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Borders:
Khakassia|Republic of Khakassia (NW/N), Krasnoyarsk Krai (N), Irkutsk Oblast (N/NE), Buryatia|Buryat Republic (E), Altai Republic (SW/W)
Mongolia (S) (border line length: 1,305 km
*Highest point: Mount Mongun-Tayga, m 3970
*Maximum N->S distance: km 450
*Maximum E->W distance: over km 700.
There are over 8,000 rivers in the republic. The area includes the upper course of the Yenisei River. Most of the republic's rivers are Yenisei tributaries. There are also numerous mineral springs in the republic.
The area of the republic is a mountain basin, ca. 600 m high, encircled by the Sayan and Tannu-Ola ranges. Mountains cover over 80% of the republic's territory. Mount Mongun-Tayga (3,970 m) is the highest point in Siberia.
Climate:
* Average January temperature: -32°C
* Average July temperature: +18°C
* Average annual precipitation: 150 mm (plains) to 1,000 mm (mountains)
Tuva is located in the Krasnoyarsk Time Zone (KRAT/KRAST). UTC offset is +0700 (KRAT)/+0800 (KRAST).
Culture:
The Tuvan people are famous for their throat singing.
Khuresh, the Tuvan form of wrestling, is a very popular sport. Competitions are held at the annual Naadym festival at Tos-Bulak.
Chirgilchin is one of the few throat singing groups from Tuva to have an international following. Group is also very involved with Tuvan culture. Every year their invites western musicians to perform in Kyzyl and to learn about the country, its culture and its music. In recent years Kongar-ool Ondar has become well-known in the West as well, in large part because of the film Genghis Blues featuring Ondar and American blues singer Paul Pena.
Tuvans are known abroad for khoomei (xoomej), a kind of throat singing, in which the throat is constricted and the mouth cavity is shaped to select overtones of the fundamental produced by the vocal folds, resulting in the simultaneous singing of multiple pitches.
There is debate as to the exact number of styles or techniques the Tuvans use in their throat singing. The three principal styles are xoomej, kargyraa, and sygyt. Additional recognized styles include borbangnadyr, chylandyk, dumchuktaar, ezengileer, and kanzyp. Some consider these additional styles to be variations or modifications of the three principal styles.
Traditionally music from Tuva was only a solo effort. The musicians intention was usually to emphasize timbre and harmonics over rhythm. The performances were often in places of natural acoustics such as caves, cliffs, rivers, and so on. The performer would often take long pauses to allow nature its own chance to converse back. The modern music found today is often composed of ensembles of musicians playing multiple instruments and often is much more pulsatile then its traditional uses. Tuvans belief in spirits is apparent in their musical practices. Praise songs and chants, called algysh, and the rhythmically chanted poetic couplets that proceed breaths of throat-singing, address cher eezi, or local-spirit masters with words. Throat signing is instead made to imitate sounds produced by the places or beings in which the spirit-masters dwell. Singers establish contact with the spirit-master by reproducing the sounds made and enter into conversation, whose aim is supplication, an expression of gratitude, or an appeal for protection. The same imitative or mimetic interaction with the natural sound world may also be meditated through the use of traditional musical instruments. Calm, mimetic singing in reproduction of the sounds of a certain place is believed to be the best possible offering to spirit-masters.
This region is also famous for its indigenous shaman population. Shamans commonly created music in order to call upon spirits, conjure ancestors, discover birthplaces, connect with natural surroundings, and to attract spirits for hunters. Shamans were not the only people to practice this type of communion between nature and song. Shepherds would also play music to herd animals and imitate galloping horses. Each song had a certain meaning according to were the musician was and whether or not the situation was work or relaxation. Early Tuva created sounds that don't fit in with Western musical theory but instead stand alone, existing for a certain way of being.
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