Genghis Blues (1999) - full transcript

I had a short wave radio
and I found

that you could
get language programs

on some of the foreign
radio stations, and

I was looking for a Korean
language course

when I ran into a very strong
Radio Moscow signal.

You get a lot of whistles
and howls

and all sorts of weird stuff
on short wave

that you can't identify.

There was this whistling
that was melodic somehow

And eventually the lady
came on and they said

''did you hear how that man sang
two notes at the same time?''



and I thought God, now that's
for me man

that's something that I
could really get off doing.

For seven years I asked around
and couldn't

find out who these people were

who had this kind of
singing tradition.

So finally, I decided to
check out

this little music store in
the Mission, Round World Music

and I just happened to ask
just as an after thought

''do you have anything on
harmonic singing?''

And he says jeez, I don't know

I've never heard of it,
but it's something about Tuva.

In some rather inexplicable way
I figured out by the sound

what they were doing with their
mouths how to create that sound

He had apparently picked up the
Tuvan way of singing on his own.



And, I remember a week or two
Later he comes in the door

I think I had my back turned
like this

and I wasn't looking
at the door

and I heard someone coming in
singing in the Tuvan style

and it scared the hell
out of me and

I looked up and there's
Paul coming in.

I started out playing with
John Lee Hooker, Bonnie Raitt,

Jerry Garcia, Merle Saunders,
umm Muddy Waters.

After that was done came
my time with T Bone Walker.

Well the band was fantastic

during Paul's time & my time it
was one of a kind in the blues

because they played blues and
jazz that was sophisticated.

After that I started doing an
album that never got released

but an album from which one
song was covered and released.

At that point in my life, my
wife had been sick for a while

it was renal failure which meant
that they could prolong her life

but that the odds were that it
was supposed to get her.

My wife died, it was
March 15, 199 1

and well for about six months
I don't know what happened.

I just can't remember you

just want to be left alone until
you get it cried or pounded out

and you find a shoe of hers or
something like that and bingo

out comes the imitation
Niagara Falls, the water works.

I did my best, but sometimes I
just needed something for my own

mind to just be able to work on.

You know, I was losing it so
I had a short wave radio

and I found that you could get
language programs on some of

the foreign radio stations

and I ran into a very strong
radio Moscow signal.

You just gotta get the hum

OK the base tone

but then there's also

and there's also

You've got three notes going

Serenaded by the sounds
of a leaf-blower

Yeah, you could have a concerto
for leaf-blower and orchestra

My mother is a painter, and
my father was a musician

My grandmother and grandfather
on both sides came from

the Cape Verde Islands, just
off the coast of West Africa.

They brought this music with
from there with them

that I learned to play when
I was very young, first

on the piano, then on the guitar
and other string instruments.

Hello, friends of Tuva. What
is my connection with Tuva?

That, that's sort of a
long story,

it was a dinner conversation
back in 1977 and a

challenge as to where it was and
I even doubted it's existence.

So I said 'oh you know about
geography huh?' And he said

yeah, so I said 'OK, whatever
happened to Tannu Tuva?'

I didn't believe it, but it
turns out it was true,

Tannu Tuva was a real place

that put out postage stamps in
1930's when Feynman was a kid.

We looked it up on a map, Sure
enough there's a Tannu Tuva

and where was it?

Just outside of Outer Mongolia,
in the middle of central Asia

in the depths of Russia, far
away from anything. And

it was no longer an independent
country, it was part of Russia,

we saw the capitol, this is what
did it the capitol is K-Y-Z-Y-L.

My wife and I and he at the same
time grinned at each other, any

place that's got a capitol named
K-Y-Z-Y-L has to be interesting.

We eventually got a Tuvan/
Russian/Mongolian phrase book

out of the Library of Congress.

We wrote this letter in Tuvan
And sent it out into the abyss,

and a year and a half later
something came back.

I received their first letter
in 1980

They wrote: we are interested
in Tuva, its culture, and

in the monument marking the
geographical Center of Asia

we would like to build a bond
with the people of Tuva

and we would like to
visit Tuva.

In 1993 I succeeded in getting
three Tuvans into the

Tournament of Roses Parade
in Pasadena,

one of whom was
Kongar-ol Ondar.

We had a series of concerts
after the parade,

one of which, I would say the
biggest was in San Francisco.

I met a stranger in a club, he
said Tuvans were gonna be here.

We were on local radio station
the day before

and when the concert came
there were so many people,

there were something like
4000 extra admissions to

the Asian Art Museum
where the concert was

Kongar-ol came out solo and
entertained the people

in the lobby area of the museum.

accommodating the overflow
crowd which included Paul Pena.

And I just remember his person-
ality really shining through,

and how much he communicated
with the audience there.

During the performance I noticed
a blind man sitting in front.

This guy from in line said ''an
autograph wouldn't do much good''

but if you got up near the guy
and just cut loose like

you did outside, maybe you
might get more out of that.''

When we finished the concert
the man came up to me.

He seemed very excited.

He began singing a very famous
Tuvan melody, ''Aarte Sayir''

I went up near where he was
And when he wasn't

paying attention to
somebody else I just

which was a song they hadn't
done in there program yet.

They would later but
they hadn't yet.

This impressed Kongar-ol
so much

that he told Paul that every
three years in Tuva

they hold a contest of
throatsinging,

and that Paul should
come to Tuva.

And he comes up to me and
taps me on the shoulder

And says, 'Yes it is necessary
for you to learn Tuvan

because, it is necessary that
you be present in Kyzyl

in dozam-besh which is '95.

So I talked to Ralph and
he said,

'Yeah, the music is from Tuva'

Eventually, I found out about
a Friends of Tuva and stuff

and I started making an
effort to hook up with Ralph.

'Would you be interested
in recording this music?',

and I said sure,
I'll try anything.

I hear Ralph telling the
Staff at West Coast Live

''yeah he's going to
Tuva in '95''.

One of the ideas of Friends
Of Tuva is to do crazy things

and I thought that was crazy
enough to qualify for

a Friends of Tuva project.

Then I said wait a minute
the joke's going too far

He was pretty surprised
When I called him up

and said I was going to shoot
the documentary of his trip

Then I began to worry

like wow, like how and where

then I began to realize that
like you know he was serious.

I thought well I wonder if
he's gonna need someone

to go along with him?

Then all of a sudden it's
like I heard about

that there's a couple guys
from Chicago

who want to do a documentary
film about the whole thing.

I guess you could say we
weren't qualified

to shoot this but...

Then I heard about somebody
else, a friend of Paul's

that wanted to go.

Tony was going to be
Paul's assistant.

I'm Tony.

We've already got a freak
group here with us.

My background has been tied
up in radio for 25 years.

I heard this program by Mario
Casetta on KPFK

he was playing some kind
of strange music from

some part of the world

and I realized this is the
place to play this record

of throatsinging.

This guy called and said
''I've got something''

he's heard me so he knew I
played all kinds of weird shit

He said 'I bet you can't tell
me what this is... listen.'

I decided just for fun to play
a tape of it over the phone.

I said 'well I can't tell you
exactly but,'

I'll tell you this, it's no
musical instrument

it's all in the throat, and
it's from a place in the area

more or less of
northern Mongolia.'

I thought he'd faint. I thought
he would faint over the phone.

He said, 'My God, how did
you know that?'

I'm a tree trimmer by trade,
I'm also a recording engineer,

and sometimes I mess around
with film making a little bit,

and I play some rock and roll.

I was a director of an
information center

on environmental issues
in Los Angeles.

As soon as I heard the sounds
coming out of Paul's mouth

and then the sounds coming
from the CD he told me about

I went and bought it, and
immediately I dreamed of

what Tuva would be like.

When my brother and I
were growing up

our mom told us that
the TV was broken

and that the only channel we
could get was PBS

so we saw tons
of documentaries.

Tonight on Nova, Richard
Feynman: he won

the Nobel Prize,

he played the bongos, he
investigated the

Challenger disaster,

and he collected stamps.

He was most of all an
adventurer who in the last

years of his life longed to
visit the remote

lost land of Tannu Tuva

Why would someone want
to check out Tuva?

Well, I don't think it would
be for a middle-of-the-roader

It is one of the last
sort of adventure outposts

on the planet.

The chaos?

We hadn't slept in days

Mario arrived the night before

We didn't know up until the
moment we left what equipment

we were going to use

We weren't sure about any
interconnecting flights

It just seemed nuts

Even when we were standing in
line to get on the plane

I thought we weren't
gonna make it.

I really didn't know
what to expect.

Have a good trip.

It wasn't until the plane
lifted off

and that's when it's like
OK this is it

there's no turnin' back
at this point

'course unless the plane goes
down over the ocean or

something like that.

On a Russian airplane
everything is the bar

and smoking section.

There's no direct flight from
America to Tuva.

Then we got on a domestic
Aeroflot flight, which is

a unique experience in life.

It was like two days straight
of traveling. It was just hell

Oh my God, I can't believe
we made it.

We're here.

Man, I'm just hoping this
is a stop for a while.

Well, you locate China
on the map

and north from there
is Mongolia

and over the Tannu Ola
Mountains lies Tuva.

