Let’s begin by watching the following video. You have likely never heard Throat Singing nor anything like it before. As you watch the video, consider some things:
Where is that sound coming from?
What purpose might this type of music serve?
In this video specifically: what kind of instruments do you see/hear? What are the musicians wearing? How are they arranged physically? What do you think they’re doing with their voices to create the effects? What about the music itself? What is striking you about the Rhythm/Melody/Harmony/Timbre/Dynamics/Texture/Form of the music that gives throat singing its unique quality?
WHAT IS THROAT SINGING?
THROAT SINGING, also called OVERTONE SINGING, is a singing technique used by several musical cultures around the world in which a vocalist sings two pitches at once. This is achieved via an isolation of overtones in the throat and manipulation of the tongue and lips. Based on the region, throat singers perform this technique for a variety of reasons and with a variety of effects.
WHERE IN THE WORLD?
There are four main cultures that participate in some sort of throat singing tradition. The Tuvans have a nomadic, horse culture. INUITS are an Arctic indigenous American tribe populating northern Canada, Alaska, and Greenland. SARDINIANS are an Italian sub-ethnicity from the Island of Sardinia located in the Mediterranean Sea. The most well-known are the TUVAN people, an ethnically Mongolian tribe that inhabits Mongolia and southeast Russia. The XHOSA people are a Bantu sub-ethnicity located in the eastern part of South Africa and parts of Zimbabwe. While none of these cultures are interrelated and are quite spread out , they all utilize throat singing to a certain extent.
SCIENCE STUFF …
All audible pitch is nothing more than a sound wave vibrating at a specific FREQUENCY (waves per second). The faster a sound wave vibrates, the higher the pitch; and the slower, the lower. Within all sound waves are a series of HARMONICS or OVERTONES which is to say that dividing a sound wave into smaller, even parts will isolate higher pitches above the sounding pitch of the sound wave which is known as the FUNDAMENTAL.
In throat singing, vocalists isolate the various harmonics over the fundamental through manipulation of their Larynx, Pharynx, and the oral cavity of the mouth. This results in the audibility of both the fundamental pitch and one of the resonating frequencies above it.
HARMONICS
Creating a node in specific places along a sounding object raises the pitch in a formulaic way. Let’s assume the Fundamental pitch the singer is vocalizing is the note “C”. When the singer isolates the node halfway between the nodes of C, the resulting harmonic will be a C an octave above. The following chart continues the pattern up the Harmonics from C …
1 – Fundamental + 1st Harmonic (Note: C)
1/2 – 2nd Harmonic/1st Overtone (Note: C 1 octave higher)
1/3 – 3rd Harmonic/2nd Overtone (Note: G 5th above)
1/4 – 4th Harmonic/3rd Overtone (Note: C 2 octaves higher)
1/5 – 5th Harmonic/4th Overtone (Note: E 3rd above)
1/6 – 6th Harmonic/5th Overtone (Note: G 3rd above)
1/7 – 7th Harmonic/6th Overtone (Note: Bb 3rd above)
Etc. …
TUVAN THROAT SINGING
TUVAN THROAT SINGING has three main distinctions: Xöömei (or Khöömei), Kargyraa, and Sygyt. The three styles are meant to symbolize and reflect sounds of nature including wind, mountains, and water.
XÖÖMEI is the most typically performed and the most relaxed. The word Xöömei or Khöömei is the Tuvan word for throat singing in general. Singer use a mid-range fundamental and only isolate two or three overtones above. This type is meant to sound like water.
KARGYRAA is the lowest form and also used by Tibetan monks in chanting rituals. It involves a constriction of the larynx and a manipulation of the lips to isolate harmonics. This type is meant to sound like mountains or the Mongolian Steppe.
The final type is called SYGYT and is the type in which a distinct “whistle” can be heard over the fundamental. This is due to the isolation of very high overtones by closing the mouth into a very narrow “ee” shape so the air is forced from the lips in a faster stream. This type is meant to sound like wind or birds.
Tuvan Throat singing is often accompanied by string instruments in Tuva including the DOSHPULUUR and the BYZAANCHY. Performances may also include drums, jaw harps, and a variety of flutes. Usually, there is only one Tuvan throat singer in a piece although multiple performers in the ensemble may take turns or sing simultaneously using the different styles.
The Tuvans, being very in touch with nature as a nomadic, hunter-herder people, use throat singing as a symbolic connection with their surrounding geography. Historically, only men could be throat singers as it was thought throat singing would cause infertility in women, though many women are beginning to practice throat singing in contemporary society.
INUIT THROAT SINGING
Inuit throat singing, known as KATAJJAQ, is most often performed by two or more women in a game setting. In this game, the two women stand very close with arms locked and one woman begins with a rhythm. The other woman (depending on the style of the game) will either copy the first’s rhythm at a very close repetition or simply fill in the first’s spaces. The object of the game is to outlast the other singer and most games last up to three minutes before one woman will make a mistake, run out of air, or laugh. The game has been used in historical context to keep women occupied while the men were gone for long periods of time hunting, and to lull babies to sleep. In very traditional settings, the women will throat sing so close as to use the other woman’s open mouth as a resonation chamber for their vocalizations. Today, this practice is less common.
While the game is very musical and often accompanied by rocking, dance-like movement, Inuit tribal members consider the practice to be more breath- and game-based rather than musical. The practice was banned for approximately 100 years during a heavy colonization period in Canada but since the ban’s lift, young Inuit women have reconnected with the practice to get in touch with their heritage.
XHOSAN THROAT SINGING
This form of throat singing in South Africa was only brought to global awareness in the 1980’s due to the the Xhosa tribes who performed this variety living without contact with many outsiders. The Xhosan style is known as UMNGQOKOLO and is performed exclusively by women of the tribes.
This style is characterized by a flat, guttural split tone and the fundamental and overtone balanced at equal volume. The overtone singers create a repetitive bassline over which singers producing vocal lines with more traditional technique layer harmony and polyphonic development. It is traditionally performed in call and response format between several women in a group and also is often used as an enjoyable pastime or hobby and performed at parties and dances.
SARDINIAN THROAT SINGING
The men of Sardinia have a throat singing tradition referred to as CANTU A TENORE. The main difference between this and the other regional styles above is the complexity of the polyphony. In Cantu a tenore, there are exactly four singers with four precise roles:
boche: solo voice sings lyrics to a song in any genre
mesu boche: half voice meant to sound like the wind
contra: counter meant to sound like sheep (throat singing)
bassu: bass meant to sound like cow (throat singing)
The men stand in a circle or semicircle to connect better when singing and the boche always starts before cuing the other voices to enter. The three voices that are not the main part sing nonsense syllables underneath. It is likely that this is a male tradition as sheep and cow herding in Sardinia are traditionally male roles and the music emulates the sounds of the work.
MUSICAL ELEMENTS OF THROAT SINGING …
Because we are focusing on four very different throat singing traditions around the world, there are not many musical elements in common. The most binding commonality is the TIMBRE of throat singing which tends to be guttural, hoarse, and spread but there is a lot of variety from region to region and within even its own traditional function.
At this point in your interactions with world music, you should be comfortable with describing each of the throat singing musical traditions above with their own distinct markers in the element categories of Rhythm, Melody, Harmony, Timbre, Dynamics, Texture, and Form.
WHERE TO HEAR THROAT SINGING IN THE USA
Throat singing is considered a sacred way to connect with nature and deity in many world religions including several religions that have incorporated traditional throat singing into their musical heritage. It is not uncommon to witness throat singing in Buddhist/Tibetan shrines or monasteries. In addition, individuals or communities embracing denominational spiritualism will often perform or play throat singing in addition to the act of meditation or making spiritual connection.
In concert settings, it is possible to see all four varieties of throat singing discussed above although Xhosa would be quite rare in the United States. Tuvan throat singing is commonly found in world music venues in America and Sardinian Cantu a tenore can be found at Italian, Sardinian, and Southern European ethnic cultural festivals. Recently, Inuit musicians such as TANYA TAGAQ have begun to speak out against the appropriation of their throat singing techniques by white artists and even other Canadian indigenous musicians who are not direct members of the Inuit tribes.
PODCASTS
VoiceBox: Siberian Express - The Art of Tuvan Throat Singing