Thread by @Silpayamanant

Been down the rabbit hole of Global Polyphonic Vocal traditions since this thread on Georgian Polyphony (which I've loved for years) and the thread about Cante Alentejano from Portugal. I've long known about Balkan polyphonic traditions, but many others are new to me. THREAD 1/

There are actually so many regional variants of Georgian polyphony (see thread in ot) but here's Ensemble Rustavi performing "Khasanbegura" (ხასანბეგურა), a war song, from the Guria region (Western Georgia).

2/

Here's Medieval Icelandic Tvísöngur (duet, lit. "two singing") which alternates between octaves/unison and parallel fifths.

3/

Thread about Portugal's Cante Alentjano (mentioned in the ot above) with some examples. It's thought to date back to the 15th century and might have been considered one of the "unlearned polyphonies" mentioned in 15th-17th c. Iberian theory treatises.

4/

Here's the Chechnya State ensemble of folk song “Nur-Zhovkhar” performing three Chechen polyphonic songs. The middle voice is the generally considered the melody with the outer voices generally performing more drone accompaniment (usually in fifths).

5/

Here's Marewrew ("butterfly" in the Ainu language) from Hokkaidō in Northern Japan. When I first heard Upopo songs I was completely mesmerized. Many of these songs are like "rounds" but with vocals entrances a "beat" or two apart like in this example.

6/

Here's some Cantu a Tenòre of Sardinia. Traditionally sung in a circle by 4 male voices. There's 'oche (solo voice), mesu 'oche, contra, and bassu. The 'oche/bassu are in octaves & contra at the fifth. The contra & bassu use a form of throat singing.

7/

Thanks to @mamab53 for posting this gorgeous tune in this thread, "Anghjulina," by a cappella group Barbara Furtuna which focuses on traditional Corsican polyphony as well as extending the tradition with newer works!

8/

Nahma polyphony of the Pearl Divers off the coast of Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain. "The most salient feature of nahma songs is the exceptionally low vocal drone – hamhama (two octaves lower than the main melody)"


9/
polyphony.ge/en/vocal-polyp…

Iso-Polyphony of Albania. I type of drone polyphony that's relatively common in variations around Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Here there are two melodic lines with one drone. There are three & four voice variants in different regions of Albania.

10/

I brought up the International Research Center for Traditional Polyphony in the context of another Georgian polyphony thread and linked in 9/ to a subpage describing nahma songs, but it's a great resource for polyphonic traditions around the world!

11/

Another resource for global polyphonic traditions is Australian-Georgian ethnomusicologist Joseph Jordania's "Choral Singing in Human Culture and Evolution." This 668 page book can be downloaded directly from his website here:


12/ josephjordania.com/files/CHORAL-S…

Here's a 60 minute documentary "Polyphonic Lullabies of Kakheti" (2019), a region in Eastern Georgia.


Watch the full video below (in Georgian with English subtitles).

13/
store.der.org/polyphonic-lul…
vimeo.com/ondemand/polyp…

The polyphonic songs of the Kam people (officially known in China as the Dong). Mostly from Eastern Guizhou, Western Hunan, Northern Guangxi in China, and Tuyên Quang Province in Vietnam. The Kam people call themselves Kam, Geml, Jeml or Gaelm.

14/

Coming back to this. The abstract from Fiorentino's "‘Cantar por uso’ and ‘cantar fabordón’: the ‘unlearned’ tradition of oral polyphony in Renaissance Spain" discusses this. So many of the traditions here are "unlearned" <>.

15/
academic.oup.com/em/article-abs…

Southern Ethiopia polyphonic singing (edho). There are a number of smaller tribes (e.g. Dorze, Majang) which have up to 4-5 part polyphonic singing traditions. Here's the Tsalke Ha Hu Folk Group from Gamo.

16/

Another resource on global polyphonic trads., the ICTM Study Group on Multipart Music. <>

Note: There's academic debate abt usage of "Multipart Music" rather than "Polyphony" for vocal traditions. Jordania (in 12/ above) prefers "Polyphony Family."

17/ multipartmusic.eu

There's also the 508 page "Multipart music: a specific mode of musical thinking, expressive behaviour and sound" by Ignazio Macchiarella. The sound examples for the book can be found at the ICTM Study Group on Multipart Music Soundcloud account here:

18/ soundcloud.com/multipartmusic…

The Bunun, an Indigenous People of Taiwan, has an 8-part polyphonic called Pasibutbut. Used as a harvest song ritual usually by 6-12 men.

19/
fusica.nl/singing-with-t…

Sutartinės (from the word '"sutarti" - to be in concordance) vocal polyphony sung primarily by women in Northeast Lithuanian.

20/
ich.unesco.org/en/RL/sutartin…

Quite a few of the global polyphonic traditions above (and other yet to be mentioned in this thread) use parallel 5ths (or 4ths)--not that the West didn't have it's own parallel organum either. Wait till you get a load of some Georgian parallel 9ths!