Tannu Tuva was actually an
independent country from 192 1

until about 1944.

Before 192 1 it was part
of Mongolia which was

part of China.

Tuvans, however, reject the
notion that they a part of

either Mongolia or China.

For centuries Tuva was inhabited
by various nomadic tribes,

from the Scythians from way back
several thousand years ago,

through the Huns, the Turkic
peoples, Khyrgiz, and Ouigurs.

The Turks left there language
and culture on Central Asia

much more strongly than the
Mongolians did.

Tuvans were traditionally
nomadic animal herders,

who would move from place to
place depending on

where there was fresh grazing
available for their herd.

Russians filtered into Tuva
over several centuries.

Russians came in search of
gold when it was discovered

about 80 years ago.

In 1944 after the Tuvan cavalry
fought along side Soviet troops,

against Nazi Germany Tuva became
part of the Soviet Union.

It is presently in the Russian
Federation.

Tuvan climate is extreme!

It goes from, well over
100 degrees

to minus 50, 60 degrees
Fahrenheit in the winter.

Tuva is about the size of
North Dakota.

There about 200,000 Tuvans
and about 100,000 Russians.

Smattering of other
nationalities.

The Tuvans who lived in the
cities

were somewhat incorporated
into the Soviet culture

A lot of the Tuvans who lived
in the country were left alone.

We made it kid, we made it.

Well you can feel it. You feel
the uh,

it's imprinted in the stone
there.

Center of Asia!

A snapshot, I'd love to send
one home to my mother.

I wish I knew how to translate
that verse into Tuvan.

Roko, 'ride a horse'? I can't
ride their horses, but I'm

glad to be here to sing with
them.

Paul will also ride a Tuvan
horse, yes, definitely.

I thought they were too small
for me.

Shoot, I'm liable to kill a
Tuvan horse.

They ain't got Tuvans
big as I am.

Kongar-ol Ondar is
an amazing guy,

and in Tuva he's kinda' like
John F. Kennedy, Elvis Presley,

and MichaelJordan kinda'
rolled into one,

as far as the way the people
think of him.

In my youthful years I gave
all of myself to my art.

I traveled a lot and
worked hard and

I was honored to be awarded
''National Artist.'' Now I want

to pass on our traditions
to the next generation.

I teach at the National Art
School and I've organized a

children's ensemble. I want my
students to see other countries

and my goal is to show them a
way to continue our traditions

People should see children as
well as old masters throatsing

Beautiful!

One little guys' kargyraa is
just too bad!

My nickname is ''Earthquake''

Your nickname is ''Little
Earthquake''.

Kongar-ol also arranged a
surprise visit

by the members of Huun-Huur-Tu.

Hello, hello.

The human voice produces all
kinds of sounds.

When we produce a note, or we
sing a note,

there are a bunch of other
notes that we make

that are way high which give
us a certain characteristic

to our voice, because of these
overtones, these harmonics,

these higher frequencies which
are produced at the same time

that the regular note is being
produced.

The Tuvans have figured out a
way to isolate these overtones

and produce them one at a time,
or a few at a time,

so that you can hear them
individually.

You that I have ever heard.

How do you do that?

The didgeridoo is considered
by ethnomusicologists

to be the oldest wind
instrument in the world.

It is nothing more than just
a branch of eucalyptus tree

hollowed out by termites.

I knew that the Tuvan
people would have great

appreciation for the
simplicity of this instrument

and the sounds that it could
make.

I also special ordered seventy
of these little nose flutes.

These are two of our most
revered throatsinging masters.

Tumat? Tumat-Kara-ol. Yes!
Yes, I've heard him on disc.

Yes, isn't it? I think so
anyway.

Hey, and here's another one.

He's a master on the igil.

Oh, my teacher.

I want to learn how to play
the igil.

And then we encountered the
first

of the sheep-slaughtering
ceremonies

Someone said that Genghis Khan
was the person that introduced

this idea, that the blood of
the animal is sacred

and that for some reason it
should never touch the ground.

People in Tuva are proud to be
a part of Genghis Khan's legacy.

People mistook Tuvans from
Mongolians, but Genghis Khan

recognized the Tuvans as a
distinct nationality with there

own culture and language.
This is probably due the fact,

that his greatest general a
General Subotai, was a Tuvan.

And Subotai was a general
under whose command

Europe fell to Genghis Khan's
armies in the 1200's.

Kongar-ol named his oldest
son Chinghiss,

which is the Tuvan form of
Genghis.

A sprig of parsley and a
little oregano,

and a bottle of Greek beer

and I'll eat all of it.
I'll eat the whole thing.

