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Music genre

Throat singing

Throat singing is a music genre. It is usually classed as a form of singing, vocal music and traditional activity. Explore its 3 subgenres, key artists and related styles.

Listen: Throat singing examples

Overtone singing
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Undertone singing
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Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.

About Throat singing

Throat singing is a music genre. It is usually classed as a form of singing, vocal music and traditional activity.

Throat singing has given rise to 3 subgenres on this site, such as Inuit throat singing, Buddhist chant and Rekuhkara.

From Wikipedia

Throat singing refers to several vocal practices found in different cultures worldwide. These vocal practices are generally associated with a certain type of guttural voice that contrasts with the most common types of voices employed in singing, which are usually represented by chest (modal) and head (light, or falsetto) registers. Throat singing is often described as evoking the sensation of more than one pitch at a time, meaning that the listener perceives two or more distinct musical notes while the singer is producing a single vocalization.

Throat singing consists of a range of singing techniques that originally belonged to particular cultures and which may share sound characteristics, making them noticeable by other cultures and users of mainstream singing styles.

Genre family tree

Parent genres (↑) and subgenres (↓) of Throat singing.

Related genres

Frequently asked questions

What is Throat singing?

Throat singing is a music genre. It is usually classed as a form of singing, vocal music and traditional activity.

Sources & credits