Throat singing (overtone singing) is an astonishing vocal technique in which a single performer is able to produce two or more sounds at once: a low, continuous fundamental tone (a drone) and a melody of whistling overtones that sound high above it. It gives the impression that not one person is singing but several.
The most famous traditions of throat singing live among the peoples of Central Asia — the Tuvans (the khoomei style), Mongolians, Altaians, and Bashkirs. The ability to isolate and amplify the natural overtones of one's own voice was long tied to spiritual practices and the veneration of nature — the mountains, the wind, the water. There is also a quite different, distinctive tradition of throat singing among the Inuit of the Arctic, where it is rather a vocal game-contest. Throat singing is a striking example of the almost limitless possibilities of the human voice as a musical instrument.