I had to read a book to find
out what they did in the

sheep-slaughtering ceremony
that they did in my honor.

The slaughterer basically
sticks his hand in the sheep

and squeezes the aorta or
rips it out,

essentially giving the sheep
a heart attack.

And this we're going to

prepare with a Tuvan recipe,
and it will taste great!

They make blood sausage out
of it that they call Han.

No spices, no sauce, just
straight blood sausage.

One of the very frustrating
things about blindness is

that you could be there and
not know what's going on anyway.

For Paul, the guest of honor,
is the Fat of Lamb's Tail.

Mario is also an honored guest

so he will receive the meat of
the sternum.

Tell him I'm vegetarian.

I don't like lamb.

Rack of lamb I like, in a
Persian restaurant,

with lots of saffron rice.

In front of him is a huge Fat
of Lamb's Tail, the butt!

All fat!

He should cut near the end.

All right guys, I don't
believe what I'm doin' but.

Now Paul has to cut a little
piece off,

and now hand the piece to me

and I'll go to the fire to
make the offering.

Richard Feynman was a Nobel
Prize winning physicist.

He and Ralph Leighton were
probably the first Americans

to try to come to Tuva

and Leighton wrote a book
called ''Tuva or Bust''

about their struggle to
reach Tuva.

During the first day of the
symposium

I was trying to help Paul
practice a song

that he wanted to perform
that night

by a guy named
Vladimir Oidupaa.

Oidupaa is, as far as I'm
concerned,

the number one master of
the style kargyraa.

I'll try to sing it and you
just check me.

So I wanted to do something
that reflected my,

you know, my interest and
respect for Oidupaa.

I'm just not sure what
I'm doing

that's the only fucking
problem here.

I was trying to learn the
words and I couldn't.

Draw from memory your hometown
when you were four years old,

and you'll get some idea of
what this is like for me.

Avam kadaider would mean 'my
mother is a woman'.

But then they say bergen which
means 'gave'.

So 'My mother is a woman gave',
what that hell that means

I just can't begin to figure
out.

My head is gonna' pop,

I hope somebody's got some
aspirin.

I gotta' rest. I can't

OK, do you want me to call
Lyubov and ask for which

It ain't gonna' do no good when
I get up on that freakin' stage

Oh Kongar-ol, what I do for you,

you make me run around like a
damn soldier.

So you got three verses.

Hmmm, you got three verses.

Look what you got me into.

More than a thousand people
had come to Kyzyl

to try out for the symposium

And one hundred and thirteen
contestants were admitted,

including a few foreigners and
Paul Pena.

It's the first time I can ever
remember having stage fright.

I can speak a little Tuvan.

My name is Paul Pena.

I'm Oyun.

Oyun?

You could just sense the
anticipation

of the days leading up to the
event.

It was very obvious that it
was a much needed reclamation

of the pride and the heritage
of the Tuvan people.

Without question, very much
was lost under the Soviets.

In the past, wearing traditional
clothing was forbidden.

They robbed the minorities of
their culture,

they forbid their language
to be spoken,

they make them learn Russian
in school,

and they smile through it all

and show you posters of happy
nationalities.

Biggest scam in the world, let
me tell you.

Immediately when I received a
letter from my American friends

the K GB would stop me and
interrogate me.

You talk about freedom,

there's many different kinds
of freedom.

At one point I was asking this
group of people

if they minded if I built a
campfire like out in a meadow

and they all looked at me like
I was crazy,

like you can do what ever you
wanna' do, you know.

There's no fences, when you
get out of the city,

there's no property lines.

You go where your herds
wanna' go.

We live in such a beautiful
place because our ancestors

fought for and protected
our land for us.

We are heirs to their
wisdom

and to their struggle.

Oidupaa is in jail somewhere
and nobody, even the

president of Tuva doesn't know
where the Russians took him

Their spirit is connected with
nature and with the land itself.

And so no dogma or, you know,
political philosophy can truly

ever take them over.

I've been told by people with
experience that

what probably happened they took
him away for being a dissident.

A few composers in Moscow
supported my bid to create a

throatsinging symposium. They
helped me get money from Moscow

& together we began seeking out
traditional composers in Kyzyl.

If people live in friendship
then peace prevails

and life becomes good for
everybody.

Well, the first day of the
symposium was totally crazy.

We didn't know when the
performance times were.

They kept on changing the rules
on us on an hourly basis.

In fact, at one point they
actually said that

we had to go and get AIDS
tested.

Or else we're going to get
booted from the country.

And poor Paul, I mean, who

has to kind of rely on what he
hears and what people tell him.

