Khoomei/Throat-Singing

Khoomei is not only the name used in Tuva to describe a large family of singing styles and techniques. Generally, they involve applying tension to the anatomy containing the vocal folds, and the manipulation of the various cavities of the throat, mouth, sinuses, lungs, and other body parts. Throat-Singing is found in many regions, including Tuva (khoomei), Mongolia (xoomej), Kakhassia (xai), Bashkortostan, southern Africa, Tibet (tantric chant) and others. Of course, in a broad sense, this definition would have to include Louis Armstrong, and Froggy from the Little Rascals!

Some Tuvan Singing Styles/Techniques

These are five of the main multiphonic styles:

1. Khoomei
2. Kargyraa
3. Sygyt
4. Borbangnadyr
5. Ezengileer

Khoomei is not only the generic name given to all throat-singing styles, but also to a particular style of singing. Khoomei is a soft-sounding style, with clear but diffused-sounding harmonics above a fundamental, usually within the low-mid to mid-range of the singer's voice. In Khoomei style, there are 2 or more notes clearly audible.

Kaigal-ool Xovalyg, leader of Huun-Huur-Tu and my main teacher, is famous for a 3-4 voice khoomei in which he applies vibrato to the lower pitches, but not the higher ones!

>>

Kargyraa is performed low in the singer's range, and is well-suited for singing text. There are two major styles of Kargyraa, Mountain (dag) and Steppe (xovu). Both feature an intense croaking tone, very rich in harmonics. This technique depends upon the ability to use the false vocal folds (vestibular folds) as a secondary vibration source, lowering the fundamental by 1-2 octaves.

Sygyt is usually based on a mid-range fundamental. It is characterized by a strong, even piercing harmonic or complex of harmonics above the fundamental, and can be used to perform complex and very distinct melodies, with a tone similar to a flute.

Borbangnadyr is named for the Tuvan word for rolling. This style features highly acrobatic trills and warbles, reminiscent of birds, babbling brooks, etc.

Ezengileer comes from a word meaning stirrup, and features rhythmic harmonic oscillations intended to mimic the sound of metal stirrups clinking to the beat of a galloping horse. This style requires opening and closing the velum (opening from the throat to the nasal sinuses) in a rhythmic fashion.

I've been teaching Khoomei since early 1997, when Huun-Huur-Tu asked me to assist in teaching their Minneapolis workshop. Since then, I've taught both workshops and individuals, and have performed Khoomei concerts with Bernard Dubrueil and Tran Quang Hai at the University of Wisconsin. This year I was the first subject of a study on overtone/throat singing by the National Center for Voice and Speech.

I've also developed web sites relating to this topic: a khoomei site, with sound samples, spectrograms and video clips, a Tuvan Photo Gallery with images from my 1995 journey, and the Big Sky Home Page, which includes MP3 and streaming QuickTime samples from my band's song "Siberia," including some of my sygyt and kargyraa singing. The URLs are:

Khoomei Page:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/nlhome/g057/sklar001/khoomei.html

Images of Tuva:
http://www.cbc.umn.edu/~sklar/tpics.html

and Big Sky Home Page:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~skla0003/Big_Sky.html

Please feel free to contact me for more information:

Steve Sklar, 3427 North Colfax Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55412
612-521-4308
Email: <skla0003@tc.umn.edu>