Mongolian Khoomei (Throat Singing)

Mongolian khoomei is a wondrous singing art created by the Mongolian people in which a singer, using only the vocal organs, simultaneously produces two voice-parts: a sustained low drone beneath a high melodic line. Khoomei is shared by China, Mongolia and the Tuva Republic of Russia, declared by the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, as well as on China's national ICH list.

The khoomei singer, through exquisite command of breath and resonance, makes the vocal cords sound a deep sustained drone while a bright overtone melody floats above, the structure of voices singular and the tone ethereal and far-reaching, as though sky and earth were singing together — hailed as "a heavenly symphony from a single throat."

Khoomei is the fruit of the Mongolian people's long nomadic culture, embodying the human exploration of the voice at its furthest reach, and holds real value for the study of Mongolian music, the human voice and the aesthetics of the steppe.