People who were organizing the
festival would come to Paul and

us and tell us that 'Paul is
about to go on,

and then come back moments
later and say...

'No we're not', and then 'yes
we are',

and then 'no were not',
and 'yes we are',

and finally I just stopped
listening.

I'm not sure how I got to be
a judge exactly, except uh,

I think it was Kongar-ol that
arranged it.

The opening night they called
up all the judges to the stage.

I was thinking all along
about Feynman,

and I got up on the stage and
I shouted out, 'Feynman Lives!'

There are six basic styles of
throatsinging,

and of those Kongar-ol's
specialty is called sygyt,

and Paul's specialty is called
kargyraa.

Sygyt creates a really loud
intense harmonic.

The big thing about kargyraa is

that it allows the singer to
get a note,

an octave below the note that

that singer is actually singing.

Kongar-ol was asking me,
'What is Paul going to sing?'

And he knew Paul was nervous.

He should sing ''ARTE SAYIR''
because it's the most famous.

Paul wanted to surprise Kongar-
ol with the Oidupaa song,

but Kongar-ol kept asking, 10
minutes before he was gonna go

on stage Paul said, 'I'm gonna'
sing the song by Oidupaa.'

He can't sing Oidupaa! Oidupaa
is in jail now!

He is dishonorable now! To sing
his songs somewhere else may be

OK, but not at the festival!

Oh! I practiced that stupid
thing for nothing,

only to find out it's forbidden!

I didn't know what I could do
to help.

I'm just not sure what I'm
doing.

I was sort of worried when
I saw Paul like that.

I basically decided that to
myself that that was it:

Paul was gonna' come on stage
and apologize for not being

prepared, because Paul is a
humble guy.

And I turned to Lemon and I go
'Lemon, what do you think?'

and Lemon goes, 'No problem,
Paul's a pro, he'll do fine.'

And I remember leaving Lemon,
thinking he has absolutely no

idea what condition Paul was
in backstage.

I've worked with Paul enough
to know that he was a very

spontaneous person. 5 minutes
before he goes on stage...

I said look Paul, 'Your main
goal is to go and kick ass.

I mean you're American,
you're comin' to Tuva,

it's like all these Tuvans have
been singin' since the day they

were born and they're all up
there tryin' to win that horse.'

Paul had waited twelve years
for this moment.

Sure helps the stage fright
to be with a beautiful lady.

Dear friends, I would like to
introduce you

the man who I walked on stage
with.

One of his Tuvan friends gave
him a very good nickname.

He called him ''Earthquake.''

His friend called him
Earthquake because when he

sings kargyraa the ground
shakes.

He is blind... but he is a
well known bluesman

in America, he's from San
Francisco, California...

I proudly introduce you to:
Paul Pena

Thank you very much

He didn't even know for sure
what he should even perform.

I can speak very little Tuvan.

It feels like I have no head.

I got out there and said to
myself,

'what have you got your ass
into dude?'

To my dear friends,

the Tuvan people,

and to my friend from
Chadaana,...

Kongar-ol.

My big time fifty word
vocabulary

and my surface knowledge of
grammar and all

that was what I was using.

If only...

I could speak Tuvan ...

very well.

Thank you very much.

They had other people perform

from various countries that
are around Tuva,

but they'd never seen anybody
from America,

and they'd never seen anybody
play the blues.

They wouldn't let him get of
for what,

fifteen minutes or something
like that.

They just kept on making him
do another one.

Little did I know what would
happen.

I broke a string.

Ahh, you broke a string?

We need a dosh-poluur or
another guitar...

A dosh-poluur or another
guitar, do we have one?

Whatever.

Paul plucks a couple times

and then breaks out in

this very traditional Tuvan
song...in Tuvan.

Thank you very much.

My Tuvan friends, thank you
very much.

Where does a guy faint?

Really, where does a guy faint?
I heard that.

I was so damned scared I
almost fell on the stage.

Earthquake!

Yeah, Earthquake!

If they give him a horse,
what's he going to do?!

He'll give it to me, won't he?!

Or to my son, Bayir?!

Only if he teaches me
how to ride it first.

Ondar Daryma!

I'm Ondar Daryma, nice to meet
you.

I heard you were great!

Fantastic!

In California...

I have been learning
the ways of the shaman.

This is a great honor.

Feynman! He was very dear to me

and Leighton, my good friend,

please give him my warmest
regards.

Paul wasn't going to perform
again until the end of the week,

so we had some time to
check out the country side.

We traveled for days,
a number of times

we were totally lost,
or seemed like we were lost

You know we were just going up
and down mountains.

Professional drivers, they want
to hear you sing kargyraa,

just a little bit, O.K.?

