
The poet-musicians of Kazakhstan and the Uzbek region of Karakalpakstan, known as zhirau, employ throat singing in their epic poetry recitations, accompanied by the dombra. There are different Tibetan throat singing styles, such as Gyuke ( Standard Tibetan: རྒྱུད་སྐད་ Wylie: rgyud skad), which uses the lowest pitch of voice Dzoke ( མཛོ་སྐད་ mdzo skad) and Gyer ( གྱེར་ gyer).

Various ceremonies and prayers call for throat singing in Tibetan Buddhism, often with more than one monk chanting at a time. Most often the chants hold to the lower pitches possible in throat singing. Tibetan Buddhist chanting is a subgenre of throat singing, mainly practiced by monks of Tibet, including Khokhonor ( Qinghai) province in the Tibetan plateau area, Tibetan monks of Nepal, Bhutan, India, and various locations in the Himalayan region. The Chukchi people of the Chukchi Peninsula in the extreme northeast of Russia also practice a form of throat singing.

They also have their own style, a very high harmonics, emerging from kargyraa. Altai narrators ( kai-chi) perform in kargyraa, khöömei, and sygyt styles, which are similar to those in Tuva. In Altai, this is used mostly for epic poetry performance, to the instrumental accompaniment of a topshur. Tuva's neighbouring Russian regions, the Altai Republic to the west and Khakassia to the northwest, have developed forms of throat singing called kai ( Altay: кай, qay) or khai ( Khakas: хай, xay). The most peculiar melody, from Tuvan tradition, is " Artii Sayir", mostly performed in kargyraa style. The melodies are traditionally created by using the 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 12th, 13th and sometimes the 16th harmonics, which form the major pentatonic scale, so the 7th and 11th harmonics are carefully skipped.

The Tuvan way of singing overtones is based on appreciation of complex sounds with multiple layers or textures, which is how the Tuvans developed a wide range of rhythmic and melodic styles during the centuries. Tuvan overtone singing is practiced in the Republic of Tuva (southern Siberia, Russia). As mentioned, overtone singing involves the careful manipulations of the vocal tract, whereas throat singing is mostly related to the voice source. Overtone singing should not be confused with throat singing, in spite of the fact that many throat singing techniques comprise overtone singing. This resonant tuning allows singers to create more than one pitch at the same time (the fundamental and one or more selected overtones), while usually generating a single fundamental frequency with their vocal folds. the dimensions and shape of the resonant cavities of the mouth and the pharynx.

Overtone singing – also known as overtone chanting, harmonic singing, polyphonic overtone singing, and diphonic singing – is a set of singing techniques in which the vocalist manipulates the resonances of the vocal tract, in order to arouse the perception of additional, separate notes beyond the fundamental frequency being produced.įrom a fundamental pitch, made by the human voice, the belonging harmonic overtones can be selectively amplified by changing the vocal tract, i.e. Chirgilchin performing various styles of Tuvan throat singing.
