Genghis Blues

I can't recommend this doc. more highly. It's wonderfully warm, touching and fascinating all the way through. I saw it at the SBIFF where it was a last minute entry; had it been entered for the audience choice award I am sure we would have voted as did the Sundance audience! Genghis Blues tells us about Tuva, a remote area, bordering on the north of Mongolia. (Remember Richard Feynman and the book, Tuva or Bust?) This is the portrait of the amazing journey of blind San Francisco bluesman, Paul Pena, to the 1995 2nd International (UNESCO-sponsored) throat-singing contest in Kyzyl, Tuva. It's a triumph from start to finish. See it!

You may have heard about "harmonic singing" or "Throat Singing," in which the performer can isolate two-to-several harmonics on their vocal cords, giving the impression that more than one voice is singing. Such a description is like saying Shakespeare wrote a couple of plays.

Harmonic singing is endemic to the nation of Tannu Tuva, once a member of the USSR, now just Tuva. Brought to some notoriety by famous physicist Richard Feynman and his student Ralph Leighton, Tuva is a beautiful place, reminiscent of Montana--if Montana had been settled by the Mongol Hordes.

But throat-singing is an enchanting, mystical, unreal sound--and one that takes some getting used to. "Genghis Blues" chronicles the journey of a blind bluesman to Tannu Tuva, after he stumbled across a Radio Moscow broadcast of Tuvan throat-singing, his journey to Tuva, and the people he meets there.

Nominated for best documentary oscar (insert trademark nonsense here) for 1999, this film is a must-see for those who enjoy vicarious travel to places you've never even heard of.

I loved it, but my friends did not because they said it was too much of a documentary. Egad - what did they think it was going to be?!! Yes, it is very much a documentary, but Paul Pena (the main character)was such a warm character who was so REAL. Kongar-ol Ondar's (the superstar of Tuva) happiness was wonderfully infectious. The insights into the country of Tuva would satisfy any armchair traveler. I enjoyed the music, in spite of the wierd throat noise, but my friends (we are 36, 50, 52 yrs old) found the low gutteral tones off-putting. My advice is that if you would like to see a very original movie made in a very remote place (Tuva is not even in my big new Times atlas!) about a blind man with a big warm heart, and you don't mind documentaries - run and see it!!!

This documentary is so unbelievable and so entertaining, it should be best doc feature at next year's academy awards. The stranger in a strange land tale goes in so many heartwarming directions. And you have never, ever heard music like this. Go!

This movie shows the best parts of humanity: the seemingly random attraction of the protagonist to another culture, the amazing talent which allows him to absorb a completely different musical idiom merely by listening to it, the amazing warmth of the cultural hero of a small, proud country, the pride and acceptance of the Tuvan people. These all combine with the unseen presence of one of the greatest American scientists to form a unique movie.