Tuva is a part of Russia, inhabited by a Turkic people. Tuvans are known abroad for khoomei (xöömej), a kind of overtone singing. Traditionally, Tuvan music was only a solo effort. The musician's intention was usually to emphasise timbre and harmonics over rhythm. Performances were often in places with good natural acoustics, such as caves, cliffs, and rivers, with the performer taking long pauses to allow nature the chance to converse back. Modern Tuvan music usually involves ensembles of musicians playing multiple instruments, and tends to be more pulsatile than traditional forms. Traditional songs Tuvans' belief in spirits is apparent in their musical practices. Praise songs and chants, called algysh, and the rhythmically chanted poetic couplets that precede breaths of throat-singing, address cher eezi, or local-spirit masters with words. Throat singing is instead made to imitate sounds produced by the places or beings in which the spirit-masters dwell. Singers establish contact with the spirit-master by reproducing the sounds made and enter into conversation, whose aim is supplication, an expression of gratitude, or an appeal for protection. The same imitative or mimetic interaction with the natural sound world may also be mediated through the use of traditional musical instruments. Calm, mimetic singing in reproduction of the sounds of a certain place is believed to be the best possible offering to spirit-masters. This region is also famous for its indigenous shaman population. Shamans commonly created music in order to call upon spirits, conjure ancestors, discover birthplaces, connect with natural surroundings, and to attract spirits for hunters. Shepherds would also play music to herd animals and imitate galloping horses. Each song had a certain meaning according to where the musician was and whether or not the situation was work or relaxation. Many traditional Tuvan songs share the same structure. They may consist of several verses, each four lines long, with each line having only eight syllables. It is not uncommon for all the lines of a verse to begin with a word starting with the same letter or a similar-sounding letter. Traditional instruments Amyrga (horn used for hunting Maral) Byzaanchy (4-string spike fiddle) Chadagan (similar to a zither) Chanzy (3-string plucked lute) Bichii chanzy (small chanzy tuned one octave higher) Doshpuluur (3-string plucked lute) Dungur (flat drum used by shamans) Ediski (birch wood vibrated with the mouth to imitate birds) Igil (2-string bowed horsehead fiddle with skin-covered soundbox) Khomus (jaw harp) Shoor (end