who asked the first question? - International Research Center For ...

239(8) As harmonics are a universal quality of any musical sound, it ispossible that the technique of producing overtones was found (firstaccidentally) by several individuals independently from each other.Not all such discoveries lead to the establishment of a new singingstyle and the creation of a wide ethnic repertoire in this new style. Forexample, we may remember from the first part of this book that a formof overtone singing (umngqokolo) is known among Xhosa women andgirls (Dargie, 1991). According to the scholar, “The style may havedeveloped from a practice of small boys: they impale a beetle on athorn, put it in their mouths, and isolate various overtones produced bythe insect’s buzzing” (ibid 40-41). American country singer ArthurMiles also independently created an overtone singing style in the1920s.(9) Agreeing with the chronology of the origins of the overtone singingphenomenon in Central Asia, suggested by the Russian ethnographer,S. Vainshtein, I suggest that the origins of Central Asian overtonesinging must be connected to the processes of great population changethand ethnic mixture, that took place in Central Asia from the 9 to the10 th centuries. The mixture of two different populations (supposedlybearers of polyphonic and monophonic traditions) on the territory ofCentral Asia must have given the original push for the creation of thephenomenon of overtone singing.( 10) Accidentally, the Chinese written sources also mention (from the same9 th century!) that peoples of Central Asia (when going into battle) wereproducing a strange voice – a mixture of low roaring sounds togetherwith high whistling sounds (Kyrgys, 2002).Therefore, although I do not agree that Central Asian overtone singing style is anextremely ancient, pre-articulation phenomenon, I believe its origins are at least as old asthe origins of European professional polyphony (also the 9 th century). I suggest that therich and dramatic ethnic history of the Central Asian region, where two differentpopulations (supposedly carriers of monophonic and polyphonic singing traditions) had alarge-scale ethnic and cultural mixture, triggered the creation of this unique singing style.