In addition to being a guest of the Sayan Ring Festival, I'm also coming at the invitation of the two Russian managers of the world famous Huun Huur Tu(http://www.huunhuurtu.com/ ), a group from the Republic of Tuva near the Mongolian border. The group is one of Russia’s big exports after the Bolshoi and Stolichnaya and they practice an ancient kind of music called throat-singing where a single voice emits two notes at once. I am told Huun Huur Tu will be receiving a Golden Irya at the Festival as a sort of Lifetime Achievement Award.

Volodya and Sasha , the group’s managers, asked me if I would help them do a documentary film on the group. They said I must get to know the group and see them perform, and the Sayan Ring Festival presents a perfect opportunity – so first stop is Moscow to watch the group rehearse and have a few drinks with the guys, then fly to Tuva where Huun Huur Tu live, watch them rehearse some more and probably do a fair amount of drinking with them and their families there, then drive over the Edge of the Known World to Big Shush for the Festival and their historic performance and probably a lot more drinking.

The Festival site (http://fest.sayanring.ru/gallery) displays photos of leathery-faced yak herders blowing weird flute-like instruments and ruddy-cheeked Siberian women in traditional costume – but you will also see a whole crowd of young international hipsters grooving on the cool sounds and really gorgeous hipster babes in trance-like states wearing garlands of flowers in a sunny, warm and unexpectedly beautiful place. Hey, I'm on my way!