The Song of Harmonics

The Song of Harmonics explores the technique of overtone singing, in which the singer manipulates their vocal tract in order to highlight certain frequencies in the harmonic spectrum, creating multiple distinct pitches with a single voice. Produced by Swiss ethnomusicologist Hugo Zemp, the film uses cutting-edge (circa 1990) effects such as X-ray cinematography and spectrography to visualize overtone singing by performers from various musical cultures of the world, including Mongolia, Tibet, and South Africa. It also touches on connections between overtone singing, spirituality, and shamanism.