Features of the basic styles and substyles of Tuvan khoomei

Abstract

The article is devoted to understanding the phenomenon of Tuvan throat singing khoomei. Particular attention is paid to the characteristics of basic styles (types) and their substyles (subspecies). Three basic styles are khoomei, kargyraa, and sygyt. They differ in timbre coloring, methods of sound production, characteristic means of expression, compositional structure, textual beginnings and sets of melodies, as well as some special functions. Subspecies (substyles) of the main styles of throat singing have a specific timbre sound, functions, structure, and content of the text. The styles of khoomei and kargyraa gave rise to several substyles. These are classified into 1) horse running types (eldep-kula-khoomei, dooren, and cheler-kargyraa); 2) landscape “sounding” (howu-kargyraa, dag-kargyraa, kozhagar-kargyraa, taiga-kargyraa, hat-kargyraa, and despen-khoomei); 3) vocal performing techniques (dumchuk-khoomei, mungash-khoomei, khos-kargyraa, and dumchuk-kargyraa), 4) genres (opei khoomei, buga khoomei, and kanzyp kargyraa); 5) time of existence (ergi hoomei). There are no substyles derived from the sygyt style, suggesting the impossibility of performing text episodes and the dominant role of overtone vocalization of the main melody in the high register. This study has distinguished such definitions as “the technique of non-overtone singing” and “performing techniques.” The techniques of non-overtone singing are stated to correlate with the structure of the melodic-textual beginning (chorectep yrlaar in sygyt and khoomey, kargyraalap yrlaar in kargyraa) to overtone vocalization. Performing techniques (ezengileer, borbannadyr, dumchuktaar, kishtedir, sirleӊnedir, birlӊnadyr, and yagylar) are based on sound-imagery and can be used in any style.