Part of African American History Month
"Genghis Blues" is a documentary about the blind, blues musician Paul Pena. After a successful music career playing with musicians such as B.B. King and Bonnie Raitt, he retired because of health problems. One day, he heard throat-singing from Tuva on his shortwave radio. Throat-singing is a style in which a singer manipulates his overtones and makes it sound as though they are singing two different notes at once.
Pena was so fascinated that he began to learn this unusual art. He appeared in a concert and impressed one of the throat-singers so much that he was invited to the Autonmous Republic of Tuvan located between Mongolian and Siberia, to participate in an international throat-singing tournament.
Shot by Roko and Adrian Belic, and nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary. 90 minutes
