Polyphonic Singing
A global phenomenon
I taught music for over 20 years. I have written curriculum for various online schools and taught music history and theory online and in-person for grades K-college (and beyond). Although I was a voice teacher, I never taught polyphonic or overtone singing. I was trained for western-style opera and so the opportunity to learn this style of singing was never presented to me. Today, I will cover the various regions who utilize polyphonic or overtone singing and their history with this unique singing technique.
What is Polyphony?
Polyphony is when two separate melodies are sung or played simultaneously. Polyphonic music was very popular during the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Baroque eras. In western music, the most commonly known are the works by J.S. Bach. His contrapuntal style of writing would layer many different melodies against each other one at a time until they were all playing at the same time. What would start as a simple melody, would soon become a layering of 2-4 melodies playing simultaneously. These are not to be confused with a single melody that has a chord structure supporting it. The video above gives you an example of a commonly known Baroque work sung in polyphonic style.
What is Polyphonic Singing?
Polyphonic singing has many names. It can often be referred to as overtone singing, diphonic singing, or harmonic singing. As the video above demonstrates, one person manipulates their voice in order to sustain two melodies at the exact same time. This technique should not be confused with throat singing. Although some throat singing techniques do utilize polyphonic singing (as we can see in the video below).
Asia
Tuva
The video above is an example of throat singing from Tuva (with a nice dose of polyphonic singing at the beginning). Tuva is a region in southern Siberian Russia. The Tuvan style is a mix of complex textures which include complex melodies and rhythms. Although most of their music would be noted as throat singing, many of their styles are sung with what they refer to as korekteer (chest singing). Singing with the chest voice to them may not mean the same thing as what singing in the chest voice would mean to classical western musical understanding. The styles of music they perform include: Khöömei, Sygyt, Kargyraa (false-folds-diplophony or false vocal folds technique) Borbangnadyr, Chylandyk, Dumchuktaar, Ezengileer, Artii Sayir, and Byrlang (a vibrato style).
Pentatonic Scale
What makes these melodies unique is that they only use the major pentatonic scale. The pentatonic scale consists of five tones. It is quite popularly used in modern jazz compositions. The Tuvan music also uses the pentatonic scale. See if you can see the patterns identified in the video below and compare those to the video of the Tuva singer above. Do you hear it?
Mongolia and Buryatia
It is often believed that overtone singing originated in southwestern Mongolia. It continues to be the most active region in the world where polyphonic singing continues to thrive. The style of singing is called khöömii. Within this style, we find variations based on the regions of origin: Uruulyn - labial khöömii; Tagnain - palatal khöömii; Khamryn - nasal khöömii; Bagalzuuryn khooloin - glottal, throat khöömii; Tseejiin khondiin; khevliin - chest cavity, stomach khöömii; and Turlegt khosmoljin khöömii. Other popular singing styles in Mongolia are not overtone, but fall within the family of song structures (as stated previously, throat singing often uses overtone singing techniques) include karkhiraa (growling) and isgeree.
Other Throat Singing Regions in West Asia
There are many regions that practice throat singing. However, they do include overtone techniques and cannot be discounted in this list. These regions include Altai and Khakassia (Russian region), Chuckchi Peninsula (far northeastern Russia), Tibet, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan. It is said that there is an ancient form of Balochi nur sur overtone singing from the Sulaiman mountain region (including Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan), however all videos that I could find on this style of music had no overtone that I could identify.
Kurdistan
Kurdish-Yazidi style of bardic chanting also utilizes overtones. This is a distinct form of overtone singing that is more closely aligned to a fast and wide vibrato-style of singing. This style is called Dengbêj and can be found in Turkish Kurdistan and among Anatolian Dengbêj singers. Outside of this region, the overtones are rarely heard.
Europe
Northern Europe
Although overtone singing in Europe is more frequently associated with polyphonic choral singing, there are small groups that utilize a form of overtone singing as part of their technique for other styles of singing. One example comes from the Sami people who are found in northern Finland, Norway, Sweden, and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. Their style of singing is called yoik.
Bashkortostan
The Bashkirs in Bashkortostan, Russia utilize a style of polyphonic singing called özläü. This almost extinct genre of singing is often vocalized into a flute (kurai flute) and can frequently be seen in folk music across the region of Hungary and the Balkans.
Africa
South Africa
In South Africa, the Thembu Xhosa women utilize a style of throat singing somewhat similar to the Tuva kargyraa. Their style is called Umngqokolo. Although this starts to also include polyphonic choral style singing (which I will do a separate article on later), it frequently uses complicated polyrhythms paired with call and response vocalizations.
United States
Polyphonic singing can be found in country western music, popularized in the United States. The yodeling often found in this genre of music is a form of polyphonic vocalization. Although not a true overtone technique, the vocal agility required to change from gutteral sounds into sweet sounds is within the realm of the tonal timbres found in polypohinc singing. However, Arther Miller included true polyphonic singing in his cowboy songs from the 1920s.
Polyphonic singing is a very unusual technique that requires skills not commonly found in today’s music classrooms (if ever found). The only way one can attain such a technique is to seek an expert on this specific and unique tonal achievement. So, don’t ask your music teacher. They probably have no idea how to do this.