Overtone singing

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Overtone singing, also known as overtone chanting, harmonic singing, or harmonic chant, is a type of singing in which the singer manipulates the harmonic resonances (or formants) created as air travels from the lungs, past the vocal folds, and out the lips. Many of these terms were first coined by David Hykes in 1975.

Throat singing usually refers to several traditional Central Asian styles of overtone singing, but is also applied to traditional techniques from other regions.

The overtones are clearly heard when the partials of a sound wave produced by the human voice are selectively amplified by changing the shape of the resonant cavities of the mouth, larynx and pharynx. The result of this resonant tuning allows the singer to create more than one pitch at the same time, with the capability of creating six pitches at once. Generally the sounds created by throat singing are low droning hums and high pitched flutelike melodies. The sound of certain styles of overtone singing may remind one of a Theremin.

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Traditional Styles

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Tuva

The best-known of the traditional forms comes from Tuva, a small autonomous republic within the Russian Federation. The history of throat singing, or khoomei (also spelled xoomei), reaches too far back for anyone alive to accurately discern. Ethnomusicologists studying throat singing in these areas mark khoomei as an integral part in the ancient pastoral animism that is still practised today. Harmonics are universally present in all human voices and instrumental sounds.

The animistic worldview of this region identifies the spirituality of objects in nature, not just in their shape or location, but in their sound as well. Thus, human mimicry of nature's sounds is seen as the root of throat singing. (A beautiful example is the Mongolian story of the waterfall above the Buyan Gol (Deer River), where mysterious harmonic sounds are said to have attracted deer to bask in the waters, and where it is said harmonic sounds were first revealed to people.) Indeed, the cultures in this part of Asia have developed many instruments and techniques to mimic the sounds of animals, wind, and water. While the cultures of this region share throat singing, their styles vary in breadth of development.

In one of the main styles of khoomei, melodies are created by isolating the 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 12th (although more are possible) partial in the Harmonic series (music) (Sol, Do, Re, Mi and Sol in Solfege). The performer's mouth should remain in a constant "ur" position, except to achieve the lower So, when it is necessary to round the lips in an "O". The remaining notes are formed by incrementally shifting from an internal "ur" vowel for Do to an "E" for the high So. The teeth are lightly clenched and the tongue is slightly bowled. The base pitch is typically around a G below Middle C. This is basic Sygyt.

The people of Tuva have a wide range of throat singing vocalizations, and were the pioneers of six pitch harmonics. The three basic styles are called khoomei, kargyraa, and sygyt. Additional recognized styles include borbangnadyr, chylandyk, dumchuktaar, ezengileer, and kanzip. Some consider these additional styles to be variations or modifications of the three principal styles.

Sygyt
meaning "whistling", a technique that utilizes a mid-range fundamental and produces a high-pitched, rather piercing harmonic reminiscent of whistling. The technique is different from khoomei as the fundamental is completely attenuated, and has a higher pitch. The tone sounds very bright and clear. Also described as an imitation of the gentle breezes of summer, the songs of birds.
Kargyraa
a deep, "undertone" technique. The vestibular folds or false vocal folds are vibrated to produce an "undertone" exactly half the frequency of the fundamental produced by the vocal folds, and the mouth cavity is shaped to select harmonics of both the fundamental and the "undertone," producing from four to six pitches simultaneously. There are two main kargyraa styles, dag kargyraa and khovu kargyraa. The dag or "mountain" kargyraa is the lower of the two. There are also the distinctive kargyraa styles of Vladimir Oidupaa and Albert Kuvezin, the latter also bearing the name kanzat. This style can also be described as the howling winds of winter or the plaintive cries of a mother camel after losing her calf.
Khoomei
(Tuvan language: Хөөмей, Mongolian:Khöömii, Simplified Chinese:呼麦, Traditional Chinese:呼麥) While khoomei is used as a generic term to designate all throat singing techniques in this region, it is also more specifically a technique where the drone is in the middle-range of the voice, with harmonics between one and two octaves above. Singing in this style give one the impression of wind swirling among rocks.
Chylandyk
merely a mixture of Sygyt and Kargyraa. Both styles are sung at once, creating an unusual sound of low undertones mixed with the high Sygyt whistle. It has also been described as the "chirping of crickets."
Dumchuktaar
could be best described as Throat Humming. The singer creates a sound similar to Sygyt using only the nasal passage. The word means to sing through the nose (dumchuk). The mouth does not need to be closed, but of course it demonstrates the point better.
Ezengileer
is a pulsating style, mimicking the rhythms of horseback riding. It is named after the word for stirrup in Tyvan, ezengi.
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Mongolia

Throat singing is found mostly in Western Mongolia. In Mongolia, khoomii can be divided up into the following categories.

