Centuries after the fall of Chinggis Khan, his songs and praises still resonate on the steppes he once conquered through throat singing or as natively called, Khoomei. Regions neighboring Mongolia share the tradition as well such as the Altai and the Tuvans from having been occupied by the Mongol Empire in the 13th to 14th century. The art became an imitation of nature. They were inspired by the sounds of birds, the howls of mountains, and the flows of rivers.
In the video, the man to the left imitates chirps of birds and running water while the one to the right sustains a drone (a sustained note that accompanies the melody).
Nature permeates not only the tonality of such music but also its themes. Two Altai songs, The Cradle of Altai and Spring Water celebrate the fauna, waterfalls, and mountains of the region. The themes are reflective of the semi-nomadic lives of its people, for they also use these to beckon their herds of animals from afar and lull their children to sleep. But as it rose to popularity among the people, its use permeates beyond the pastures and may be seen in state ceremonies or household celebrations. Its tradition is passed down orally from master to apprentice.
Despite the secular use of Khoomei, the art pays veneration to an ancient religion in Mongolia, Tengrism, that has been described as based from animism and shamanism. One such example being Chingiss Khaanii Magtaal or Praise of Chinggis Khan. The relationship between the Khan and religion is unclear until one understands the Messiah-like status of Chinggis Khan. Dora Earthy’s The Religion of Genghis Khan claims that the Mongols believed that Temuchin, the Khan’s real name, was ordained by the sky god Tengri to govern all people.
Concerning technique, the video below displays 2 men performing the 3 primary styles of throat singing with their playing tovshuurs—two-stringed lutes. The defining characteristic of throat singing is in its ability to sing two pitches simultaneously, which in the West is called overtone singing. Through the manipulation of resonant cavities ranging from the lips, nose, mouth, tongue, and ventricular vocal cords, one can sing in Kargryaa, Khoomei, and Sygyt. Khoomei is the first style exhibited. It along with Kargryaa can be sung with lyrics and is achieved through the constriction of the vocal cords with mouth and tongue position contributing to the pitch. It is said that it mimics wind passing through rocks. Kargryaa, exhibited by the left man, is sung openly as opposed to Khoomei, using a “chest” voice that resonates the ventricular vocal cords, producing a sort of controlled and vocalized cough. The sound is more guttural and resides in deeper pitches, like a growl; hence, Kargryaa can be used to mimic the roars of animals like tigers and bears. Both lower register styles can be expressed as whistles through nasal resonance, using the tongue to alter air flow, creating vibrato (refers to the oscillation of pitch in a note to create texture in the music). The last to be exhibited is Sygyt. It whistles a high pitch through manipulation of the tongue to suppress the base note, allowing the overtone to dominate. Sygyt mimics the chirp of birds.
The first challenge throat singing faced was back during the Soviet occupation. The Russians banned the practice in the 1920s since they deemed it backwards and archaic. However, the nomad herders were the only practitioners at that time. It only became an established and institutionalized “art form” following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 90s. However, a controversy occurred in 2009 when the UNESCO intangible heritage list approved Khoomei under China (PRC) using Inner Mongolia to stake its claim. Knowing the political value of heritage in fostering collective identity and the anti-Chinese sentiments of the Mongolian people explains the strong opposition against the claim. The claim itself is very technical because they found out their own khoomei, chor¸ in a 1970s archive. They discovered that practitioners of chor were less than 10. The Inner Mongolians did not even know of any existing form of throat singing in their region and that any such throat singing would have been imported from Mongolia. Though they registered a year later in 2010, it must have left a bad taste for the Mongolians to have a disliked country that virtually has no identification to khoomei, lay the first claim on it out of bureaucracy.
As a political instrument, Khoomei unites the people from the Altai mountains to the Mongolian steppes. However, as an art form, its preservation ensures that ensuing generations have an understanding and appreciation of the complexities and wonders of the human ability to create sound and music.
About the author
Sage S. Desiderio is currently a freshman of AB Arts Management in the Ateneo de Manila University. He enjoys a variety of musical genres ranging from the Argentine Tangos of Gardel and Piazzolla; original soundtracks of Ennio Morricone (Nuovo Cinema Paradiso), Joe Hisaishi (Howl’s Moving Castle), and Korean Dramas (Start-Up), sacred choir chants in Latin like Miserere Mei, Dies Irae, and Pie Jesu; concertos of Elgar and Vivaldi; and much more better left unstated, otherwise it would fill the entire page. To do justice to the amount of music he enjoys, he plays classical guitar and cello, with greater proficiency in the former. Straying from music, he likes working out with gymnastic rings and standing on his hands.
Commenti