Ethnomusicologist Mark van Tongeren Gives Lesson in Khöömei [Live at Folklife Festival 2002]

For those who think the human voice can produce only one note at a time, the resonant harmonies of throat-singing are surprising. In throat-singing, a singer can produce two or more notes simultaneously through a specialized vocalization technique taking advantage of the throat's resonance characteristics. Singers use a form of circular breathing which allows them to sustain multiple notes for long periods of time. Young Tuvan singers are trained from childhood through a sort of apprentice system to use the folds of the throat as reverberation chambers. Mark van Tongeren, an ethnomusicologist specializing in Khöömei (the Turco-Mongolian art of throat-singing), teaches the technique during the 2002 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. For more throat-singing, listen to the 1990 Smithsonian Folkways album 'Tuva: Voices from the Center of Asia,' available on CD and digital. Stream/download/purchase: Smithsonian Folkways: https://folkways.si.edu/tuva-voices-from-the-center-of-asia/world/music/album/smithsonian Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5x57y0xlgA965zIeuAXhv3?si=kNva1YizQFiG3mFPvLdVYw Recorded in 1987, this highly-acclaimed release makes available to the world a miraculous and remarkable ancient musical tradition, including examples of the rare multiphonic "throat-singing" technique. Sponsored by the National Geographic Society, the Smithsonian Institution's Office of Folklife Programs, and the U.S.S.R. Union of Composers, it is an astonishing achievement. "Primal and forthright...a beguiling earful." — The New York Times Smithsonian Folkways: https://folkways.si.edu Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smithsonianfolkwaysrecordings Twitter: https://twitter.com/Folkways Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smithsonianfolkways The content and comments posted here are subject to the Smithsonian Institution copyright and privacy policy (www.si.edu/copyright). Smithsonian reserves the right in its sole discretion to remove any content at any time.

Added 12 Jun 2026