There are many female overtone singers out there now. Some of them are making great contributions to the art form.
Let’s start with the forerunners in central Asia, namely the Republic of Tuva.
Apparently, although it was ‘forbidden’ for women to throat sing throughout the ages, they did it in private, lulling their babies to sleep, or simply imitating what they heard the men doing all around them. The myth was that it would cause infertility or invoke curses.
Some of the girls that did it, believing there was nothing wrong with it, grew up to be well established as throat singing experts, touring the world. Luckily, common consensus these days has changed in this regard.
Sainkho Namtchylak is one of these, moving it into the avant garde arena.
Another example is the all female group Tuva Kyzy (daughters of Tuva).
Article #1: About modern throat singing and females, written by Oorzhak Khunashtaar-ool
Article #2: Perspectives on female throat singing
In the world of modern western overtone singing, there are now a few females making names for themselves. These women are proficient at the polyphonic style (pitches moving in counterpoint fashion).
Natascha Nikeprelevic has been a disciple and partner with the pioneer Michael Vetter, and is considered one of the best in her field. She also masterfully combines it with performance art.
Claudiha Gayatri Matussek (site in German)
Anna Maria Hefele is a young German woman who is quite accomplished at this style. Her and I are currently working on some collaborative pieces.
To listen to some more, here’s a recently released compilation of female overtone singers called Femineus.
Even though females, generally, are a bit more limited in the range of overtones they can comfortably isolate, those that stretch their ranges downwards have a lot more territory to work with. I, for example, used to be the soprano in a female trio, and after a few years, found myself in the position of being officially a tenor. I think the practice of overtone singing assisted me in lowering my range. I’m even singing some of the bass parts on occasion, albeit it’s not my best quality tone down there!
CommentIn the late 80′s, someone gave me a cassette with examples of overtone singing around the world at the time. I’d only just heard of overtone singing myself, so none of the names were recognizable yet. Julia Heyward was one of them. She began her career in the 70′s, very early for this type of music, which was minimally seen in those days. She combined performance art, multi- media events which included working with Laurie Anderson. Her latest activities seem to be centered around giving presentations and lectures, most recently November 2010, with new media works.
It is truly avant- garde and over-the-top. The piece of music I have linked here is the only one I had access to at the time. The various textures she created proved to me the vastness of flavors the voice is capable of. Some of it, (third section) I didn’t even realize was a human voice (this might be done along with the nose flute, but I’m not sure). Anyone know for sure? There was no electronic trickery involved. She manages to combine yodeling, overtoning and lyrics simultaneously. She demonstrates not only amazing technique and improvisational ability, but a certain silliness that tends to endear yours truly. It’s in the spirit of child-like innocence and experimentation. Her sheer lack of inhibition is truly inspirational to me. I think that from that point on, my life purpose altered somewhat to include this scope of “I don’t care what anyone thinks!” What freedom!
This attitude has led me down a sideways path of performance opportunities. There are some I’d describe as ‘shamanic’ for lack of a better word. When I’m on stage, whether it’s solo or unrehearsed guest spots with other musicians (particularly percussionists, but the most gratifying has been a few occasions with Tanya Tagaq, Inuit throat singer), I go into a more or less trance state, and the audience barely exists. The body moves of its own accord. Usually this dance like activity only happens in my living room. Every now and then, I’ll poke my head up and remember the wisdom of connecting with your audience. Which seems to shake them up even more.
So, if vocal improvisation is a calling in your life, I highly recommend Julia Heyward as a leaping off point. And BTW, if you ever get the chance to study with Bobby McFerrin, go for it. I’ve been trying for years.
blog post about Julia Heyward from Nov 2010
The most well known track from Julia Heyward- Mongolian Face Slap
A fantastic gigantic resource for avant- garde artists of all descriptions is ubuweb.com
