Looking for Chomei Throat-Singers

[asamananara]

Over the past few months, I've been working on developing
the ability to Chomei, or throat-sing. For those who don't
know, throat-singing is an amazing vocal technique peculiar
to the traditional nomadic tribes of the Tuvan and Mongolian
grasslands. Using subtle manipulations of the soft-palate
while droning a monotone gutteral chant, the throat-singer
is able to produce a haunting "chomei-voice" in addition to
his natural voice, a higher-pitched, multitonal harmonic which
sounds somewhat like a bamboo flute. A good throat-singer
can sustain two, three, or even four distinct melodies simultaneously.
The effect is sublime, eerie, and altogether foreign to the
sounds commonly associated with the human voice. In Tuva,
shaman use the chomei-voice to imitate birdsong, waterfalls,
wind... regarding it as "giving voice" to the resident spirit.
If you've ever heard Tuvan Chomei, you might understand why
I wanted to learn how to do this.
So, I've been working at it. Unfortunately, there are practically
no resources available in the western world related to Chomei.
I found a couple of websites which touch briefly on the technique,
and from there began experimenting myself. I've been practicing
periodically each day for more than two months, and have finally
aquired my "chomei-voice". It's crude, and it's primative-
but it's there.
Now, I need advice. If there are any throat-singers out there,
I'd like to hear any suggestions for strengthening, defining,
refining, and modulating the chomei. I know the chances of
finding anyone who can help are slim, but I'm sure someone else
in the pagan community has picked up on the unique energy nuances
of using Chomei in ritual. I've certainly found it a powerful
method if inductive chant, and invaluable in spirit invocation.
If you have ANY experience with throat-singing, I'd love to hear it!

[morrigen]

Asa, I know *nothing* about this (great help, no?)...but where can I hear this?

It sounds amazing, annd you have prodded every particle of my curiosity...I need to hear this!

Is there somewhere on the web?

[asamananara]

Amazon.com has two excellent CDs available which could give you
an idea of what Tuvan throat-singing sounds like.
.
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000001DGS/qid=1096961345/sr=2
This CD contains traditional field recordings, a good ethnomusical survey.
Track two is a great example. That flute sound- that's the singer's chomei.

www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000000E38/qid=10969617
This has better recordings of modern-day throat singers from Tuva.

[mothwench]

i've heard tibetan monks do this awesome-sounding chant which seems to be like what you describe in your post... is it similar? know what i'm talking about? :huh:

edited to add: i checked out those track samples at amazon. neat, it really is similar to those tibetan monks. but to answer your question, no i don't throat-sing.

not even on the worst of mornings. ;)

[asamananara]

Yes, there are several cultures which use forms of throat
singing, such as the Inuit, Tibetan, and Siberian peoples.
The Tuvan/Mongolian variety, while sharing common techniques
with these, is probably the most highly developed.
I've heard some of that Tibetan throat singing- it's creepy. lol
Makes me think of Lovecraft's descriptions of the "eldritch
chanting" swelling from cyclopean depths of some nameless catacombs.
:lol:

[welkin]

i dont really know anything about it, but i did catch some on tv once, amazing sounds and harmonies!

keep practicing though, you can only get better! hope u find more techneques!