21/

The Kumyk in Dagestan are one of a number of ethnic groups in the Northern Caucasus which have a form of drone polyphony.

22/

Here's the polyphonic vocal music of the Baka people. I first heard a CD of field recordings of them in the mid 90s (Heart of the Forest) and was fascinated by their water drumming and the Anghbindi (Earth Bow)--look those up too if you have a chance.

23/

This was in relation to a different conversation about Armenian Oot’ Tsayn (8 modes) but there are a few examples of drone polyphony in this video. The Armenian chant tradition is old and some of the music notation (khaz neumes) dare to the 6th century CE.

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Was pulling up this blog post from 10 years ago about Prototype Theories to post in another thread but realized I discussed it in relation polyphony and thought it should be in this thread as well.

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Linguistic Prototypes and Musical Polyphony
silpayamanant.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/lin…

Polynesian chant. "Talanoa Faka Matala" is in Wallisian (aka ʻUvean or East Uvean) language from the Island of Wallis (ʻUvea).

26/

Tuareg Chant, a form a drone polyphony. This one is from Mali.

27/

This figure of chord transitions between Georgian polyphony and Western polyphony is striking, though it might be useful to compare transitions between common practice and WPM chord progressions. I imagine it would be as, if not more, divergent.



28/ researchgate.net/publication/34…

Nuristani polyphony from the Nuristan Province of northeastern Afghanistan.



29/

I don't know if this makes Khasanbegura more cool or not!

"According to Levan Veshapidze (16.vii.16), however, “Khasanbegura” was originally a maqruli, or wedding song..."

The Gurian Trio Song: Memory, Media, and Improvisation in a Georgian Folk Genre
digitalcollections.wesleyan.edu/object/ir-2472

And if you’re amazed by Georgian Polyphony have a look at the Georgian dance Khanjluri!

Albanian Iso-polyphony Documentary



30/

Some more Georgian Gurian polyphony--this one being sung while distilling chacha!



31/georgianjournal.ge/discover-georg…

Macedonian folk polyphony. Love the sharp neutral second harmonies in this almost as much as I love Georgian parallel ninths!



32/

Some comments on ways of analyzing non tertian polyphony/harmony in this thread.

/33

I remember the first time I heard a pitch modulation when first listening to Georgian Polyphony and really having a vertigo moment where I thought the recording had pitch-shifted (or sped up). Took me a while to realize this is a regular feature.

34/

Epirus Polyphony. A folk polyphonic tradition practiced by the Greeks of Epirus, Albanians, Aromanians, and ethnic Macedonians in the region. Lots of structural cadential major seconds and minor sevenths.

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We (@iltroubadore) were discussing releasing a Balkan album since our resident Croat American bandmate & I have long played rep fr that area. I've been thinking how many folkloric tunes mid 20th c. deviate fr older iso-polyphony traditions to favor colonial tertian harmonies.
36/

"History does not proceed stepwise, and musical artifacts do not indicate a tidy rational progression from monophony to part-singing in two, three, or four voices. Co-existent..."

37/

Drone and ‘Dyaphonia Basilica'
doi.org/10.2307/767668

"Terms for Georgian Traditional and Medieval Professional Polyphonic Singing in Alphabetical Order"


38/eprints.iliauni.edu.ge/9198/

Chechen zikr in the Pankisi Gorge (which is in Georgia). As mentioned above, a lot of Chechen polyphony (and other related Georgian and Abkhazian polyphonies) will have a double drone (in fifths) surrounding the melody. c-f-g cadences are common.



39/

"c-f-g cadences are common" That was probably a little ambiguous-it meant that a final cadential "chord" is built like this: 1^ 4^ 5^. This goes back to if functional "octaves" (or range) is smaller than an octave, then non-tertian harmonies emerge.



40/

We really need to let go of the idea that tertian, diatonic, or equal-tempered harmonies are in any way neutral or universal.



41/

And this



42/

Which has been making me rethink categories like "polyphony" and "heterophony"-the presumption of tertian harmonies, diatonicism, & Western temperaments becomes the frame within which a distinction of polyphony/heterophony are made in the 1st place.



43/

All of which absolutely informs the idea of how colonialist practices in the recording industry, sound archives, pop music industry, WAM, DAWs, and Mus Cog research have slowly permeated music ecosystems around the world.



44/

Love that Westman can talk abt modulation in Georgian polyphony & relate it to variant tunings in Norwegian Hardanger music.

"On the problem of the tonality in Georgian polyphonic songs: the variability of pitch, intervals and timbre" - Johan Westman


45/ polyphony.ge/uploads/1sympo…

Linen Spinning Song (Cantiga de fiar o linho) from Rocas do Vouga (Centro Region) of Portugal.

46/

48/n #GlobalPolyphony

Yes Indeed!


49/n #GlobalPolyphony