Inuit throat singing or
katajjaq, also known (and commonly confused) under the generic term
overtone singingOvertone singing, also known as overtone chanting, or harmonic singing, is a type of singing in which the singer manipulates the resonances created as air travels from the lungs, past the vocal folds, and out the lips to produce a melody.Another name for overtone singing is throat singing, but...
, is a form of musical performance uniquely found among the
InuitInuit is a general term for a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada, Greenland, and Alaska...
. (There used to be a similar style,
RekuhkaraRekuhkara is a style of singing, related to Inuit throat singing, that was practised by the Ainu until 1976 when the last practitioner died...
, practiced in Hokkaidō, but that has died out.) Unlike the throat singers in other regions of the world, particularly,
TibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north of the Himalayas. It is home to the indigenous Tibetan people, and to some other ethnic groups such as Monpas and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han Chinese people. Tibet is the highest region on earth, with an average...
,
MongoliaMongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and the People's Republic of China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only 24 miles from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator,...
and
TuvaTyva Republic , or Tuva , is a federal subject of Russia .-Geography:...
, the Inuit performers are usually
womenA woman is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent...
who sing only
duetA duet is a musical composition or piece for two performers. In classical music the term is most often used for a composition for two singers or pianists; with other instruments, the word duo is also often used. A piece performed by two pianists performing together on the same piano is referred to...
s in a kind of entertaining contest to see who can outlast the other.
Inuit throat singing or
katajjaq, also known (and commonly confused) under the generic term
overtone singingOvertone singing, also known as overtone chanting, or harmonic singing, is a type of singing in which the singer manipulates the resonances created as air travels from the lungs, past the vocal folds, and out the lips to produce a melody.Another name for overtone singing is throat singing, but...
, is a form of musical performance uniquely found among the
InuitInuit is a general term for a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada, Greenland, and Alaska...
. (There used to be a similar style,
RekuhkaraRekuhkara is a style of singing, related to Inuit throat singing, that was practised by the Ainu until 1976 when the last practitioner died...
, practiced in Hokkaidō, but that has died out.) Unlike the throat singers in other regions of the world, particularly,
TibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north of the Himalayas. It is home to the indigenous Tibetan people, and to some other ethnic groups such as Monpas and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han Chinese people. Tibet is the highest region on earth, with an average...
,
MongoliaMongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and the People's Republic of China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only 24 miles from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator,...
and
TuvaTyva Republic , or Tuva , is a federal subject of Russia .-Geography:...
, the Inuit performers are usually
womenA woman is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent...
who sing only
duetA duet is a musical composition or piece for two performers. In classical music the term is most often used for a composition for two singers or pianists; with other instruments, the word duo is also often used. A piece performed by two pianists performing together on the same piano is referred to...
s in a kind of entertaining contest to see who can outlast the other. However, at least one notable performer,
Tanya Tagaq GillisTanya Tagaq Gillis is an Inuit throat singer from Cambridge Bay , Nunavut, Canada, on the south coast of Victoria Island. After attending school in Cambridge Bay she went, at age 15, to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories to attend high school where she first began to practice throat singing...
, performs throat singing as a solo artist and as a collaborator with non-throat singing musicians such as
BjörkBjörk Guðmundsdóttir is a critically acclaimed Icelandic avant-garde singer-songwriter, composer, actress and music producer, whose work includes seven solo albums and two film soundtracks....
. The musical duo
TudjaatTudjaat are Madeleine Allakariallak and Phoebe Atagotaaluk, two Inuit women from Nunavut, Canada who are keeping the ancient tradition of Inuit throat singing alive. Tudjaat got its start when Madelaine, who performed as part of a backup chorus with Susan Aglukark's third CD, was noticed by its...
performed a mixture of traditional throat singing and
pop musicPop music is a music genre that developed from the mid-1950s as a softer alternative to rock 'n' roll and later to rock music. It has a focus on commercial recording, often orientated towards a youth market, usually through the medium of relatively short and simple love songs...
.
Migration
The
Ainu peopleThe are an indigenous ethnic group of Japan. Historically they spoke the Ainu language and related varieties and lived in Hokkaidō, the Kuril Islands, and much of Sakhalin. Most of those who identify themselves as Ainu still live in this same region, though the exact number of living Ainu is...
of
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
had throat singing (
rekuhkaraRekuhkara is a style of singing, related to Inuit throat singing, that was practised by the Ainu until 1976 when the last practitioner died...
