The duo The Lady & The Cat with the overtone virtuoso Anna-Maria Hefele and the jazz guitar player Jan Henning bring here an interesting arrangement of the classic Over the Rainbow (The Wizard of Oz) by Harold Arlen (text E. Y. Harburg). Stuart Hinds’ polyphonic overtone arrangement from 2005 served as the basis for Hefele’s adapted version for female voice. I follow with excitement the development of my former student.
Stuart Hinds wrote this solo piece for our common dear friend, Honza (Jan) Šima, who unexpectedly passed away at a young age in the last year. Although the piece is very emotional, it is not intended as an expression of mourning. It will rather give room for memories and contemplation.
Jan was an enthusiastic and very good polyphonic overtone singer. He was a member of the European Overtonechoir and the Overtone Choir Spektrum, where we first met back in 2003.
Throat singing from Kalmykia is limited according to Sven Grawunder on a single talented singer, Okna Tsahan Zam, who adapted the Tuvan khoomej for Epic songe of the Kalmyks. For that reason it is a particularly worth listening piece of music of the small Turkic people on the Caspian Sea.
The full concert of the group Violons Barbares with the Mongolian singer and Morin Khuur player Dandarvaanchig Enkhjargal (Epi) at Paléo Festival Nyon on 24/07/2015.
The full concert of Tuvan group Huun Huur Tu at the Paléo Festival in Nyon on 26/07/2015.
Carmina Slovenica is an exceptional girl choir from Slovenia, or, as they themselves call their performances: Vocal Theater. With overwhelming choreographic charisma the teenagers present here an incredible diversity of vocal techniques and choral traditions from Estonian ancient spells in setting of Veljo Tormis up to overtone singing from Sarah Hopkins. Toxic Psalms of Karmina Šilec was premiered in 2013 in Berlin. Absolutely thrilling.
In addition to the above-featured performance TOXIC PSALMS Carmina Slovenica sing and dance / play extremely different programs, including overtone singing. Presumably, the ensemble is better known for its spectacular performance of Karl Jenkins’ Adiemus (no overtone singing):
The Italian jazz musician Albert Hera, who refers to himself as “Sound Teller”, is a specialist in experimental voice and choir improvisation in the style of circle singing. I really like this little video sample, that allready gained more than 10,000 views on Facebook (June 2015). He demonstrates a vocal range from gigantic 5 octaves in the few seconds, from A1 till G#6, higher than the top tone of the Queen of the night by Mozart, using undertone singing, overtone singing and whistle register, in addition to this a funny musical arrangement.
Source: Facebook – Albert Hera
Simon Grant, former bass and mouth percussionist of Swingle Singers, whistles and sings highly virtuosic the final movement of the 2nd Orchestral Suite in B Minor (BWV 1067), Badinerie, by Johann Sebastian Bach. Ward Swingle, the founder, director and composer of the ensemble, had written a famous version fo Bach’s Badinerie for choir a cappella. Grant sings it here virtually alone. Anyway, he was very creative with his voice. He was one of the first people to introduce mouth percussion in a cappella music (as beatboxing only arose).
In March 2015 I was invited by Tobias Hug, Grant’s successor at the Swingle Singers, to hold a lecture on innovation in choral music. On this occasion we also talked about variants of overtone singing, which Tobias masters too. He drew my attention to this fantastic craft of his singer colleague and sent me this recording.
I am often asked whether overtone singing is a kind of whistling and singing. No, overtone singing is not a whistle, as you can hear the difference in the recording. Whistling uses air turbulence on the lips for producing sound, while overtone singing brings the voice partials in resonance. But whistling uses similar resonance chambers to adjust the pitch.
Fu Acune is the name of a new duo by Natasha Nikeprelevic and F.X. Randomiz. Electronic club music combined with vocal art. On the track mhmmhm Natasha Nikeprelevic uses her crystal clear overtone singing.
https://www.facebook.com/fuacune
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