A
Unique Musical Niche
Harmonic
Overtoning is a western version of a technique in which at least two
different pitches are produced simultaneously by a single voice. It has
central Asian shamanic origins. Many folks in the western world are now
familiar with this technique, by various other names (Khoomei, throat
singing, polyphonic singing, harmonic chant, etc.). A well-known throat
singing group is Huun-Hur-Tuu from Tuva, who have been touring North
America for over a decade.
An
obsessive dedication has led Kiva to become one of the few people (and
even fewer women) in the western world who excel at this fascinating
vocal art form, blending overtones into her contemporary original
songs.
Since
1989, Kiva has studied and honed her craft in England, Colorado, Japan,
and the Republic of Tuva. On her own, she has developed variations
through experimentation. In ’01, she was one of the four main stage
artists at the KIEKU throat singing festival in Helsinki, Finland. She
was invited to the International Symposium of Throat Singing in the
Republic of Tuva (central Asia) in ’95 as the only Canadian
representative and only foreign female performer. Throughout the Crash
Test Dummies world tour in ’94-’95, Kiva demonstrated overtoning as
a regular feature. She has been teaching workshops for 17 years, and
continues to do so on a regular monthly basis in Vancouver. Go to harmonic overtones for
more details.
My
Overtoning Journey (by Kiva)
When I
was participating in the International Symposium in Tuva, I had just
started to write music using overtones. Upon arrival, all of us
foreigners were rounded up in the official office, where it would be
decided which categories we would compete in. We quickly got it
straight we did not wish to compete with the Tuvans. I would have been
in the sygyt division, incidently, because what I did most
closely resembled that style, which sounds like a high whistle over the
fundamental pitch. Anyway, I ended up being selected as a judge for the
competition, which consisted mainly of around one hundred teenage boys.
This was indeed an honor, as most of the jury members were
ethnomusicologists, shamanic authorities, and what have you. The dozen
or so foreigners were interspersed throughout the show, seeming like a
sort of comic relief. I might add that the Tuvans were highly
appreciative and amused by what we were doing with their art
form. The most notable example was Paul Pena, the Californian
blind blues singer made famous by the Academy award nominated
documentary Ghengis Blues. (By the way, I am in this film,
towards the end I'm on stage with all the judges, wearing a white
skirt).
Although
it is a feature that attracts the most attention for its uniqueness, I
use it with discretion. Since I began blending overtoning into my
music, it has evolved for me, and continues to do so. I still run into
the odd person who has never heard of it before. It may appear in a
lyrically based song, such as 'Regret' or
non-lyrical one such as 'Tuva on Rye'.
It comes up in some form in about half the tracks on Kiva-The Ladder , and Kiva- Pulse. (mp3 clips found at
these links).
The
variations I have developed include harmonic yodeling, high falsetto
fundamentals as the lower pitch, mouth-closed overtoning, counterpoint
and glottal applications. I like to back up the vocals with
instrumental chord progressions that create more complex harmonies.
Since one is confined to the physical law of the harmonic series, it
can become quite mathematical.
Currently,
I am moving into using the voice as an instrument, with imaginary
language, imitating various instruments and rhythmic patterns.
Overtoning still plays a role. It has simply expanded into these other
areas of expression for me.