) until 1976, when its last practitioner died. It resembled more the Inuit variety than the Mongolian. If this technique of singing emerged only once and then in the
Old WorldThe Old World consists of those parts of Earth known to Europeans, Asians, and Africans in the 15th century.-Regions:The Old World includes Europe, Asia, and Africa , plus surrounding islands...
, the move from
SiberiaSiberia , is the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the USSR from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the...
to
northern CanadaNorthern Canada, colloquially the North, is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three territories of Canada: Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut...
must have been over the
Bering StraitThe Bering Strait's technical name is Imakpik.The Bering Strait is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, the easternmost point of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, the westernmost point of the North American continent, with latitude of about 65° 40'...
land bridge some 12,000 years ago. However, this is only a theory and not necessarily subscribed to by
First NationsFirst Nations is a term of ethnicity that refers to the Aboriginal peoples in Canada, who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 600 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread all across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia...
or Inuit people.
New World terms
The name for throat singing in
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
varies with the geography:
- Iirngaaq - some Nunavut
Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999 via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...
communities
- Piqqusiraarniq or Pirkusirtuk - Igloolik
Igloolik, , is an Inuit hamlet, Qikiqtaaluk Region in Nunavut, northern Canada. Because it is on the small island, one of Canada's national historic sites, of the same name, in Foxe Basin that is very close to the Melville Peninsula , it is often thought to be on the peninsula...
and Baffin IslandBaffin Island in the territory of Nunavut is the largest member of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. It is the largest island in Canada and the fifth largest island in the world, with an area of and has a population of 11,000...
- Qiarvaaqtuq - Arviat
Arviat is a predominantly Inuit hamlet located on the western shore of Hudson Bay in the Kivalliq Region of Nunavut, Canada. Arviat is derived from the Inuktitut word arviq meaning "Bowhead Whale"...
- Katajjaq or Katadjak - Nunavik
Nunavik comprises the northern third of the province of Quebec, Canada. Covering a land area of 443,684.71 km² north of the 55th parallel, it is the homeland of the Inuit of Quebec...
and South Baffin
- Nipaquhiit - some Nunavut communities
The
nativesAlaska Natives are the indigenous peoples of Alaska. They include: Inupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Eyak, and a number of Northern Athabaskan cultures.-History:In 1912 the Alaska Native Brotherhood was founded...
of
AlaskaAlaska is the largest state of the United States of America by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
have lost the art and those in
GreenlandGreenland is an autonomous constituent country within the Kingdom of Denmark located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago...
evidently never developed it.
History
Originally, katajjaq was a form of entertainment among Inuit women while men were away on hunting trips, and it was a regarded more as a type of vocal or breathing game in the Inuit culture rather than a form of music.
Performance
Two women face each other usually in a standing position and holding each other's arms. Sometimes they will do some kind of dance movements while singing (e.g., balancing from right to left). One singer leads by setting a short
rhythmic patternRhythm is the variation of the length and accentuation of a series of sounds or other events.-Rhythm in linguistics:...
, which she repeats leaving brief silent intervals between each repetition. The other singer fills in the gap with another rhythmic pattern. The sounds used include voiced sounds as well as unvoiced ones, both through
inhalationInhalation is the movement of air from the external environment, through the air ways, and into the alveoli.Inhalation begins with the onset of contraction of the diaphragm, which results in expansion of the intrapleural space and an increase in negative pressure according to Boyle's Law...
or
exhalationExhalation is the movement of air out of the bronchial tubes, through the airways, to the external environment during breathing....
. The first to run out of breath or be unable to maintain the pace of the other singer will start to laugh or simply stop and will thus lose the game. It generally lasts between one and three minutes. The winner is the singer who beats the largest number of people.
At one time, the lips of the two women almost touched, so that one singer used the mouth cavity of the other as a
resonatorA resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance or resonant behavior, that is, it naturally oscillates at some frequencies, called its resonance frequencies, with greater amplitude than at others. The oscillations in a resonator can be either electromagnetic or mechanical...
