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mills:

Overtone singing.

Mongolians at a bar in Beijing perform overtone singing, in which one person sings two notes simultaneously; I remember hearing it done by monks visiting my elementary school years ago. It’s almost trance-inducing, and for reasons I can’t explain the song above -better in person, of course- caused me to tear up.

Regarding this form of singing among the Tuvans: “[It] seems to have arisen as a result of geographic location and culture. The open landscape of Tuva allows for the sounds to carry a great distance. Ethnomusicologists studying throat singing in these areas mark khoomei as an integral part in the ancient pastoral animism that is still practiced today.”

Isn’t it beautiful to imagine “the open landscape” allowing such sounds to “carry a great distance,” part of an “ancient pastoral animism”?

my little sister and i will be in mongolia for practically the entire month of july. we’ll be volunteering at an orphanage rotating between helping to teach classes and help to make the orphanage self-sustaining.

i wake up everyday hoping somehow time has sped and it’s the day we embark on our adventure.