OK.

They want to hear it for
themselves,

Just a little

To my friend, Kongar-ol,
from Chadaana

and to all my friends in
Chadaana,

I will sing my kargyraa.

He's from America, Paul Pena.

Let me shake your hand!

That was great!

So there's a huge line there
but because of you

they let us go without a line.

Then we visited a monument
that was erected in a spot

where the Dalai Lama had been
two years earlier.

Although Tuvans were originally
shamanistic they also embraced

Tibetan Buddhism 500 years ago,
and the Dalai Lama

is the spiritual leader of the
Tuvan people.

Holy Jesus! It's like a
feeling, like something, I don't

know. I don't know whether you
can get such a thing on a

camera or not, and I'm damned
if I can say it.

It's like going back 1500 years
to another world or something.

Kongar-ol told us that this
guy was a Shaman

and he was speaking
in a language so old that

even he didn't understand it.

And this is Tuvan araka
distilled from fermented milk.

It's full...well half full
anyway, ha ha.

Tuvan vodka!

You need to make an offering

to the North, to the South

the East and West, to Mount
Hairakan, so that you will visit

Tuva again, so that you will
throatsing beautifully and so

that the people of Tuva will
be protected.

Amen.

Welcome, sit down please.
Welcome.

Tuvan Vodka!

Not Smirnoff Vodka.

Here's to his grandmother

He said, 'Yeltsin, when he came,
he also drank that.'

And that's why Russia's all
fucked up!

Kongar-ol had some very specific
places that he wanted

to take us. We visited his mom
and spent a night

outside of Chadaana.

Hello, hello mother.

Mario would always crack a joke.

Twelve o'clock and all is well!

Deux cappuccino, garcon, deux
cappuccino.

A little extra cinnamon in one.

We're always stopping at
different rivers, and we'd sing

a few songs about the river
because, I mean, in Tuva

a lot of the songs are about
rivers.

Ask him what's the name of the
river.

Chadaana River! Yeah, same as
the town.

The Chadaana River is different

from every other one in the
world.

There are so many songs about
Chadaana,

I can't even count them all!

Paul, now you'll have a little
bath in the Chadaana River.

Oh, right here. OK I get you
now.

Ohhhhhhhh, Paul!

That much stronger will my
kargyraa be now. Cause I

washed my face in
Chadaananow my kargyraa will

be stronger. Something like
that anyway.

Medicine from the west of
Tuva, Chadaana water. Good?

Now we need a little araka.

Roko, Paul, I make this
offering at the Chadaana

River the 23rd day of the
6 month of 1995. I am

grateful my friends from
so far away could be here

in Chadaana, and I hope we
will be here together

again in the future

Amen. Oh Christ
I'm hot guys.

Totally, you must get
totally wet.

It's cold!!!

Very good!

Oh, you're a devil.

I'm 'mo throw your ass in

I haven't learned how to say
''enough'' yet.

Now we're going to a desert
where there are sand dunes.

This is my grandfather.

It was the roughest ride
I've ever had in my life in

an automobile. But we
finally got back.

This one time we were out
in front of this banquet,

the area was being rented
by a graduation ceremony

for a school of Russian
young women.

There was so many places
where all a sudden

there was like a gang of
folks around man, and like,

it gets really confusing,
I'm in new places

I can't ask questions, I
just feel damn disoriented.

I'm afraid to take a step
anywhere. As a totally

sighted person I can't
expect you to understand

When I get into a situation
where I'm disoriented that

I hardly know my name is or
don't dare turn around or,

I just really feel, you know,
why the hell am I here man?

these guys could do this shit
without me, and a lot easier

cause they wouldn't have to
worry about some yo-yo

to look after all the time.

Most people get 95%of their
information with their eyes

that like puts me decidedly
in the deviant category

among human beings.

I feel very alienated in
America,

very unwanted.

Sometimes it's just people
enjoying what I do,

my friends. Sometimes I
don't get strength, sometimes

I wake up and wish I
didn't have to wake up.

There are people who have
lived here for many years

who do not speak Tuvan

so it was inspiring to see
Paul throatsing so well

and perform songs he
composed in Tuvan.

He understands our
language and Traditions

so he sings with certain
nuances that are

specifically Tuvan, and he
performs them extremely well

you will all enjoy the
next performer very much

because of how much you liked
him during the first night.

Our guest from America, Paul
Pena!

I guess there was some people

that just felt that my singing
a melody that was

very identifiably one of
Oidupaa's,

you know they weren't really
sure how it would go over.

To my friends, the Tuvan people

and to my friend from Chadaana,
Kongar-ol.