, but this is less common in present day. Often, the singing is accompanied by a
shufflingIn music, a swung note or shuffle note is a performance practice, mainly in jazz-influenced music, in which some notes with equal written time values are performed with unequal durations, usually as alternating long and short. It follows similar principles to notes inégales of the Baroque and...
in rhythm from one foot to the other. The sounds may be actual words or nonsense syllables or created during exhalation.
"The old woman who teaches the children [throat singing songs] corrects sloppy intonation of contours, poorly meshed phase displacements, and vague rhythms exactly like a Western vocal coach."
Inuit throat singing in popular culture
- A scene of Inuit throat singing appears in the 1974 Timothy Bottoms
Timothy James Bottoms is an American actor and producer.-Personal life:Bottoms was born in Santa Barbara, California, the eldest son of Betty and James "Bud" Bottoms, who was a sculptor and art teacher. He is the brother of actors Joseph Bottoms , Sam Bottoms and Ben Bottoms...
film The White DawnThe White Dawn is a Canadian film, released in 1974, which portrays the conflict between aboriginal peoples' traditional way of life and Europeans' eagerness to take advantage of them. The film employs authentic Inuit dialect, which adds to the overall realism of the film...
.
- The 2003 film
Film encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects....
The Snow WalkerThe Snow Walker is a 2003 Canadian film based on the short story "Walk Well, My Brother" by Farley Mowat. It was written and directed by Charles Martin Smith and starred Barry Pepper, James Cromwell and Annabella Piugattuk....
contains a scene of Inuit throat singing.
- The 2001 film Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner) has a scene with Inuit throat singing.
- The 2007 film, Wristcutters: A Love Story
Wristcutters: A Love Story is a 2006 film written and directed by Goran Dukic and starring Patrick Fugit and Shannyn Sossamon. It is set in a strange afterlife way-station that has been reserved for people who have committed suicide....
, features a "mute" character named Nanuk who practices this style of throat singing.
- A rather imaginative variation on throat singing is featured in the 2007 Dan Simmons
Dan Simmons is an American author most widely known for his Hugo Award-winning science fiction series, known as the Hyperion Cantos, and for his Locus-winning Ilium/Olympos cycle....
novel, The TerrorThe Terror is the name of a 2007 novel by American author Dan Simmons. The novel is a fictionalized account of Franklin's lost expedition of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror under Captain Sir John Franklin to the Arctic to force the Northwest Passage in 1845 - 1848...
.
- In a scene of the The Simpsons Movie
The Simpsons Movie is a 2007 American animated comedy film based on the animated television series The Simpsons. The film was directed by David Silverman, and stars the regular television cast of Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Tress...
(2007), Homer SimpsonHomer Jay Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and father of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
is shown throat singing with an Inuit woman in order to have an epiphanyAn epiphany is the sudden realization or comprehension of the essence or meaning of something...
.
- Rick Mercer
Richard Vincent "Rick" Mercer is a Canadian comedian, television personality, political satirist, and a blogger.Mercer first came to national attention in 1990, when he premiered his one-man show Show Me the Button, I'll Push It, or Charles Lynch Must Die at the Great Canadian Theatre Company in...
in an episode of his self-hosted show, the Rick Mercer ReportRick Mercer Report is a Canadian television comedy series which airs on CBC Television...
, attempted to throat sing with an Inuit woman when he visited the 2008 Arctic Winter GamesApproximately 2,000 athletes, coaches, team staff and officials participated in the 2008 Arctic Winter Games in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories in Canada, celebrating the 20th event. The 2008 games took place from March 9 through March 15. Events were held in and around the city of Yellowknife...
in Yellowknife.
- An August 2008 an AT&T
AT&T Inc. is the largest provider of local, long distance telephone services in the United States, and also serves digital subscriber line Internet access. AT&T is the second largest provider of wireless service in the United States, with over 77 million wireless customers, and more than 150...
radio commercial references kadajjat/throat singing in reference to the speaker's roommate.
- In 2005, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra recorded The Four Seasons Mosaichttp://www.tafelmusik.org/media/presspdfs/Tafelmusik_CD_L'estro_armoinco.pdf CD and DVD documentary. A reinvention of Vivaldi's Four Seasons by Mychael Danna featuring Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra; Jeanne Lamon, violin; Aruna Narayan, sarangi; Wen Zhao, pipa and throat singers Aqsarniit (Sylvia Cloutier and June Shappa).
External links