Nihon Koukin Kyoukai (Japan Jew’s Harp Association) has released a new CD with collection of unique Tuvan khomus music “The Melody My Mother Played: Old and Modern Khomus (Jew’s Harp) Music of Tuva, Center of Asia”, Tokyo 2013.

The CD consists of two parts. The first one is mostly the result of collaborative work of Valentina Suzukei, PhD, one of the leading Tuvan ethnomusicologists and Tuvan khomus music specialists, with Leo Tadagawa, the Head of the Nihon Koukin Kyoukai (Japan Jew’s Harp Association).  The recordings of various types of khomus music, performed by the masters of different generations, were made in July 2010 in Kyzyl.

The second part contains field recordings made by Valentina Suzukei, which have been collected within 1985-1995, mostly in Western part of Tuva. The elder generation of performers witnessed the period when a khomus used to be a vivid traditional instrument.

Sometimes, noises of everyday life are noticeable in records, as all of the music recorded on both CD’s was made outside of a studio, witnessing the conditions under which people used to play the khomus.

The CD contains a small insert booklet in three languages – Japanese, English and Russian, with a list of the records and a small description of the Tuvan khomus music tradition.