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Nikolay
Oorzhak
Biography
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Nikolay
Oorzhak was born in December 1949,
in the small village Khorum-Dag in
western Tuva.
After graduating from high school in 1964, he worked for four
years as a shepherd, herding horses, sheep, and cows. There on
the steppes, alone with his herds, he started producing sounds
like his father and grandfather used to sing. This was
Khoomei, or throat-singing. At that
time, his only audiences were the horses, sheep, and cows.
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"Throat singing imitates the voices of animals,
and sounds created are consonant to sounds of Universe. For me
all these sounds are the rhythms
of the whole one”,
says
Nikolay
From
1968 to 1970 Nikolay served in the
army, which was mandatory in Soviet times. When he returned from
military service, he worked as an artist for the local public
theater in Chadaana,
Tuva. In 1982,
Nikolay caught the attention of the local authorities, who
supported his bid for a professional education. So, in 1983
Nikolay began attending the Ulan-Ude
cultural institute in
Buryatia, where he also became
Director for Public Theaters. This was also an opportunity to
finally open his hidden talent of throat-singing.
In 1989 the First International
Festival of Throat-Singing was held in the
Tuvan capital of Kyzyl.
Nikolay was awarded First Prize for
Kargyraa style. At that time he already
brilliantly performs in all the
overtone singing (xorekteer) styles:
khoomei, kargyraa,
sygyt, borbangnadyr,
ezengileer and became a
Khoomeiji (Recognized Master of
Khoomei) in his country. The same year
he and fellow throat-singer Boris Kherly
and scientist
Zoya Kyrgys
founded Ensemble
Tuva. Meeting with great success, they toured
internationally, including Norway, Sweden, Turkey and Mongolia.
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In those days, it was common for such ensembles to include a
dramatization of a shamanic ritual, and in addition to singing
and playing with Ensemble Tuva,
Nikolay portrayed the shaman.
Elders often commented that he appeared authentic and suited
for this role, and that perhaps he was meant to be a real
shaman.
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Sometimes, after these performances, he felt dizzy and
suffered headaches. He sought help from Oleg
Toiduk, a well-known shaman. Oleg
told him that Nikolay was destined to
be a shaman, and was suffering the effects of
energies
sand talents that he needed to share with others for healing.
In Tuva,
shamans often inherit their abilities, and
Nikolay was no exception. There were shamans on his mother's
side, and her father was a famous shaman in the
Sut-Khol region of Tuva. On this
basis, Nikolay started his healing way.
Observing his progress, in 1998 the pre-eminent
Tuvan shamanism scholar Prof. Mongush
Kenin-Lopsan invited
Nikolay to work for his shamanic society
Dungur.
In 1995
Nikolay
was invited to India to celebrate His Holiness the Dalai Lama's 60
birthay. He got the Dalai Lama's
blessing, which enables him to increase his healing singing
abilities.
“The
khoomei together with
tungur
creates the
integral,
highest approach
to human. There are no any tricks or illusions, but
the power of the integral sound”
In
1999 Nikolay was elected Chairman of
Tuvan shaman society
Tos-Deer, and that same year visited
Vienna, Austria, with Prof. Mongush for
the Shamanic Congress. He also toured Italy and Switzerland.
In 2000 he was invited to return to Germany for that year's Shamanic
Congress.
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Nikolay
Oorzhak and
Michael
Harner
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In 2002
ã. he made a
successful six-month tour in Canada and USA on invitation of
Mr.
Steeve Sklar
(International Association for Harmonic Singing) and Canadian
Shaman’s Society. During the tour, he had a meeting with Dr. Michael
Harner, a famous founder of
Foundation for Shamanic Studies, who has highly
evaluated
Nikolay’s abilities.
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Since 2004, the best Nikolay's student,
Dr. Vladislav Marenitsky
(Kiev, Ukraine), is also participate his
performances and seminars.
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They
regularly gives a seminars in different towns of Russia, Ukraine
and Europe, teaching the shamanism,
throat singing and using the overtones in healing
practice and self-development. They also are
a welcomed and honorary guest at local and international music
festivals.
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In 2005 Dilja Publishing has published a book "The
Ancient Wisdom of Shamans: Teaching of Tuvan Shaman
Nikolay Oorzhak", written by Nikolay's disciples Olard Dixon
and Alexander Fray. It represents Nikolay's lessons and personal
teaching which were given them in period of 2000 - 2004 years.
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In 2006
Nikolay and Vladislav presented the result of many years of
their
self-exploration - Un-Hun, The
Sound of Sun, shamanic system for spiritual development and
improving the health, based on throat
singing.
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