Background and Influences

For centuries people in many parts of the world have developed overtone singing traditions (khoomei - throat singing, harmonic singing, overtoning, harmonic chant, subfundamental chant, multiphonic singing, vocal fry, etc), and nowhere has it reached greater refinement than in central Asia. You may have heard the high whistling melodies, expressive warbles, and intense low croaking tones of Tuvan throat singers. A similar folk tradition occurs among the herdsmen of Mongolia. Certain groups of Tibetan Buddhist monks practice a deep subfundamental type of sacred harmonic chant.