Date August 4
Time 1:00 pm

PRANA

Prana is a Sanskrit word meaning: breath, vital energy, life force.  It is the perfect name for a group who uses only their breath to make sound to relax the body, still the mind and open the heart. Prana is a nine voice, a cappella, overtone singing choir. Their sound is a unique mixture of western vocal music and the musics of Tibet, Mongolia and India. Applying the ancient traditional techniques of multiphonic chant, and throat singing to the natural singing voice, they each sing two mellifluous pitches at once, creating beautiful rising harmonies, shimmering vocal textures, and high arcing melodies.

Prana

TUVAN THROAT SINGER-  ROBERT McLAUGHLIN

From an email from Robert……..

“I was born in Killingworth, CT June 15th, 1997. My family moved to New Jersey in 2001. Both of my parents are musical, having met at a church folk group, playing guitar. My whole family is musical and artistic. So naturally I inherited this love for music. I first heard about throat singing when I was in seventh grade, I was learing about the Mongols, and my Dad who is in to physics told me about the late Richard Feynman. My Dad told me about the polyphonic singing that was done in Tuva. So I went on the computer and looked up a video of throat singing. I was amazed, I had to learn how to do this, singing with two voices at the same time. I have been teaching myself throat singing for the past two and a half years. I also recently started building Tuvan traditional instruments. I have also befriended many Tuvan musicians, and I attend their concerts whenever I can. I am honored to represent this dying Central Asian style of music, and to spread the almost magical culture of these people.  e ago, few people had heard throat singing. Then the Gaytso monks of Tibet visited the United States and the overtone singing was all the rage. The deep chanting, sometimes accompanied with cymbals and a variety of horns, was marked by one or more clear vocal overtones. The chants are deep and slow with a drone-like sound.”

In Mongolia, Tuvan throat singing is part of the national culture and is recognized and honored. The multisound singing is practiced primarily by male animal herders, although some women have begun to throat sing. The high multiple overtones seem to be sounds of the wind, birds or water. There is also a style of singing which mimics the rhythms of horseback riding. All the singing is accompanied by a variety of string and percussion instruments and is remarkable in its variety of sound and evocation. To a Western ear, the sounds seem otherworldly.