Tuvan Throat Singers

While we were watching a video of Vladimir Vysotsky in class, somebody mentioned Siberian throat singers, planting the idea behind this blog post. Siberian throat singing, technically called Tuvan throat singing, is a unique vocal style in which the singer produces multiple pitches from the throat. This makes it sound like he (usually the singer is a man) is whistling and singing at the same time. It originated in what is today the Tuva Republic, located in Southern Siberia on the north side of the Mongolian border. The open landscape there allows sound to travel great distances, making the region conducive for this type of singing. For the historically animistic Tuvans, throat singing has a spiritual significance. The human imitation of sounds in nature represents the inter-connectedness of spirits and objects in nature.

Here's a video: