BUTTE – The Montana Folk Festival began Friday evening with an eclectic lineup of music.
WATCH: The Montana Folk Festival is underway in Butte tonight 🎶 One of the most unique acts? A Tuvan throat singing trio that can make 3 voices sound like 9
The throat singing trio from Tuva, Russia, can make their three voices sound like nine. This ancient form of singing sounds otherworldly even though they often sing about simple things.
“Imitate more nature sounds, you know, like wind, and mountains, rivers and birds sometimes,” Alash member Bady-Dorzhu Ondar said.
The band Alash is returning to the Montana Folk Festival for the first time in nine years. They are one of 21 other performers playing on six different stages in Uptown Butte.
Alash said it’s easy to perform in Butte, even though they are a long way from home.
“Montana, like here, nature is more similar to our country,” Ondar said.
The band’s manager said the group’s music sounds mystical to people who’ve never heard it before, but many of the songs are very relatable to Western audiences.
“I like to call it country music from another country. They can tell a story, you know, talk about a broken heart or a happy heart. There is a lot of stuff about I love the land, I love my mountains, I love my rivers,” Alash manager Sean Quirk said.
Since 2007, the folk festival has showcased an eclectic mix of music from around the world across its six stages.
“If they don’t find something they like right away, they just go to the next stage, and hopefully they find something that just amazes them,” Festival Director George Everett said.
