Khoomii is an enchanting musical art. Some say that once heard, it can never be forgotten. Obsessed by the beauty of khoomii, one may follow and trace down its homeland – the Mongolia grassland.

Khoomii is "xoomei" in Tyva language and "choomi" in Mongolian, meaning "throat". In English it is commonly referred to as "throat-singing", a technique of singing harmonics in which one singer produces two pitches simultaneously through throat contraction. The most remarkable thing about khoomii is that not only can a single khoomii vocalist produce two or more pitches, but also with unalloyed tone. The high pitch of over 4,200 hertz can be perceived which is far beyond the normal spectrum of conventional human frequency of 100 hertz to 400 hertz. In this way, one can say that khoomii reaches the human vocal limits.

Most of those exposed to khoomii for the first time will ask, "is this a real sound of human being?" My first encounter with khoomii was at the closing ceremony of Asia Pacific Art Forum held by Taipei National University of Arts in 2000. There were four singers from Tyva. One was absolutely outstanding. He was in his early thirties. Wearing a Xiongnu hat, a harp-headed Aladdin boots, dressed in a costume of funny, humble Qing Dynasty Official, the singer was singing an old folk song accompanied by his morin khuur (horse head violin) with a confident, calm smile on his face. Just when the song of a home-sick traveler started to capture the heart of the audience, all of a sudden, the singer burst into a crisp high-note flute sound like whistling lark. Blushed but persistent, the singer captured the audiences with this dramatic shock, leaving the audiences with surprised pleasure.

Khoomii is most popular in South Siberia: Tyva, Mongolia, Altai and Khakuss. One form of Buddhist chant in Tibet (in Gyuto and Gyume temple) features also a single reinforced harmonic overtone. Taiwan Bunun people assert that their international renowned Pasibutbut is an octophonic chorus, despite the apparent fact that the musical structure is made up of only four vocal parts, this can be explained by their using of throat-singing technique which produces harmonics. From 1960's, throat-singing has been known to the Western academic world. The exotic sound of khoomii also gained appeal in pop music. The khoomii singers from Tyva and Mongolia suddenly became super star of World Music in the 1990's. They produced a large quantity of CDs and VCDs. Before enjoying the Eclectic Tales from Mongolia, let's search on Yahoo or Google by inserting the keyword "overtone singing", "khoomii" or "khoomei" to start the wonderful trip to the world of khoomii.

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The English translation appears here with permission by International Association of Theatre Critics (Hong Kong). Both this article and its original Chinese version are published in New Vision Arts Festival 2006 Critics' Guide (October 2006) by IATC(HK). The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not represent the stand of the presenter, the performing groups of the Festival nor the publisher.