Explore the World of Throat Singing, Overtone Singing, and Other Multiphonic Vocal Techniques Listen to a playlist curated by Ken Ueno 94 that explores the diverse history and sonic possibilities of the human voice.
By
Bryan Parys
May 24, 2022
Composer, singer, and sound artist Ken Ueno 94
Image courtesy of the artist
The Have You Heard? playlist series offers brief introductions to musical genres, concepts, tools, artists, and more that may be less familiar to wider audiences. In this edition, Ken Ueno 94 curates a selection of pieces that showcase different forms of multiphonic singing.
Recording technology has made it commonplace for singers to pitch shift, auto-tune, and loop their own voices, and it can be easy to forget just how much the human voice, unadorned, is capable of. For one, there is vocal overdubbing, which allows for artists to record multiple tracks of their own voice, stacking layers of notes into complex compositions. Contemporary artists have used overdubs to stunning effect, from the chart-topping work of Bobby McFerrin to more experimental explorations such as Bj rks album Med lla. But even these techniques require technology to pull off.
Watch Ken Ueno discuss and demonstrate his vocal extended techniques.
Many of the aforementioned technological effects can actually be achieved by a single human voice through multiphonic singing, where a singer can simultaneously combine notes, tones, and even rhythmic textures. The human vocal mechanism is capable of many more sounds than are necessary for language, says composer, singer, and sound artist Ken Ueno 94, a professor at UC Berkeley who studied composition at Berklee. I have been inspired by diverse vocal traditions and individual artists who blew me away. These artists stretched my imagination of what is possible to sing.
Multiphonic practices have shown up in many cultures from around the world and go back centuries, including Tuvan throat singing, which involves guttural expressions of the voice, and overtone singing, in which a singer manipulates the vocal tract in order to create more than one pitch in the same breath. Modern examples of throat singing can be heard in the Dune soundtrack as well in the video game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. In 2014, noted multiphonic singer Lalah Hathaway 90 22H earned a Grammy Award for her overtone vocal performance in the song Something by Snarky Puppy.
In the following playlist, Ueno offers several of his favorite works of multiphonic vocal music, from throat singing to heavy metal screaming to, in the case of one of his own pieces, the lack of breath.
Tracks and Notes All commentary by playlist curator Ken Ueno
1. Deep Blue, Sainkho Namtchylak
Ueno: [Charles] Bukowski says he'd forgotten which track of classical music initiated his lifelong engagement with it in his poem, Classical Music and Me. Similarly, I've forgotten which piece introduced me to throat singing in my early 20s, which set me on my path as a vocalist. Later, I was introduced to Sainkho's singing. Hailing from Tuva, where women are discouraged from throat singing, she discovered/invented her own way to sing. This track features her superhuman low range. She's one of my heroes.
2. Uja, Tanya Tagaq
Ueno: The Inuit have a throat-singing tradition too. And, like the Tuvans, the tradition is mostly gendered-it is the women who throat sing. Tanya Tagaq is a radical Inuk artist who brings forth traditional throat singing of her culture into new expressive, contemporary spaces.
3. UMNGQOKOLO, by the Xhosa
Ueno: The Xhosa people of modern-day South Africa also have a throat singing tradition.
4. Tenores Santu Franziscu of Sardinia
Ueno: Completing our tour of throat singing traditions from around the world, here is an example from Sardinia.
5. Voice Piece: One-Note Internal Resonance Investigation, Joan La Barbara
Ueno: Joan La Barbara learned to circular sing and sing multiphonics in a unique way. Collaborating with important composers, as well as composing her own pieces featuring her extended techniques, she is a pioneer in expanding the vocabulary of vocal sounds in contemporary classical music.
6. States, Shelley Hirsch
Ueno: Shelley Hirsch is a national treasure. A truly American shaman, she frenetically channels different types of vocal styles (jazz, Broadway, and the avant-garde) and juxtaposes them in wild narratives that presage the storytelling energies of the internet age.
7. Litany IV, Moonchild (Mike Patton)
Ueno: Even rock stars can be experimental. Mike Patton [of hard rock band Faith No More] bridges the screamo vocalizations of metal with other sounds and the structural invention of experimental music in this piece by John Zorn.
8. Strange Fruit, Billie Holiday
Ueno: There are many versions, but this three-minute version [from 1959] is a tour de force. A mini opera, some lines are delivered staccato and dry, like a recitative. Billie Holiday slides into blues notes and breathes vibrato into the second half of words like strange (a micro text-setting distortion), saving the largest fully-voiced interval for the last note. Here is everything I want to continue to unpack and learn for the rest of my life as a composer, vocalist, and social activist.
9. Tard, Ken Ueno (featuring Du Yun, Matt Evans, and Amy Garapic)
Ueno: Finally, a piece of mine. I've been thinking of this piece from 2018, after George Floyd and more recently, during the uptick in violence against Asian Americans. I hold my breath in a bowl of water for two minutes as an analog to the suspension of my breath and the muting of my voice as a person of color. Risking my life to protest the underlying premise of being of Asian American, invisibility, I am asking, What do I need to do for you to hear/see me?
