Review of Tuvans

Hi List...

I did a little "review" of the Tuvans at the Knitting Factory in New York
for the "New Music Connoisseur" magazine. It's not really all that long,
so it shouldn't be so difficult to "scroll through." Admittedly, this is
not a technical article, but intended for the general reader... I hope
somebody finds it interesting (??)

Ondar and the Eagles of Tuva, with Tom Rutishauser, cello and Joe Pereira,
percussion, The Knitting Factory, Sunday, January 16, 8 PM

A recent issue of Scientific American, September 1999, describes the vocal
methods of Tuvan folksingers in detail from an acoustical perspective.
Tuva is an autonomous republic within Russia (now officially called Tyva)
isolated, and wedged between Soviet Siberia and Outer Mongolia. Suffice it
to say that people have time on their hands there, and over the centuries
they have developed a singing method that, essentially, does not use the
vocal cords to make pitch. Instead, the Tuvans set up a low "growling"
vibration and use this to, basically, "play" their own throats (!)

Any closed space, in this case the throat cavity, contains certain defined
acoustical properties. If set to vibrate or make a sound, there are
certain tones that are naturally produced, depending on shape and size of
the space. In addition to the "fundamental" note, there are "overtones,"
multiples of the basic frequency that "go along for the ride." These
"little sounds" of higher frequency are at simple, integer multiples of the
fundamental frequency. They are always there in any vibrating space or
produced sound, unless it is the rare vibration that is so precise and pure
that no overtones come along with it. Such sounds are generally pretty
dull.

It so happens that pitches made by the vocal cords also set up their OWN
series of overtones, in addition to the set of "potential" ones in the
throat cavity. It is the tradition of the Tuvan throat singers, mostly
through changing the size of the vocal cavity with the tongue, to adjust
the throat so that the overtones from the vocal cords and from the
resonating vocal cavity ALIGN. When this happens there is magic -- the
harmonics are strongly enforced, resulting in a disembodied "whistling"
effect that sounds quite a bit different from anything we would expect to
hear coming from a human mouth.

The Tuvans invented this technique, are great at it, and their folk music
incorporates this throat whistling as a primary element. The overtone
series generated from the voice also determines their choice of pitches
sung "ordinarily" at times. They use a kind of "blues" scale mixed with a
basic pentatonic: by including the 7th harmonic partial -- the "blues note"
Bb, they have a modified pentatonic scale of G, Bb, C, D, E, F, G. This
scale has a "blusey, jazzy" feel, which is probably why the Tuvans are so
popular at the Knitting Factory.

The Knitting Factory was "packed" for this event. Essentially, there
wasn't even standing room. Who would have thought that Tuvans from remote
regions near Outer Siberia would attract this kind of attention? Well,
there is a new interest in "world musics," particularly if they have some
relation to the jazz and blues that we know, and I believe this is
partially the cause of this "Tuvan hysteria."

And Ondar and his gang are talented. Ondar, himself, is different than one
might expect from his name. He is a rather pleasant, refined little guy.
They also have great costumes -- the traditional Tuvan garb, elaborate,
regal, tastefully colored, even with crowns, and heavy. No thermal
underwear is necessary for Tuvans... Just seeing the ensemble in their
native costumes is worth the price of admission.

Several different "numbers" were sung (or rather "intoned") by Ondar and
his "Eagles." Virtually all of these are songs which have some
relationship to natural geography -- the Tuvans are, as one might expect,
very involved with their outdoor environment, since this is where they are
most all the time. They use accompanying instruments, including the
"igil," a two-stringed upright fiddle made from horse parts: hide, hair and
gut. Frequently they use this instrument to make equine sounds -- they're
a little literal in this respect. For me, most fascinating was Ondar's
solo singing, in the grand Tuvan throat singing tradition. After a few
huge gulps of air, he begins resonating his vocal cavity, and the whistling
overtones become quite loud. It's very weird.

One final comment concerns the relationship of this music to other folk
musics, including those of the United States. It is somewhat surprising
how similar the Tuvan folk music is to our own blues and cowboy songs.
There is a certain internationalism to generic folk music that is just now
beginning to be recognized --most probably due to our recent technological
advances in communication. Perhaps some of these "cross over" elements
account for the extraordinary popularity of these exotic music here, today,
in our own country.

Filling out the ensemble were a couple of well-known New York musicians,
Tom Rutishauser, cello and Joe Pereira, percussionist with the New York
Philharmonic. What were they doing with Ondar and the gang? Just
"jamming" along. All were welcome.

Joseph Pehrson

Joseph Pehrson wrote,

>Any closed space, in this case the throat cavity, contains certain defined
>acoustical properties. If set to vibrate or make a sound, there are
>certain tones that are naturally produced, depending on shape and size of
>the space. In addition to the "fundamental" note, there are "overtones,"
>multiples of the basic frequency that "go along for the ride." These
>"little sounds" of higher frequency are at simple, integer multiples of the
>fundamental frequency. They are always there in any vibrating space or
>produced sound, unless it is the rare vibration that is so precise and pure
>that no overtones come along with it. Such sounds are generally pretty
>dull.

>It so happens that pitches made by the vocal cords also set up their OWN
>series of overtones, in addition to the set of "potential" ones in the
>throat cavity. It is the tradition of the Tuvan throat singers, mostly
>through changing the size of the vocal cavity with the tongue, to adjust
>the throat so that the overtones from the vocal cords and from the
>resonating vocal cavity ALIGN. When this happens there is magic -- the
>harmonics are strongly enforced, resulting in a disembodied "whistling"
>effect that sounds quite a bit different from anything we would expect to
>hear coming from a human mouth.

Joseph is correct that the frequencies of the set of pure tones made by the
vocal cords form a set of integer multiples of the fundamental. However,
that is not the case for the frequencies referred to in the first paragraph
above, which are the resonances of the vocal cavity. The frequencies of the
resonances will vary with respect to one another as the size and shape of
the vocal cavity is altered by the singer.

Joe's description of the "whistling" is essentially correct.