Tuva and Busted

Published as a companion book to his musical album Giant Steppes, Dennis Rea’s Tuva and Busted is a free eBook available as a joint publication courtesy of Blue Ear Books in partnership with MoonJune Records. In the manner of his previous book Live at the Forbidden City, this richly illustrated account relates the improbable tale of how an early interest in music from the tiny republic of Tuva in remote Central Asia eventually led, via two MuzEnergo tours of Russia, to Rea performing in Tuva, collaborating with distinguished Tuvan musicians, and even acting as a judge in a throat-singing competition. The book also offers expanded liner notes for Rea’s brilliant new album Giant Steppes, detailing each track’s origin and making. Tuva and Busted is available now as a free eBook from Blue Ear Books.

Download Tuva and Busted (PDF)

Critical praise for Dennis Rea’s previous Blue Ear Books title, Live at the Forbidden City:

“The adventures of an accidental musical ambassador…[Rea’s] thoroughly engaging chronicle takes readers from his first hour in the country, when a taxi driver backed over his guitar, through his almost five years living and traveling in China and Taiwan…Throughout, Rea employs an agreeably self-deprecating tone and exhibits a musician’s ear for euphony and rhythm. Vivid and informative, expressing appreciation grounded in experience.” – Kirkus Discoveries

About Giant Steppes:

Giant Steppes is a boldly unconventional exploration of Central Asian music that follows on from Rea’s acclaimed 2010 MoonJune release Views From Chicheng Precipice. Recorded over several years in Seattle and Siberia, Giant Steppes is the ever-unpredictable guitarist/composer/arranger’s most ambitious album so far, interpolating Silk Road desert airs, Russian choral songs, Tuvan throat singing, and mutant Tibetan pop with a gleeful yet respectful disregard for genre purity.

Download Tuva and Busted (PDF)