are professors in the universities in Vietnam, specialized in linguistics and literature. Tran herself is an ethnology researcher at the Ethnic Minorities Study Center of China in Minzu University of China. The family has had a rich musical atmosphere in which the three sisters and their parents love to sing Vietnamese folk songs as well as contemporary songs rich in Vietnamese characteristics and spirit. Tran participated in many performing activities during her undergraduate as well as when she was a teacher in Hanoi University, Vietnam. Currently, as the producer of the band, she has been working with Living Mythologies working out challenges of transethnic production during the creation of the debut album performance preparation. She participated in Living Mythologies 2016 Inner Astronomy 10 show circuit in China touring to Shanghai, Nanjing, Guiyang, Hangzhou and Beijing.
Activity Highlights
2017 Wumeng Prairie Festival (Guizhou, China)
2017 Kongor-ool Ondar International Memorial Concert (Kyzyl, Tuva)
Collaborative Projects
2012-2014 Worked collaboratively with the local ethnic elites and activists in Altai Siberia (Russia) and the Pamir,
Badakhshan (Tajikistan) on local ethnic cultural development and revival focusing on the use local knowledge.
2015-Present Work for the Language and Culture Project under the “Belt and Road Initiative” of the Peking University, promoting Vietnamese linguistic, cultural and musical heritage.
2017-2019 Minzu University Post Doctoral Research Fellow doing comparative research regarding folklore in the borderlands of China.
Producers and Collaborators
In addition to having extensive traditional music training, our collaborative members are also largely musicians with a strong interest in different language and cultures.
Chingis Sorju
Residence: Saint-Petersburg (Russian Federation)
Citizenship: Russian Federation
Date of Birth: March 7th, 1996
Languages: Tuvan, Russian, English
Credentials: BA Sound Engineering (St. Petersburg University of the Humanities and Social Sciences)
Specialties: Sound Production, mixing, recording, mastering, engineering, music composing, singing, guitar, bass guitar, piano, percussion, Jew’s Harp
Born into a family of actors and treasury workers. His grandmother and grandfather were artists in folk ensemble «Sayan». They taught him the knowledge and skills needed for Tuvan folk art and music. In this way, he grew up in the backstage of the theater. Previously, he tried to enter The Mikhail Shchepkin Higher Theatre School in Moscow, although Chingis passed all exams he was determined too young to enter. Thereafter he enrolled into sSt. Petersburg University of the Humanities and Social Sciences in the musical sound engineering major and passed bachelor curriculum with flying colors. He is just now complete his master courses.
He became interested in music at age 11, when he heard his friend playing guitar. At age 14, he began playing in a local Tuvan punk rock band and composed songs. When he realized that he needed to record his music, he began to study sound engineering independently. Therein, he recorded his songs and musical compositions and put them on social networks, where he received good reviews. This prompted him to continue music seriously in the university.
During university days, he wrote music for films and commercials. A video with his music won the all-Russian award "Regional Brand" television contest.
Recent Collaborative Projects
2013: Commenced work at local recording studio in the Center for Development of Traditional Tuvan Culture. From the first day there began to record Tuvan Orchestra.
2014: After a several days he started to produce the album of famous Tuvan Rock band UER. He recorded, mixed and mastered their album.
2015: Also he has worked a lot with other famous tuvan music groups including Huun-Huur-Tu, Alash Ensemble, Tuvan national orchestra, Tyva ensemble, Tyva Kyzy Ensemble, Sholban Mongush (Yat-Kha), Sailyk Ommun (ex. Yat-Kha), Sayan Dembirel.
2016: Furthermore, Chingis wrote a song for member of the Russian TV show «Voice» Aleksander Ripchansky.
2017: At most recent he has worked with Living Mythologies ensemble working on 3 upcoming LP releases and two EP releases for which he has traveled internationally to complete mixing projects.
All other collaborative artists not mentioned here will be mentioned in the corresponding album recording production detail page and/or concert production detail page.
