Sainkho Namtchylak

SAINKHO NAMTCHYLAK

Born in a village in the former Soviet republic of Tuva, in southern Siberia near the border with Mongolia, Sainkho Namtchylak comes from a family of teachers. She studied music at the local conservatory and completed her education in Moscow, graduating in vocal performance from the Gnesinsky Institute.

After graduating, Namtchylak worked with various ensembles, including the Moscow State Orchestra, the Moscow jazz ensemble Tri-O (from 1989), the School of Dramatic Art under the direction of Anatoly Vasiliev (Moscow), and several orchestras in Kyzyl, such as the Tuvan “folkloric orchestra,” an example of raw folk baroque far less polished than, say, what existed in Kazakhstan before independence. This orchestra also featured many other prominent Tuvan singers. For several years, Namtchylak annually invited foreign musicians to Tuva to promote Tuvan culture.

She also studied Siberian Lamaist and shamanic traditions, as well as Tuvan styles of throat singing. She began her career as a folk singer with the Tuvan State Folk Ensemble and later gained international recognition with her own songs compiled under the title *Out of Tuva*.

In 1988, Sainkho started collaborating with other musicians in the Soviet Union, aiming to fuse Tuvan ethnic traditions with modern and experimental styles. She was part of the St. Petersburg jazz ensemble “Tri-O,” alongside Sergey Letov (saxophone), Arkady Kirichenko (tuba), and Alexander Alexandrov (bassoon), attracting Western media attention for her incredible vocal virtuosity and exotic appeal.

1997 marked a turning point in her career: since then, she has lived between Vienna and Dublin, dedicating herself to her concert career. In 1998, she released the album *Naked Spirit*, which won the “Deutscher Schallplattenpreis” in Germany.

In 2005, the Italian publishing house Libero di Scrivere published her poetry book *Karmaland*. In 2006, a book titled *Chelo-Vek* was published in St. Petersburg in Russian, Tuvan, and English. In 2013, she began collaborating with vocal experimenter and multi-instrumentalist Mauro Tiberi, performing at the Church of San Giorgio in Velabro in Rome as part of the *I Canti Misterici* festival curated by Tiberi.

In 2015, she worked with Sardinian saxophonist Enzo Favata and his Decoder Quartet. In April 2017, she continued her collaboration with Mauro Tiberi following a workshop organized by the Alterjinga association in Turin, where both taught harmonic singing techniques and presented a performance piece on Marco Polo’s journey.

In 2018, she embarked on an Italian tour in a duo with Mauro Tiberi, which on some dates included electronic elements with the presence of guitarist and producer Alex Marenga (Amptek), under the project name “Urban Tribe.” In 2016, she released *Like a Bird or Spirit, not a Face*, an album produced by Grammy winner Ian Brennan (music producer, songwriter) and featuring members of Tinariwen.

In 2021, at the Milan Biodiversity Festival, she opened the sleeping concert of Enten Hitti (a musical research and experimentation group), singing and improvising with the ensemble. Her new album, *Lost Rivers 2*, was released in 2024, featuring free improvisation and jazz, as well as extreme and noise music.