BORIS YELTSIN
CHECKS IT OUT
BORIS YELTSIN INSPECTS THE BOOKS
Sakhalinskaya Oil Platform
Sea of Okhotsk, off the City of Okha
Sakhalin Island, Sakhalin Oblast', USSR
August 1990
From today's Washington Post obituary of Kongar-ol Ondar, a "master of throat singing" from the Russian republic of Tuva:
He mesmerized audiences with his ability to produce two or more notes simultaneously — a low, steady drone overlaid with higher-pitched tones that to the unaccustomed ear sounded like a radio gone haywire.His talent was so extraordinary that when he sang for Yeltsin in 1994, the Russian leader looked into his mouth in search of a device that could produce such music.
From Russia Redux, Chapter Six: Yeltsin "was never kabinetnyi, never one to be desk-bound." He "liked to be out in the field, seeing things first hand."