  • uruulyn / labial khoomii
  • tagnain / palatal khoomii
  • khamryn / nasal khoomii
  • bagalzuuryn, khooloin / glottal, throat khoomii
  • tseejiin khondiin, khevliin / chest cavity, stomach khoomii
  • turlegt or khosmoljin khoomii / khoomii combined with long song

Mongolians also sing in a style known as karkhiraa.

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Altai

Throat singing, which they call kai, used mostly in Epic poetry performance, to the accompaniment of topshur. Altay kai-chi perform in kargyraa, khöömei, sygyt styles, which are similar to Tuvan. They also have their own style, a very high harmonics, emerging from kargyraa. Variations of kai are called karkyra, sybysky, homei, and sygyt.

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Khakassia

Just north of Tyva in the region of Khakassia there exist native styles of throat singing known as khai.

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Tibet

Tibetan Buddhist chanting is a sub-genre of throat singing. Most often the chants hold to the lower pitches capable in throat singing. Various ceremonies and prayers call for throat singing in Tibetan Buddhism, often with more than one monk chanting at a time. Studies measuring the frequencies of the throat singing and the brain waves of the monks have shown synchronicity in the brain, causing it to emit similar waves to those found in studies of silent meditation.

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Bashkortostan

The Bashkorts have a style of overtone singing, uedhlaew (sometimes spelled uzlyau; Bashkort: үзләү), which nearly died out. In addition, Bashkorts also sing uzlyau while playing the quray, a national instrument. This technique of vocalizing into a flute can also be found in folk music as far West as the Balkans and Hungary.

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Uzbekistan, Karakalpakstan, Kazakhstan

The oration of these people's poetry sometimes enters the realm of throat singing.

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Canada

The resurgence of a once-dying Inuit throat singing tradition is underway in Canada.

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South Africa

Xhosa women of South Africa have a style of chanting that falls in the category of throat singing.

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Italy

Sheep herders on the island of Sardinia use a style of polyphonic throat singing that dates back more than a thousand years. Tenores di Bitti, a contemporary Sardinian group, practices this.

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Non-Traditional Styles

America and Europe – The 1920s Texan singer of cowboy songs, Arthur Miles, independently created a style of throat singing as a substitute for the normal yodeling of country western music. Starting in the 1970s, some musicians in the West either have collaborated with or ventured into the realm of throat singing, or both, some making original musical contributions and helping this art rediscover its transcultural universality. As harmonics are universal to all voices, the notion of authenticity is best understood in terms of musical quality. Musicians of note in this genre include Karlheinz Stockhausen, Ry Cooder, Paul Pena, Demetrio Stratos, David Hykes (who created the term "harmonic singing" in 1975), and Steve Sklar. Lester Bowie and Ornette Coleman both worked with the Tenores di Bitti, and Eleanor Hovda has written a piece using the Xhosa style of singing. DJs and performers of electronic music have also merged their music either with throat singing itself or with the theory of harmonics behind it.

Rajasthan - Ethnomusicologist John Levy recorded a Rajasthani singer utilizing overtones in imitation of either a jew's harp or a double-flute. There is no tradition of this style of singing there.

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Current throat singing artists

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Appearances in Western music

Tuvan throat singer Kongar-ol Ondar appears on the Bela Fleck and the Flecktones album Outbound, and also on their Live at the Quick DVD and CD. Throat singers have also performed on a recording by Frank Zappa as well as in Ry Cooder's soundtrack to the film Geronimo: An American Legend (1993). Little Jimmy Urine, the lead singer of American punk rock band Mindless Self Indulgence, has allegedly trained himself to throat sing.

Tuvan throat singing appears on the The KLF album Chill Out (sampled from a BBC album entitled 'Disappearing World'). It is also featured in the Shpongle single 'Divine Moments of Truth'. Jazz vocalist Bobby McFerrin also uses the throat singing method in some of his songs, as can be seen in, for example, the track "Drive". Samples of throat singing (possibly by Huun-Huur-Tu) appear on the album 'Desengano' by Samus.

Björk has collaborated extensively with the Canadian throatsinger Tanya Tagaq Gillis on her albums Medúlla and Drawing Restraint 9, the soundtrack to the film of the same name. Tanya has also toured with the Icelandic musician.

"Past Life Melodies" for SATB chorus by Australian composer Sarah Hopkins (b. 1958) also calls for this technique. In Water Passion after St. Matthew by Tan Dun, the soprano and bass soloists sing in a variety of techniques including overtone singing of the Mongolian style.

Arrington de Dionyso of Old Time Relijun is an acknowledged master of Tuvan throat singing.

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See also

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External links

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Artists

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Listening

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Acoustic Researchers

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Acoustics

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Lessons and tutorials

da:Strubesang de:Obertongesang fr:Chant diphonique nl:Boventoonzang ja:喉歌 nn:strupesong sv:Strupsång

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