Throat Harmony

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Tuvan throat singing (known in Mongolian as 'throat harmony') is one particular variant of overtone singing practised by people in Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, Tuva and Siberia. In 2009, this art-form was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO. 

TravelTuva.com ยป The Republic of Tuva
Tuva
Image source

Despite what the term might suggest, throat singing (in this context) does not strain the singer's throat. Tuvan throat singers can produce two or three, sometimes even four pitches simultaneously. The singer starts with a low drone. Then, by subtle manipulations of his/her vocal tract, the singer breaks up the sound, amplifying one or more overtones, just enough so that they can be heard as additional pitches while the drone continues at a lower volume. 
Listen:





The ancient tradition of throat singing developed among the nomadic herdsmen of Central Asia, people who lived in yurts, rode horses, raised livestock and had a close spiritual relationship with nature.Throat singing originated as an outdoor activity and only recently has it been brought into the concert hall. Throat singers use their voices to mimic and interact with the sounds of the natural world: whilsting birds, bubbling streams, the blowing of the wind or the deep growl of a camel. Listen here for the different effects. 

Throat singing is most commonly performed by men, but although custom and superstition used to discourage women from throat singing, there are now many excellent female throat singers emerging too. 

The Tuvan way of making music is based on appreciation of complex sounds with multiple layers. To the Tuvan ear, a perfectly "pure" tone is not as interesting as a sound that contains hums, buzzes, or extra pitches that coexist with the main note. Tuvan instruments are designed and played to produce such multi-textured sounds as well. 

For most of the 20th-century, Tuva was isolated from the rest of the world by its remote location and Soviet-era travel restrictions. 

Tuva - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Image source

However, in 1980s, the Nobel Laureate physicist Richard Feynman and his friend Ralph Leighton set out on a quest to visit Tuva (they wrote a book about it: Tuva or Bust!). Fenyman and Leighton became early fans of throat-singing and brought it to the attention of the Western world. 

Today, Tuvan musical groups such as Huun-Huur-Tu, Alash, Chirgilchin, and Tyva Kyzy regularly tour in Europe and the U.S. as well as throughout Russia. Musical festivals and throat-singing competitions draw hundreds of international musicians and fans to Tuva each summer. Tuvan musicians, scholars, and organisations are working to preserve the country's unique musical heritage and to encourage young singers to keep it alive.

Alash in Tuva
Alash Ensemble in Tuva (photo by Wada Fumiko, 2019)
Image source

This blog is intended to be educational and to share knowledge about music. Daily Hit of Music does not claim to own anything contained in this post and declares its sources openly. 
The following sources were used for this blog post: alashensemble.com, Wikipedia
Image sources can be found in the image captions. 
Recordings can be found on YouTube by clicking the 'DHM YouTube Playlist' links. 
 

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