Why Throat Singing Technique is Still Famous Recently

By admin · Monday, January 11th, 2010

Basically throat singing is a way to express oneself. The art of throat singing is attached to the Inuit culture. In Inuit culture it was performed by women folks in order to entertain each other during leisure. Although there is no written document regarding the time of evolution of such singing culture, it gained much popularity in the form of throat singing CDs in the present era. 

In throat singing two women would stand opposite to each other clasping the arms and start singing one after another. The lead woman would utter sounds through her throat which are relatively short, leaving some gap in between the syllables. The other one would try to fill up those gaps with her sounds. It is said that women used to breathe in one another’s mouth to resonate the sound. It is not that throat singing was performed by women only, men also used to sing it in groups. 

In Inuit culture, throat singing was more of a game than singing. People used to perform it for fun by participating in a competition. One who loses his/ her breath in the process of singing is declared as the loser. The game usually takes three minutes to complete. Of course, in a tournament the winner is one who defeats every body.

Throat singing in Inuit culture had different names according to different region and we can still find such singing being called as pirkusirtuk, nipaquhiit and katajjaq. Tradition Inuit singing is difficult to learn. During the throat singing the singers are free to use any words regardless of meaning and context. The themes of Inuit throat singing usually include animals and running water.

Inuit throat singing suffered much because of the imposition of ban by the Christian priests. It regained its lost glory as soon as the ban was removed. Organization of throat singing competition in different parts of the world also helped the cause of such a great art. 

Now-a-days with the improvement of technology and intensive research the future of such a traditional throat singing seems to have found its right track. People seem to take interest in learning the traditional art of throat singing and thereby keeping alive the Inuit culture. 

One of the important causes of the popularity of such a singing process is its competitive nature. Two or more people can easily play a game with in a few minutes and that too in a light humorous manner. Throat singing is indeed a great treasure and needed to be preserved for the future singing fanatics.

Sharon Turner
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/why-throat-singing-technique-is-still-famous-recently-698706.html

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