In throat-singing, a singer can produce two or more notes simultaneously through a specialized vocalization technique taking advantage of the throats resonance characteristics."
Inuit Throatsinging
"The Inuit ᐃᓄᐃᑦ are the indigenous peoples of Nunavut, Nunavik in the northern third of Quebec, Nunatsiavut and NunatuKavut in Labrador, inclusive of Inuit Nunangat. Unlike Tuvan throat-singing, the Inuit form of throat-singing is practiced almost exclusively by women. It is also a more communal form of singing than the Tuvan variety, usually performed in groups of two or more women. Their technique relies more on short, sharp, rhythmic inhalations and exhalations of breath. It was traditionally used to sing babies to sleep or in games women played during the long winter nights while the men were away hunting. Throat-singing was banned in the area over 100 years ago by local Christian priests, but it is experiencing a recent revival, especially among younger generations who believe that learning it from their elders connects them with Inuit strength and tradition."
Another introduction:
forgive the academic intro - but he does break down the how in how sounds are being produced a bit, for new entries.
Tuvan Throatsinging
Tuva is a predominantly rural region of Russia located northwest of Mongolia. There, throat-singing is called Khöömei. Singers use a form of circular breathing which allows them to sustain multiple notes for long periods of time. Young Tuvan singers are trained from childhood through a sort of apprentice system to use the folds of the throat as reverberation chambers. Throat-singing in Tuva is almost exclusively practiced by men, although the taboo against women throat-singers, based on the belief that such singing may cause infertility, is gradually being abandoned, and some girls are now learning and performing Khöömei. The Tuvan herder/hunter lifestyle, with its reliance on the natural world and deeply-felt connection to the landscape, is reflected in this Tuvan vocal tradition. With their throat-singing, Tuvans imitate sounds of the natural surroundings—animals, mountains, streams, and the harsh winds of the steppe. Throat-singing was once only a folk tradition, practiced in the windy steppe, but it is now embraced as an emblem of Tuvan identity and more often performed by professionals in formal settings.
Xhosa Overtone Singing, or Umngqokolo singing
Variable pitches of harmonics are obtained by tongue placement and by varying the volume of the mouth cavity. Nowayilethi Mbizweni, a member of the Ensemble, has a personal style she developed by listening to the umqangi beetle.
(insert long tangents about taking the fugitivity already in the voice - but 'the voice' as the full cycle of breath, inhalation, exhalation, gutteral spits and spams - but not performatively so. not in some Fluxus foaming fa la la. It's working and activating with what is already moving in the resonant cavities of the body in utterance with the world and air-ihalation-exhalting, finding the more-than-one note-edness through what always already exceeds any one 'note' in a cycling in and out and within, and keeping all that expanded capacity in the 'how' of what singing can be). Insert long tangents on how much of it resonates and reverberates with the sounds of the environment percussive tools, animals, weather. Insert long tangents on how clumbsy Western language is in describing dissonance and resonance - and how limited Western music is in its (ear) palate.
p.s. bonus time.
if you can't hear a city talking in this you've never tried to jaywalk during rush hour traffic
Inuit Throatsinging
"The Inuit ᐃᓄᐃᑦ are the indigenous peoples of Nunavut, Nunavik in the northern third of Quebec, Nunatsiavut and NunatuKavut in Labrador, inclusive of Inuit Nunangat. Unlike Tuvan throat-singing, the Inuit form of throat-singing is practiced almost exclusively by women. It is also a more communal form of singing than the Tuvan variety, usually performed in groups of two or more women. Their technique relies more on short, sharp, rhythmic inhalations and exhalations of breath. It was traditionally used to sing babies to sleep or in games women played during the long winter nights while the men were away hunting. Throat-singing was banned in the area over 100 years ago by local Christian priests, but it is experiencing a recent revival, especially among younger generations who believe that learning it from their elders connects them with Inuit strength and tradition."
Another introduction:
forgive the academic intro - but he does break down the how in how sounds are being produced a bit, for new entries.
Tuvan Throatsinging
Tuva is a predominantly rural region of Russia located northwest of Mongolia. There, throat-singing is called Khöömei. Singers use a form of circular breathing which allows them to sustain multiple notes for long periods of time. Young Tuvan singers are trained from childhood through a sort of apprentice system to use the folds of the throat as reverberation chambers. Throat-singing in Tuva is almost exclusively practiced by men, although the taboo against women throat-singers, based on the belief that such singing may cause infertility, is gradually being abandoned, and some girls are now learning and performing Khöömei. The Tuvan herder/hunter lifestyle, with its reliance on the natural world and deeply-felt connection to the landscape, is reflected in this Tuvan vocal tradition. With their throat-singing, Tuvans imitate sounds of the natural surroundings—animals, mountains, streams, and the harsh winds of the steppe. Throat-singing was once only a folk tradition, practiced in the windy steppe, but it is now embraced as an emblem of Tuvan identity and more often performed by professionals in formal settings.
Xhosa Overtone Singing, or Umngqokolo singing
Variable pitches of harmonics are obtained by tongue placement and by varying the volume of the mouth cavity. Nowayilethi Mbizweni, a member of the Ensemble, has a personal style she developed by listening to the umqangi beetle.
(insert long tangents about taking the fugitivity already in the voice - but 'the voice' as the full cycle of breath, inhalation, exhalation, gutteral spits and spams - but not performatively so. not in some Fluxus foaming fa la la. It's working and activating with what is already moving in the resonant cavities of the body in utterance with the world and air-ihalation-exhalting, finding the more-than-one note-edness through what always already exceeds any one 'note' in a cycling in and out and within, and keeping all that expanded capacity in the 'how' of what singing can be). Insert long tangents on how much of it resonates and reverberates with the sounds of the environment percussive tools, animals, weather. Insert long tangents on how clumbsy Western language is in describing dissonance and resonance - and how limited Western music is in its (ear) palate.
p.s. bonus time.
if you can't hear a city talking in this you've never tried to jaywalk during rush hour traffic
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