To breathe penetrating, inimitable sound into an ordinary piece of wood.  To bring it to life. To turn it into an instrument that makes people laugh and cry, to feel empathy. This art - the art of making a musical instrument -  was transmitted to Aldar Tamdyn by his father - a musician and the first master of Chadan in making folk musical instruments.

Now both Aldar Tamdyn and his two sons are musicians and craftsmen.

In 1998 Aldar Tamdyn tried to make his first musical instrument. The knowledge received from his father did not disappoint him, his hands remembered, felt the wood, and the igil sounded.

And in 2008 minister of culture of Tuva Vyacheslav Dongak, who knew Aldar as a musician of the folk group "Chirgilchin", promised help in creating his own atelier for making Tuvan national instruments, and allocated 50 thousand rubles that became the starting capital  for the family firm of the Tamdyn family. They bought carpentry equipment, and within a year they registered as a private enterprise - OOO "Ovaa".  This year, OOO "Ovaa"  received a grant of 500 thousand rubles.

Aldar has a special approach to selecting  material for the instruments. Every little thing is important, every detail: presence of cracks or knots. Larch, poplar, pine or birch each produces a different sound. The sound of a "birch" instrument is dull and "sparse", poplar gives a soft sound, but the larch, which is difficult to work with because of its strength,  is deep, voluminous and sensual. In general, experiments with the raw material is ordinary part of Aldar's work. Like every artist, he has the audacity to search for the most beautiful - for the ideal.

Aldar spent five months in America, where the folk group "Chirgilchin" often tours,  trying all the foreign types of wood, from oak and rosewood to Californian redwood. He returned home and realized that no American species can compare to Tuvan larch. Even though - there will be one more experiment. American friends recently sent  a piece of  black ebony wood.  Aldar had been searching for a long time

for this valuable type of wood, very hard and heavy, without annual rings. Now it is standing in Aldar's office in a place of honor, waiting for its time.

-  My hands itch to get started, - said Aldar, -  I am impatient to find out what will come out of this black ebony, but so far there is no time. We are filling an order for Sai-Khonash tour base - we have to make four yurts.  In a way it is not too complicated, but we have never done it before. So we are learning and filling the order at the same time.

The main client of OOO "Ovaa" is the Ministry of Culture of RT, they also make instruments for the National Orchestra; there are almost no private orders.-  I have to learn the art of management, -  shares Aldar Tamdyn, - it is not enough to make an instrument, one has to know how to sell it, too. I am just a beginner in this aspect so far, it is good that my wife is an economist, she takes care of the accounting, and suggests business ideas. We started to sew bags for the instruments -  it s not expensive and there is good demand for them.

Recently Aldar visited Vietnam, and learned many useful and valuable lessons about management; that was his main reason for the trip. He brought souvenirs made of animal horns - decorations, various beautiful nice toys. He plans to also get involved in such craft and to sell in souvenir shops in Kyzyl.

But that is tomorrow; today atelier "Ovaa" is finishing a curio order - a three-meter igil that will be a part of an architectural assemblage "Ovaa of the Khoomeizhi" at  "Aldyn-Bulak" ethnocultural complex.

Igils  made by OOO "Ovaa" have been given to  Sholban Kara-ool and to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. Made of poplar and decorated with figures of animals sacred in Tuva and with Buddhist symbols, with handles of Tuvan red wood kyzyl-kharagan - Aldar had three such igils. He gave away two of them -  to Putin and to Kara-ool; one is left to be given to  a deserving guest.

Aldar Tamdyn is for continuity of generations in crafts. His sons have learned the craft of their grandfather and father, they have been taught the family tradition and secrets of the trade. Older Arat is studying in China, learning the culture, history and philosophy of that country. He will come back filled with additional knowledge and skills, and will add something of his own, something new.

Younger Anchy helps his father in the atelier.

-  The main thing that I want to bequeath to my sons is that one has to put a soul into the instrument, and before one even touches the strings for the first time, one has to ask the wood to sing. One has to ask it like a human being, respectfully. Otherwise the igil will remain just a soundless, lifeless piece of wood.