All other artist roles not directly mentioned above are listed below and pertinent details can be found on corresponding production pages elsewhere on Livingmythologies.com:
Instrumental Musicians
Radik Tyulyush (Instrumentalist and Vocalist, Huun Huur Tu, BBC WORLD MUSIC Recipient w/Yat-Kha Ensemble)
Andy Bauer (PhD Anthropology of Art, Minzu University)
Bailak Mongush (Percussionist Tuvan State Orchestra)
Ayan-ool Sam (Tuvan Instrumentalist, Moscow State University (Grammy for appearance in Bela Fleck and the Flecktones Album))
Bady-Dorzhu Ondar (People’s Khoomei-chi, Tuva (Grammy for appearance in Bela Fleck and the Flecktones Album))
Ayan Serijik (Percussionist, Alash Ensemble (Grammy for appearance in Bela Fleck and the Flecktones Album))
Patrick Chan (MA Percussion, Arkansas State University)
Azmat Hekim (Percussionist for Hanhong, Greywolf, Haya)
Prof. Alimjan (Tambur and Ruwap Player, Grammy-winning artist from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon Soundtrack)
Adil Ghirjek (Ghirjek player from China Ethnic Song & Dance Ensemble)
Yuko Nakamura (Traditional Biwa Master and Lyricist)
Eji Kamada (Japanese Igil Player)
Yasen Artan (Contemporary Uyghur Musician)
Yohei Tamura (Japanese Musician)
Memetjan Metqasim (Uyghur Folk Musician & Guitarist)
Tanju Erhol (Turkish Clarinet Master)
Vocalists
Radik Tyulyush (Instrumentalist and Vocalist, Huun Huur Tu)
Andy Bauer (PhD Anthropology of Art, Minzu University)
Yasen Artan (Uyghur Musician)
Trân Nguyễn (PhD Ethnology, Minzu University)
Belek Anay-ool (Tuvan Rap Artist)
Aiyismaa Opei (Tuvan Folk Singer)
Dongun-ool (Tuvan Folk Singer)
Angir-ool (Tuvan Folk Singer)
Memetjan Metqasim (Uyghur Musician)
Narrations
Aidysmaa Kilik (MA Anthropology, Minzu University)
Alexei Saryglar (Huun Huur Tu Ensemble)
Eji Kamada (Japanese Musician)
Supporting Vocals
Batourqier (MA Linguistics, XInjiang University)
Aidysmaa Kilik (MA Anthropology, Minzu University)
Zhao Nan (PhD Ethnology, Minzu University)
Wang Weihao (MA Opera, Minzu University)
Wurigon (Instrumentalist, Minzu University of China)
Lyrical Transliteration
Chechena Ondar (Linguist, Republic of Tuva)
Aidysmaa Kilik (MA Anthropology, Minzu University)
Studio Direction
Sean Quirk (Manager, Alash Ensemble)
Sholban Mongush (Vice Head Tuvan Cultural Center)
Tran Nguyen (Vietnamese Ethnologist)
Paizula Fulate (Uyghur Musician, BA Berkeley School of Music)
Vocal Production
Barry Brown (American Opera Singer & Vocal Producer)
Inna Damba-Huurak (Tuvan Philanthropist)
Erpan Togrul (Uyghur Electronic Musician)
Paizula Fulate (Uyghur Musician)
Lyrical Production
Molly Wang (Chinese Lyricists, MA Minzu University)
Eric Dongak (Tuvan Poet)
Aidysmaa Kilik (MA Anthropology, Minzu University)
Phương Trân Nguyễn (PhD Ethnology, Minzu University)
Taeko Kanoh (Japanese Editor, Lyricists)
Merdan Eheteli (Uyghur Poet)
Radik Tyulyush (Tuvan Lyricist)
Abdurahim (PhD Uyghur Lyricist)
Studio Direction
Travis Wyrick (Studio Producer, Knoxville Tennessee)
Ming Li (Studio Director, Beijing China)
Damian Wang (Studio Director, Beijing China)
Phương Trân Nguyễn (Studio Director, Beijing China)
Studio Engineering
Xiaobai (Studio Engineer, Beijing China)
Sholban Mongush (Studio Engineer, Beijing China)
Sound Mixing Concept
Andy Bauer (Musician, Colorado)
Mike Papadakis (Visual & Sound Artist, Denver Colorado)
Chingis Sorju (Sorju Sounds & Productions, MA Sound Engineering, University Social Sciences St. Petersburg, Russia)
Misha Oshkanov (Sorju Sounds & Productions, MA Sound Engineering, University Social Sciences St. Petersburg, Russia)
Gavin Tempany (RACE / Britannica Row)
Mastering Concept
Gavin Tempany (RACE / Britannica Row)
Concept Presentation Direction
Mike Papadakis (Visual & Sound Artist, Denver Colorado)
Valentina Suzukei (PhD Ethnomusicologist from TIGI, Republic of Tuva)
Prof. Jianmin Wang (PhD Anthropologist, Minzu University of China)
Prof. Haiyang Zhang (PhD Ethnomusicologist, Minzu University of China)