Dakshin Khun (Equus)

AUSTRALIA'S burgeoning world music scene has been enriched by the arrival of a bona fide Mongolian throat singer and horse-head fiddler.

Dakshin Khun (Southern Man): Equus

AUSTRALIA'S burgeoning world music scene has been enriched by the arrival of a bona fide Mongolian throat singer and horse-head fiddler.

That Sydney-based Bukhchuluun Ganburged is a virtuoso in the other-worldly overtone singing technique known as khoomei and a master of morin khuur, the two-stringed, horse-hair bowed fiddle, is evident from the get-go in Dakshin Khun.

Bukhu's twin talents comprise a striking focal point for Equus, in which he plays alongside two Blue Mountains musicians who respectively specialise in lutes and woodwinds and a Brisbane percussionist. John Robinson's oud, saz and bouzouki and producer-sound engineer Andy Busuttil's alto sax, zurna, saxillo and clarinet add Middle Eastern resonance.

Tunji Beier's tavil, zarb and kanjira lend Indian flavouring to complete an amalgam of influences. But the band is called Equus for a reason. The distinctive Central Asian rhythm based on Mongolia's fabled association with the equine world, which characterises the music of international acts such as Hanggai and Yat-Kha, is prevalent in the tracks that bookend Equus's excellent debut.

It's in the traditional romps Altain Magdal and Khukhu Namjil that khoomei -- an extraordinary technique in which a performer sings up to four tones simultaneously -- combines with the stringed instruments to optimum effect. The set's two originals, Shaman Song and Black Yak, are tame by comparison. Bowed fiddle with woodwind produces poignancy in the shortish tune Long Song.

LABEL: Blue Mountain Sound
RATING: 3.5 stars