''Genghis Blues'' is a 1999 American

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

directed by Roko Belic. It centers on the journey of blind American singer

Paul Pena Paul Jerrod Pena (January 26, 1950 – October 1, 2005) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist of Cape Verdean descent. His music from the first half of his career touched on Delta blues, jazz, morna, flamenco, folk and rock and r ...

to the isolated

Russian Republic The Russian Republic,. referred to as the Russian Democratic Federal Republic. in the 1918 Constitution, was a short-lived state which controlled, ''de jure'', the territory of the former Russian Empire after its proclamation by the Rus ...

of Tuva to pursue his interest in

Tuvan throat singing Tuvan throat singing, the main technique of which is known as ''khoomei'' ( tyv, хөөмей, xöömej, mn, хөөмий; ᠬᠦᠭᠡᠮᠡᠢ, khöömii, russian: хоомей, Chinese: 呼麦, pinyin: ''hūmài''), includes a type of overt ...

. It won the 1999 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for a Documentary. It was also nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

in 2000 in the Best Documentary Feature category.2000, Oscars.org
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Synopsis

The documentary captures the story of blind blues musician

. After a brush with fame and success in the 1970s, Pena's fortunes faded as he dealt with career and health problems. While listening to shortwave radio, Pena heard a broadcast of

throat singing Throat singing refers to several vocal practices found in different cultures around the world. The most distinctive feature of such vocal practices is to be associated to some type of guttural voice, that contrasts with the most common types of voi ...

, the Tuvan art of manipulating overtones while singing to make higher frequencies more distinguishable, essentially making it possible to sing two notes at once. Pena, over the course of several years, taught himself to throat sing to a very impressive degree. He eventually attended a concert of throat singing and after the concert impressed one of the throat singers, Kongar-ol Ondar, who invited him to visit Tuva, a republic of the

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

and a formerly independent country from 1921 to 1944 under the name of the People's Republic of Tannu Tuva and the home of throat singing, to sing in the triennial throat singing festival held there. The entire journey, as well as the extraordinary mix of cultures and music, is captured in the documentary.

Production

The Belic brothers shot the film with two Hi8 camcorders and edited it themselves. They were allowed to edit the film during nighttime at a professional editing facility. It took them three and a half years to finish the film after they shot it. All this time they lived on $500 a month in an apartment above an auto repair shop.

Christopher Nolan Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British-American filmmaker. Known for his lucrative Hollywood blockbusters with complex storytelling, Nolan is considered a leading filmmaker of the 21st century. His films have grossed $5&nb ...

, a longtime friend of the brothers, is credited for his "editorial assistance."

References

External links

''Genghis Blues'' official movie site
*{{IMDb title, id=0187859, title=Genghis Blues

1999 films American documentary films Throat singing Documentary films about blind people Films directed by Roko Belic American independent films Documentary films about singers Tuva 1999 directorial debut films Camcorder films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films