Does Khoomei actually translate to the throat or the singing? It appears that 'throat singing' is the term westerners bestowed on the form much like 'didgeridoo' is the western word for 'yidaki'. Harmonic singing' refers only to the harmonics, 'harmonic chanting' only refers to the chanting option, 'overtone singing' ignores undertones... I know it's a bit of a mouthful but perhaps it'd be more accurate to call our form of singing 'lips, tongue, nose and throat singing'. '
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Well, thanks for the acknowledgement, Dean. In fact, this type of discussion is one of my favorites, discussing nomenclature and etymology.
Actually, I very much share the sentiment of wanting to name everything, and every variation should have its own distinct moniker, but that is someone else's life's work.
I agree that polyphonic singing is as apt as any term, and I have used it. I'm aware that polyphonic singing is also used to describe group singing in the Georgian region, as well as Sardinia.
I think we all know David Hykes statement about the term overtone singing. He had written about it here in this group a longer comment. I love "harmonic" as an item because you can use it to desribe the scales of which overtone you are singing. I am not sure at the moment: is an undertone a harmonic too? I think so but I am autodidact. I love harmonic as an idiom because mostly we all want to be in harmony and in a choir you have to be to chime in with all other singers. Overtone singing, throatsinging is a reduction of a technique and a phenomenon ... polyphonic singing is more in my mind but i am looking forward what our others friends think and feel about it.
Absolutely. That's one of the many exciting things about it. There are so many applications and techniques, all a little bit different and so broad as to feature masters of different specialties. There is also the shamanic component. I know you can't really call it 'lips, tongue, nose and throat singing'. I also like the term 'harmonics' and use it frequently. 'Polyphonics' is probably accurate. I think we may well live to see some special discoveries about our wonderful form of singing.
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Actually, I very much share the sentiment of wanting to name everything, and every variation should have its own distinct moniker, but that is someone else's life's work.