"Traditional Inuit music has been based around drums used in dance music as far back as can be known, and a vocal style called katajjaq (Inuit throat singing) has become of interest in Canada and abroad."
Date: 8/24/2012 1:29:06 AM ( 12 y ) ... viewed 2467 times
"Katajjaq(also pirkusirtuk and nipaquhiit) is a type of traditional competitive song, considered a game, usually held between two women. It is one of the world's few examples of overtone singing, a unique method of producing sounds that is otherwise best known in Tuvan throat-singing. When competing, two women stand face-to-face and sing using a complex method of following each other, thus that one voice hits a strong accent while the other hits a weak, melding the two voices into a nearly indistinguishable single sound. They repeat brief motifs at staggered intervals, often imitating natural sounds, like those of geese, caribou or other wildlife, until one runs out of breath, trips over her own tongue, or begins laughing, and the contest is then over. "The old woman who teaches the children corrects sloppy intonation of contours, poorly meshed phrase displacements, and vague rhythms exactly like a Western vocal coach." (Nattiez 1990:57)"
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