So... one day, I show up at this meetup in Vancouver. Think meeting random strangers is a bit radical (even if they share the same kinds of interests)? I thought it would be an awesome idea! And, you'll never know what you're gonna get!
The organizer introduced me to the only guy that showed up. He seemed kinda quiet and reserved, but the organizer said: "he's a singer, he'll show you what he can do".
"Cool" I responded casually, not knowing that I was going to witness 4 seconds of a seemingly-impossible feat.
It was a noisy restaurant, but I listened, and I could not believe my ears. "THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE!", I blurted out! He sounded like an instrument... yet---- he WAS the instrument. Apparently, the term for it is "harmonic overtones", or more colloquially: throat singing.
Here's an amazing demo of it on YouTube:
I don't know about you, but when I witness something like this, I can't just nod and move on to the next topic. I obviously had to ask questions. There's only one problem: I lack musical knowledge, and I bet so do a lot of people. That's too bad for us n00bs, because we're missing out on a lot. If you want to read more on such things, look up terms like overtones, overtone singing, and formants on Wikipedia.
There's also a 10-minute documentary on YouTube about Tuva Throat Singers. It traces the old practice back to Siberia.
According to Wikipedia, there are many places where throat singing is still practiced.Tibet, Hokkaido (Japan), and Mongolia are just a few listings.
Enchanted? You could also watch a tutorial on how to do it yourself! Good luck!
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