World Music Wednesday: Tuvan Throat Singing
August is an exciting month here at ChordStrike. We’re set to launch both our World Music Event and our editors’ picks for the 100 Greatest World Music Albums of All Time in the next few weeks. In honor of these internationally-themed occasions (and frankly because I’ll use any excuse to blog about world music), I’ve created a month-long miniseries of blog posts called “World Music Wednesdays." Each Wednesday this month, I’ll highlight a different genre of world music. Suggestions welcome!
Today’s genre of choice: Tuvan throat singing. I discovered this style of singing, also known as overtone singing, when I was in high school, and I remember being immediately mesmerized by its weird and wild wonderfulness. Eerie, beautiful, and primitive, it was like nothing I’d ever heard before. I felt as if I had suddenly encountered a wild creature, like a panther, in a forest, and was standing motionless before it, half in fear, half in awe and fascination. It was the first time that I’d experienced music as a physical entity—as if the sounds emanating from the singers’ throats were alive and tangible.
And no wonder. Tuvan throat singing is an ancient practice which is believed to be rooted in the shamanic traditions of Tuva, a small, culturally distinct region which is now part of present-day Russia. Centuries ago, before being colonized by China, Mongolia, and Russia, Tuva was part of the vast Turkic Empire in Central Asia. The Tuvans developed rich oral and musical traditions which were shaped in part by their connection to nature and their belief in spirits. Shamans used throat singing to commune with spirits, and shepherds would imitate the sounds of animals, wind, and water while wandering the high steppes and taiga forests. The environment in which throat singing is performed is of particular importance; the music is intended to resonate within the natural acoustical environment of a cave, cliff, or steppe (where sound carries a great distance.)
Throat singers achieve their unique sound by manipulating their vocal folds, which enables them to produce a distinct melody by amplifying certain overtones and de-amplifying others. As a result, throat singers can produce two or more tones (ranging from a low, bass-like vibration to a flute-like whistle) simultaneously—essentially singing in harmony with themselves. This is a remarkable feat which is almost never heard in Western music.
Check out some of my favorite throat singing performances below, and stay tuned for next week’s installment of World Music Wednesdays. For more info on throat singing, check out this neat Scientific American article.
--Bri Nguyen
air jordans on December 20, 2010 at 09:43 PM
Wow cool!! It really Rocks!!! What a very big screen!!
generic viagra on April 16, 2010 at 08:27 AM
I also second Genghis Blues. An interesting, introspective look at the state of a musician in decline until he discovers Tuvan throat singing and the people who help him.
tristanclopet on August 11, 2009 at 09:44 AM
this is the same dude as in the bela fleck DVD!!! he's the man. side note: i went to a throat singing workshop in college as a joke and BOY is it hard to do.
Bri Nguyen on August 09, 2009 at 10:02 PM
Nathan- thanks for the kind words! I love your description of the music as "organic" and "earthen." Since throat singing is so heavily influenced by the earth and the environment, you picked the perfect way to describe it.
Stas, Ben, and Amy- thanks for the awesome suggestions! I'll definitely check out "Deep in the Heart of Tuva" and "Genghis Blues." Keep the suggestions coming!
Hugo - ah, so that's why you're so good at throat singing! I'm impressed. ;)
Hugo Munday on August 06, 2009 at 08:07 AM
I saw huun huur tu in Symphony Space in NYC, years ago, complete with an ethno-sociologist type in a baggy sweater, talking about them before they did their thing. It's really crazy live. The overtones don't always sound like they're coming from the people that are singing them. Me and a bunch of friends used to try to do it, as a lark - two of them got really good. To this day, one of them will use overtones to get my attention in a noisy, or crowded situation.
Amy on August 06, 2009 at 01:58 AM
I also second Genghis Blues. An interesting, introspective look at the state of a musician in decline until he discovers Tuvan throat singing and the people who help him.
Ben Lukoff on August 06, 2009 at 12:00 AM
Anyone at all interested in throat singing should check out the documentary film Genghis Blues, featuring Paul Peña.
Stas on August 05, 2009 at 04:10 PM
If you can still find it, the CD "Deep in the Heart of Tuva: Cowboy Music from the Wild East" from Ellipsis Arts is a great collection of Tuvan throat singing.
nathan didlake on August 05, 2009 at 03:17 PM
Bri -
I gotta be honest: while this isn't a brand of music I'd necessarily really get into, I am just as amazed by it as you are. The fact that the vocalist creates multiple notes in a type of self-harmony is incredible. But your description of the art as encountering an exotic animal struck me as unbelievably accurate. There's a type of organic, earthen affect, which makes it a composed, well-trained explosion of the wild, the untamed, and the unmatched.
peace,
nathan