Urna Chahar-Tugchi, Ser Review
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URNA Chahar-Tugchi known as Urna, is a Mongolian singer and player of the yangqin. Urna was born into a family of herders in the grasslands of the Ordos Plateau in Inner Mongolia, a society where song was an omnipresent part of everyday life. Her first musical training was learning to play the yangqin, which is the Chinese dulcimer under the tutelage of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where a professor who was visiting Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia imparted his wisdom Urna, who at the time was only eighteen. She moved to study at the Shanghai Conservatory, a challenging step since she had no knowledge of the Chinese language. She now performs around the world, and is based in Bavaria, Germany and in Cairo, Egypt. In 2003, she was awarded the RUTH prize in Germany for Best International Artist. Her latest album titled Ser, which means Awakening, was recorded with the world-renowned Polish band, Kroke.
Positives:
The twelve songs that comprise Ser are rich in complexity and resonance, the addition of Kroke lends to the strength of Urna’s striking voice.
Bottom Line:
Ser is an exotic journey through beautifully textured compositions that are hauntingly reflective and rousing. From the enigmatic “Zandan Hureng,” to the profoundly sublime “Nonjiyaa,” Urna is rapturous. Jerzy Bawoł adds an extrinsic vibration with his accordion that permeates the track with propulsion. “Duun / Bawurna,” was especially engaging. Bawoł once again on accordion and Tomasz Lato on double bass create elongated lines that create a solid canvas for Urna to paint her beauty upon. Her voice reaches to soaring highs that penetrate to the marrow of the song. She is inspired and hallowed in her performance. You can feel your soul stirring and she thrusts to the climax of the song, before settling into a curled softness and utmost delicacy. Overall, Ser is a journey, each tune offers new textural enlightenment. Urna and Kroke are perfectly matched and the added instrumentation suits Urna’s explorations to a higher sphere. That’s the short of it!