Paul Pena (January 26, 1950 - ) is a San Francisco blues musician, who has
recently become famous for teaching himself Tyvan throat singing, and
is the subject of the recent award-winning documentary film Genghis Blues about his journey to Tyva in 1995.
The Man
Pena was born in Hyannis, Massachussetts, in the United States, and his
grandparents were immigrants from Cape Verde. He has been blind since
birth because of congenital glaucoma, and attended schools for the
blind until he entered Clark University in 1967. He showed an aptitude
for music from a young age, beginning with the piano and voice, and soon
graduating to guitar, bass, violin, and trumpet. He played jazz
with his father, as well as music from Cape Verde, and played in clubs
in and around his college. In 1969 he played the Newport Folk Festival,
and his professional career took off. He moved to the bay area in 1971,
and cut his first record in 1973. In fact, he cut two -- Paul Pena
released by Capitol, and New Train which wasn't released until late
in 2000. New Train features a bunch of guest musicians including
Jerry Garcia and Merle Saunders, and the a cappella singing group
The Persuasions.
Pena made a name for himself as a studio musician with many blues greats,
like John Lee Hooker and B.B. King. He is also an excellent songwriter,
and penned Jet Airliner, made famous by The Steve Miller Band. Miller
heard about Pena from producer Ben Sidran, who had worked with Pena
a few months earlier. Miller covered Jet Airliner, and the royalties
from it have given Pena a modest amount of financial security since then.
In 1984, Pena heard throat singing for the first time, on a shortwave
radio broadcast by Radio Moscow, and sought out more of this style of music
for many years. In 1991 he obtained a recording of throat singing, and
learned the Kargyraa style, in which the normal voice is supplemented by
very low tones (as opposed to higher harmonic overtones). Eventually, his
already low voice and ability to sing Kargyraa earned him the nickname
"Earthquake."
Pena met the Tyvan throat singer Kongar-ol Ondar in 1993 after a San
Francisco concert sponsored
by Ralph Leighton's Friends of Tuva, and the two began a friendship and
musical collaboration. This resulted in an invitation for Pena to visit
the Tyvan Republic and participate in the Tyvan national throat singing
competition in 1995. He won both the Kargyraa division, and the
"audience favorite"
award. His (difficult) journey to and from Tyva was documented in the
film Genghis Blues, which won several international film awards
including the Sundance Audience Favorite, and an
Academy Award nomination for Best
Documentary. Since then, Pena has continued performing and recording
both Tyvan music and blues (and more often, a synthesis of the two) here
in the United States. He was even honored by the city of San Francisco, which
named July 11, 1999 as "Paul Pena Day."
While Pena makes fantastic music, his life in recent years has been very
difficult. He lost his wife in 1991 to complications due to kidney failure,
and he has recently come down with pancreatitis, causing him to lose a
significant amount of weight and run up thousands of dollars in medical
bills. He has also suffered from depression for many years. In fact, during
the filming of Genghis Blues, he lost his medication (or had it stolen)
in Tyva, and nearly had to cut his trip short. As a blind person and as a
musician outside the mainstream, he says he also feels very alienated living
in the United States. However, he still performs publicly, even while
suffering from pancreatitis.
The music
I first heard Paul Pena on the disc Deep in the Heart of Tuva: Cowboy
Music from the Wild East, which first highlighted his trip to the Tyvan
throat singing competition. This disc is a compilation of many different
throat singers and singing styles. It begins with very traditional pieces
by Tyvan artists, then presents a few recordings from the Soviet
era, and finally showcases some of the new directions the music is taking,
including Pena's work. It only has two songs by Pena, but is an interesting
disc nonetheless. The CD comes in a jewel-box sized book, giving a very broad
overview of Tyvan life and culture.
Very recently, I heard New Train and saw Genghis Blues for the
first time. New Train is a great, great album. I first heard my
father playing it last week, and thought it was a Jimi Hendrix
album I'd never heard before. It's straightforward blues-rock typical of
the 1960's and 1970's, but it's very well done. Pena's voice and songwriting
style is very similar to Hendrix at times, particularly on the songs
"Wait on what you want" and "Cosmic Mirror," though he's more centered on
good songwriting than radical guitar playing. His singing and songwriting
is also similar to Richie Havens at times, particularly on the song "Indian
Boy." The album also has Pena's original version of "Jet Airliner," which
is a lot like Steve Miller's cover, but with a slower tempo. It amazes me that
this album sat unreleased for 27 years, but I'm glad it finally came
out.
Genghis Blues is also an interesting record, but for a very different
reason. This record (and the film) documents Pena's trip to Kyzyl, Tyva,
for the throat singing competition, as well as giving an overview of his
musical career. The record features work mainly by Pena and Kongar-ol Ondar,
both on traditional Tyvan pieces and on songs which combine Tyvan traditions
and American blues. The majority of the songs on the album are Tyvan,
but it has a few other gems, including "Gonna Move" from New Train,
a Cape Verdian song called "Tras D'Orizão," and a few blues songs in English,
including "What You Talkin' About" from Deep In The Heart of Tuva,
and the lovely "Center of Asia." The album ends with a live version
of "Eki A'ttar (Good Horses)" which morphs into a bluegrass tune with Paul
joking about cowboys and hillbillies.
Both New Train and Genghis Blues are great albums, and worth
picking up -- the former for good Rock and Roll, and latter for a taste of
Tyvan music.
Sources:
Liner notes for New Train, Hybrid Recordings, 2000
The film and soundtrack for Genghis Blues, Six Degrees Records, 2000
http://www.paulpena.com
http://www.fotuva.org