Related Categories
Playlists
Most Popular
From left to right: Berklee Pr
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
10/06/2026
Production and Development Funding supports the creation of compelling, commercially viable, artistic and culturally relevant South African screen content. Deve...
10/06/2026
Media buyers and sellers can now compare YouTube reach from computer, mobile, an...
10/06/2026
Accedo, Humans not Robots, and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) have announced the launch of Ecoflow X. Formerly an IBC Accelerator project, ...
10/06/2026
Frequency, the engine powering the world's leading streaming television channels, today announced that James Smith has joined the company as General Manager...
10/06/2026
At the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Lisbon, Riedel Communications provided the communications infrastructure for live medical procedures s...
10/06/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media, and entertainment managed services, today announced the launch of its Content Exchange platform powered by Or...
10/06/2026
Klvr will showcase how venues, integrators and production teams are rethinking disposable battery usage at InfoComm 2026 (Las Vegas, June 17-19, booth #N6311). ...
10/06/2026
The Video Services Forum (VSF) has further enhanced the Reliable Internet Streaming Transport (RIST) protocol by incorporating a new feature, RIST Satellite-Hyb...
10/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Showcases New Mobile Experience, Collections and Games Vision in APAC
Product
10 June 2026
GlobalSouth KoreaJapan
Link copied to c...
10/06/2026
Back to All News
Ready to Join? The Netflix Fan Club Arrives at Cannes Lions
Business
10 June 2026
Global
Link copied to clipboard
Download all assets
N...
10/06/2026
Chemists snap together complex 3D molecules from highly reactive radicals-without losing their shape Scripps Research team develops stereoretentive radical-radi...
09/06/2026
Kiswe announces an expanded long-term partnership with ONE Championship (ONE), t...
09/06/2026
SiriusXM will broadcast FOX Sports' English-language commentary for all 104 FIFA World Cup 2026 matches from June 11 through July 19, available to subscribe...
09/06/2026
EVS has announced it is changing its corporate name from EVS Broadcast Equipment to EVS, reflecting the company's expanded portfolio beyond broadcast equipm...
09/06/2026
Fox Corporation and the NFL have announced a multi-year agreement to bring NFL c...
09/06/2026
FOX Sports and ReachTV, an airport media network, have announced an agreement to...
09/06/2026
Cosm Atlanta, a 70,000-square-foot, three-level immersive entertainment venue located within Centennial Yards adjacent to State Farm Arena and Mercedes-Benz Sta...
09/06/2026
NESN captured five awards at the 2026 Boston/New England Emmy Awards, including four program honors and one individual award.
These awards reflect the passion...
09/06/2026
Ateme has announced that its support for Apple Immersive Video workflows was referenced by Apple during its 2026 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC26).
Atem...
09/06/2026
Bitmovin has announced that Axel Springer SE has deployed Player Web X, Bitmovin's web video player, to power audio readouts of news articles and an audio-o...
09/06/2026
Grass Valley and Lawo have announced a technology collaboration to validate orch...
09/06/2026
LiveU has announced a deployment with the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) t...
09/06/2026
Globecast has announced the launch of its Content Exchange platform, powered by ...
09/06/2026
NBC Sports will present live coverage of Overtime's OT7 football league Championship Weekend from Sullivan Field at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angel...
09/06/2026
We're in three different locations, three different production teams. Coveri...
09/06/2026
The intro video for Men's Basketball won Outstanding In-Venue Video in the C...
09/06/2026
Today is match day minus two for FIFA and HBS. On Thursday, there will be two ma...
09/06/2026
Since their debut, the clock-and-score graphic has drawn the affinity and ire of...
09/06/2026
Last month, Spotify hosted PURE FLOWERS LIVE, a special event celebrating the re...
09/06/2026
Last month, RADAR U.K. artist Skye Newman took the stage in East London for a sp...
09/06/2026
Company to cease operating on 30 June 2026
Australian loudspeaker and amplifier manufacturer Wayne Jones Audio have announced that after much consideration,...
09/06/2026
Increases low-end weight and character
The latest plug-in release from Sheffield-based fedDSP aims to offer an all-in-one solution for users in search of mo...
09/06/2026
Introduces AI Studio Assistant, Moises Studio integration & more
Fender Studio have just announced the launch a significant update that brings an array of n...
09/06/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is a statutory body mandated to spearhead the equitable growth and development of the South African film and video...
09/06/2026
The BBC has found its Hercule Poirot.
After Deadline revealed last month that t...
09/06/2026
Media buyers and sellers can now compare YouTube reach from computer, mobile, an...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
A project aimed at modernizing scheduling operations across Mediaset's channel portfolio
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitab...
09/06/2026
tvONE, an ACT Entertainment brand, debuts its most powerful video processor ever built: the 4RU CALICO PRO (C7-PRO-4200), at InfoComm 2026 (Booth N6813). Engine...
09/06/2026
Composer and Conductor Eric Whitacre to Receive Honorary Doctorate at Berklee Va...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
Explore the World of Throat Singing, Overtone Singing, and Other Multiphonic Vocal Techniques Listen to a playlist curated by Ken Ueno 94 that explores the diverse history and sonic possibilities of the human voice.