But I did, in fact, do on the
second night

what I had intended to do the
first night.

I will sing my Kargyraa for you.

Thank you very much.

Paul, they want you to sing
again.

Thank you! Thank you very much!

In the eyes of the crowd, he was
the winner, period.

Winner in the Kargyraa Division

and recipient of the Audience
Favorite Award... Paul Pena!

I don't know what to say. Thank
you very much.

To the other foreigners
and to the Tuvan people

Thank you very much.

I don't know how to put it
exactly into words.

I mean it was like, honor is a
small word

to describe what it feels like

to have come out as I did on
something like this.

We love you very much! ...from
all Tuvan people!

Hi, Ralph! Paul is a winner in
the Kargyraa division!

And then some bad things started
to happen.

If I'm not in California by the
time that ends,

you will have a dead or a crazy
man to deal with.

It was perfectly timed where
Paul's medication

would last until the end of the
trip.

You've gotta' understand man,
you gotta' fuckin' believe me.

Paul lost some of his
medication.

We lose everything we gained
man.

And all of a sudden it looked
Like

he might have to cut his whole
trip short.

Don't misunderstand man, I don't
want it this way.

Kongar-ol was involved in a
fight on the street

with a drunk and ended up
breaking

his hand in the process of
defending himself.

I collapsed in the middle of
the night if I recall.

When we took Mario to the
Hospital

they actually said that he had
a heart attack.

This giant thunder lightning
storm came in

and it was like, like the gods
themselves were against us.

How did I feel when I thought
Mario was going to die?

I don't know what I felt, I was
numb,

because that wasn't what was
supposed to happen.

Everything seemed to just go
down hill,

just you know, call it like
Siberian

voodoo, whatever you want, you
know.

Shamanism is not the same as
what you think

in terms of western medicine,
you

know Shamanism deals with the
spirit.

1990 to 1995, that's my
depression son.

You get that initial sort of
distress thought,

and then you quickly start
making assessments,

cause the first thing is, you
know: have you,

through your negligence,
endangered other individuals?

Paul had less than two days of
medication left,

and it was at least a two day
trip to get back.

Do you know what I would do to
stay here one more week?

It's hard for Paul to live in
America.

That corner store is the only
place in the whole world

that he can go by himself.

I didn't wanna' leave.

During one of the first Conver-
sations I ever had with Paul,

he told me how he went to cash
a check

and when he walked out on the
street

somebody asked him directions.

And as Paul was trying to
explain the directions

this guy snatched 400 bucks out
of Paul's hand and took off.

Paul gets depressed and he takes
medication for it.

And now Paul had to leave Tuva

because his prescription only
lasted a short time.

I could see it, Kongar-ol was so
confused.

He wants to be able to take Paul
back to his home town.

We went to the Aeroflot office,

and they said they would not
sell us tickets

because we were foreigners,

so we tried to get Kongar-ol to
buy the tickets

and they wouldn't sell them to
him either.

There's no life as usual in
Tuva,

and so you have to be prepared

to work with things as they
occur.

Have you seen Paul's
prescription for this medicine?

I know that it effected him very
deeply.

In fact he wrote two songs about
being there.

There should never be, anyone
happier than me.

Here I sit in the middle of
Asia, feel like I wanna cry

'cause I can't find a way to say
what I need and why.

All my little friends are here
with me.

I love them, God knows they love
me.

But here I sit in Kyzyl,

they'd help me if they could.

I can't tell 'em what I want

'cause I just can't talk too
good.

It's such a hard life when
you're stupid.

It's a hard life when you're
blind.

Here I sit in the middle of
Asia,

I can't find my way to tell 'em
what I need

and why I just can't stay.

They say I'm a sick man, I know,

but the doctors, they just say
No.

Here I sit in the middle of Asia
And

I don't wanna go but some damn
Law

and beaurocrat makes me hit the
door.

It's such a hard life when
you're stupid

Such a hard life when you're
blind.

I don't know just what I've done

but I can't even sign

I ain't robbed nobody but it
feels like doin' time...

The way Paul reads text

is by using a device that scans
each letter,

then raises a series of pins

in the shape of that letter,
that he can feel.

So the way that Paul learned
Tuvan was by

translating Tuvan words letter
by letter,

first into Russian and then
Russian into English.

Because there was no
Tuvan/English dictionary.

At some point somebody suggested
to us

that possibly the cause of all
these things

that were going wrong might
actually be a spirit matter,

and that we should ask a Shaman
to tell us.

We heard that we possibly had
bad luck

because of this drum that we had
purchased.

We had purchased a Shaman's drum
from a musician,

and evidently this drum was not
supposed to be sold to anybody.

