Throat Singing With Tagaq

As someone who enjoys a wide variety of music, it does not take much for me to become engrossed in any historical studies pertaining to music. The theoretical study of music has been occurring for thousands of years, with people of all different cultures discovering their own unique methods in creating a style that can end up being just as historically relevant as the hierarchical rulers of the past. While it is true that the rise of technology in the modern era has made most popular music universally identifiable, there remains several forms of music that are definitively tied to a group of people who proudly identify it as a component of their culture. Unique modes, distinctive rhythmic involvement, and variations in timbre are a few aspects that may determine the individuality of such an audible cultural reference, but there are some styles of music that remain too unique for theoretical classification alone. Prior to listening to the newest album from Tanya Tagaq Gillis, I had no familiarity whatsoever with the art of Inuit throat singing — just like the rest of the world. Unlike most forms of throat (overtone) singing, Inuit throat singing in particular is not multiphonic. In fact, many historians are reluctant to call it “singing” in the first place, as the art mainly lies on the vocalist’s ability to master the art of inhalation and exhalation to consequently engineer and manipulate relative melodies.
If that description is too linear for you to fully grasp, then I suppose an audio sample would be the best example. While Canadian throat singer Tanya Tagaq Gillis may currently be best known for her collaborations with Björk, she also has the notability of being the only prominent Inuit throat singer who has been using the vocal form to produce studio music. Originally […]

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