Father and Son

Gombojav
14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas, 2018

Musicians often come from musical families. This is true in popular music, classical music, folk music, but nowhere as pronounced as in traditional music. Often traditions in music hinge on the transmission from parents to children. It is rare, however, to find two generations independently featuring in a top 100 of mine. I can't think of a single occasion until this year, when Mongolian tsuur players Gombojav and his father Narantsogt, who had learned to play the instrument from his grandfather, are separately listed. A tsuur (shoor in Tuva) is a simple flute with three finger holes typically made from a hollowed out larch or willow. The instrument mimics, rather than imitates, the sounds of nature. Legend has it that spirits possess the instrument. The shoor has completely vanished and the tsuur tradition in Mongolia has nearly died out. The instrument was forbidden during Soviet occupation in both Tuva and Mongolia. Gombojav and Narantsogt are two of only a handful of players knowing how to play the tsuur and both have now passed. Narantsogt died of old age and Gombojav of cancer at age thirty-five. The first painting presented here is of the son, Gombojav. The more eccentric looking Narantsogt will follow soon.