It was supposed to be for
Shamanic purposes,

it was not supposed to leave
Tuva,

and we didn't realize this when
we bought the drum

we thought this would be a great
thing to bring back to Ralph.

If the drum has something bad
going on with it,

then bad luck may follow it.

A shaman needs to inspect the
Drum

to determine whether the drum
has a tail

like a devil, an evil spirit...
something inhabiting the drum.

No, I don't think there's
anything there...

there shouldn't be.

And if there's a tail?

Well, if the drum does have a
tail...

if we can find a shaman who will
help us

they can cut the tail off,
separating it from the drum.

So we consulted a Shaman

Pretty quickly, he decided that

it didn't have a tail and it
should be fine.

I'm not sure exactly what took
Place

but eventually things began to
straighten out a little bit

We found some medication for
Paul.

Kongar-ol's hand, he had it in a
Cast

But he was playing fine, and
Mario...

Who will be next to fall?

I'm gonna' call this

the doomed expedition of 1995
Tuva, right?

It was as if nothing had
happened,

I was fine.

But that's the interesting thing
about Tuva

and about that way of life, is
that it's very spontaneous,

and you just have to be ready.

You have to be on your toes,

there's opportunities that
present themselves

and you have to take advantage
of them

whenever they come up.

If that drum doesn't have any
spirit in it,

do you wanna try and conjure one
up.

Paul had been studying Shamanism
in America,

so Paul decided to try and
summon

the spirit of Richard Feynman.

Richard Feynman is sort of an
Obi-Wan Kenobi

type of a figure,

I mean, he was sort of the
spirit behind all this.

He's coming

my guide Jo-Frank.

Jo-Frank means my grandfather
Francisco Pena,

Padros Pena and he says,
'Feynman can hear us,

so either speak or think what
you would say to him.

He's in our midst.

Tell Kongar-ol

all you Friends of Tuva tell
them Thanks

I don't know you very well

I can't make you talk like me
but I'm trying to do it

understand what I'm saying?

I think Paul felt a sense of
freedom himself there.

It is a great honor for me to be
called in this way.

Though he can not see,

Paul is a wise and extraordinary
man.

He has inherited great shamanic
powers from his ancestors.

Having known Paul, and knowing
his passion for Tuva,

being there with him the day
that he could finally breathe

Tuvan air, I was very happy to
be a part of that.

Paul feels everything from
nature,

from the wind, the earth, he is
very unique.

Not everybody has been given the
abilities which Paul has

His talents and sensitivities
which enabled him

to become a great musician, to
learn Tuvan, to throatsing,

and to understand people are
truly amazing.

If this is what it takes to be a
movie star man,

I don't want no part of it.

It's a nice horse man, it's a
small horse,

and it's real gentle, super
gentle horse.

This is gonna' have to be a
short ride

or I ain't gonna' take no guts
back to

America, you understand that.

Once you get up there you'll be
fine.

I was so sick that day and I
really wanted

to do it on a day that I, you
know felt good.

I had no desire do some exterior
decorating

on this poor horse, it didn't do
anything to deserve it.

I'd much rather do it now for
example,

you know, than the day that we
did it.

Paul, you did it man.

Oh, let me sit down.

Kids love to be scared,

you know what I mean, it's weird
but they do.

When you get older man that shit
ain't the same thing.

This is Ime, the village where I
was born

and spent my youth.

I went to elementary school
here.

Paul, my friend, now,

a very significant moment has
arrived.

I am deeply moved by the fact
that Paul

came to Tuva and participated in
the symposium,

where he won in the Kargyraa
division.

Even more importantly, that it
was his dream

to come to Tuva, to Chadaana,
and most importantly

to the village where I was born

on the shore of the river
Hemchik.

What I want to say is

The beauty which surrounds us,
he can not see.

But through my hoomei, sygyt
and kargyraa,

I would like to help him
understand and feel that beauty.

They can't take that away from
me,

that's an old song you don't
know,

but that's what it's about. I
mean it's about,

the song talks about memories,

and they say you can't take
that away from me.

Well it's you know,

something that I'll always have
to treasure.

How about yourself Paul,

what's in store for Paul Pena?

I don't have a clue man.

I'm only smart enough to know

that I don't predict the future.

I think Fred had it best about
the future,

all he said was:

You got to move,
you got to move,

you got to move child, you got
to move

cause when that storm gets
ready, you got to move.

Sometimes you're up, sometimes
you're down.

Sometimes nobody knows if
you're around.

But when that storm gets ready,
you got to move.

You got to move, you got to
move,

you got to move child, you got
to move.

Cause when that storm gets
ready,

you got to move.