FIVE BEFORE LIVE Q & A with Sayan Bapa from HUUN HUUR TU

FIVE BEFORE LIVE: A new Q&A section posing 5 questions to our artists before their upcoming IMC concert.

Ahead of his performance with Tuvan throat-singing and instrumentalist group HUUN HUUR TU at SPECTRUM Festival 2018 on Sunday 11th March, we spoke to Sayan Bapa about his work, what inspires him, and enjoying music in the moment.

Tickets & Info here

Q. What motivates you, as an artist, to create music?

Well music has been a part of my life for a long time. Since I was ten or eleven years old, I was in music school for guitar, starting out with classical guitar. I’ve just always enjoyed playing music since my childhood, up to now I have continued to play and I still like it!

Q. Who or what inspires you at the moment - be it in music, arts, politics or your personal life?

Oh that’s a very good question...I still feel inspired by my idol, Frank Zappa. He is more than just an idol to me actually, I always have so much respect for him, and feel honoured to get to meet and work with him. He inspired me with his music, his talking, his humour, everything.

Q. Can you tell us about a seminal experience, project, or encounter that had a significant impact on your career?

One of the best experiences for me was playing with the Bulgarian choir, Angelite. Working with those musicians was a great project as it is, to me, the best kind of music. The experience of playing with a big choir, doing something so musically interesting, was an important experience for me.

Q. Are you working on anything new at the moment? What’s next for Huun-Huur-Tu?

We were recently recording with artists in Africa, and that was great, I think it’s very interesting. These guys know what we are, and we can make interesting connections in the music, that’s what we’ve been up to lately. Also, we are recording a new CD!

Q. What direction do you see the music industry headed towards in the next 20 years?

I don’t know, I’m not really the expert on looking into the future. I think people still like to play together in one time, not like now with computers, or recording everything- I like to play with people in the moment and to get a feel of the music. Playing with musicians just one time on a stage, not mostly recording yourself playing with loads of people. I know this is the future and how it may be, but I’d like to see people meeting together in some place and enjoy playing in that moment. I think maybe in 20 years, people will still feel this good experience by how musicians play on the stage, not so much focus on recordings.

Thanks, Sayan!

Don't miss HUUN HUUR TU's performance at the closing night of SPECTRUM Festival on Sunday 11th March at The Grand Social.

Book tickets here