When we first heard that Tyva Kyzy would be "throat singing" Saturday at the Leeward Community College Theatre, we had two questions:

1) What is throat singing; and 2) What is a Tyva Kyzy?

What we found: Tyva Kyzy is an all-female folk music group from Tuva, a federal subject of Russia, located between the Siberian forests and the deserts of Mongolia.

The group's name translates to Daughters of Tuva, and they throat sing through a technique called "khoomei."

This technique is where the singer may enunciate a series of specified harmonics above a fundamental pitch, a drone. The throat singer — by careful maneuvering of the vocal tract, tongue, lips, and jaw — is able to single out one of the many overtones above this fundamental pitch.

Tyva Kyzy sings about birds and horses, winds and rivers, the power of a lullaby and a cup of tea.

Some more information we found:

• There are five basic styles of throat singing.

• There was controversy surrounding female throat-singing. According to some Tuvan traditions, women were forbidden to perform khoomei because it could diminish the vitality of her male relatives and lead to difficulties during childbirth.

Tyva Kyzy spokeswoman Choduraa Tuma said one of the original singers in Tyva Kyzy pulled the blankets over her head as a child, so that nobody would hear her, and sang for herself.

• Some of the instruments the Tyva Kyzy will play Saturday are:

Homus - The Tuvan jaw's harp. Most are made of steel, but Tyva Kyzy also plays the legendary Cha-homus, made from a hunting bow and arrow.

Byzaanchy — The name of this instrument is related to the word for calf, since it is thought to have the voice of a young bull. It has four strings and an intertwined bow.

Igil — A two-stringed lap fiddle, used for melody or to evoke sounds of the wind or horse. The igil is deeply connected with the horse in Tuvan myth.

Duyuglar — Literally "hooves," used to replicate the cadence of a horse.

Chadagan — The hammer dulcimer, either plucked or strummed to provide harmonic rhythm.