A detailed description of Paraphony can be found below. For more info on Mark van Tongeren, his book on Overtone Singing and other recordings check out http://www.fusica.nl ALBUM INFO for PARAPHONY—EXTENDED HARMONIC TECHNIQUES On Paraphony-Extended Harmonic Techniques, vocalist and music ethnographer Mark van Tongeren uses an incredible range of unknown and new vocal techniques. He effortlessly displays his mastery of Turco-Mongol and Western overtone singing, in which he truly excells, but also has a keen sense to response to each acoustical environment in a different and authentic way. Van Tongeren traveled thousands of kilometers to find the best suitable spaces, and in all recordings one finds that his voice and the acoustical environment truly come alive. The CD comes with a beautifully designed booklet with photos and a commentary for each recording site. The following text is from the album notes provided by Mark van Tongeren himself: "Not unlike the voice, spaces have a hidden sound spectrum, through their acoustic reverberation. Closed spaces in particular favor certain frequencies while suppressing others. They have a 'potential voice,' as it were, that one normally does not hear, but becomes aware of when projecting sounds into a space. Polyphonic music of the Renaissance was sometimes considered as an ornament of the built space. The voice could make the sacred proportions of a cathedral audible, and bring its measures alive. Overtone singing is a very precise way of bringing to resonance the slumbering sound or voice of a resonant space, using the strict mathematical order of harmonics. The technique invites singers to set up a dialogue with their (acoustical) environment. I devoted about a dozen years to explore oriental and occidental techniques of harmonic singing, and used every possibility I had to listen how external (environmental) resonance affects internal (voice) resonance, and vice versa. Time and again -and usually unexpectedly - I heard new details in the sound of my voice through the feedback of the surrounding space. The challenge in making this CD was to search for those acoustic environments that could best highlight the voices' colours and harmonics and the way they can be used musically." One of the aims with these recordings was to show how Tuvan music, which many people have heard live and from studio recordings, sounds in the Tuvan landscape. On the last recording, 'The Great Realm Part II (Tuvan kargyraa),' he faithfully produces an extremely low type of Tuvan throat singing. He performed it on a hilltop overlooking the vast spaces where Russia and Mongolia meet, a place as silent and sound-proof as a recording studio or anechoic chamber. Many western (overtone) singers, by contrast, look for places which will expand the voice's presence through acoustic reverberation or resonance, as van Tongeren does in ‘Paraphony.’ Here his solo voice is multiplied by natural means not in a churchg, but in a gigantic silo in Amsterdam, yielding sounds beyond what most conceive as humanly possible. THE PRESS "...one of the most talented and beautifully effective harmonic singers in the world..." - Randy Rainer-Reusch, Music Works "When Dutch throatsinger Mark van Tongeren begins to sing, it sounds like a symphony of bees buzzing up from his gullet" - The Evening Post, New Zealand Mark van Tongeren also appears on SPHERE by Parafonia (http://cdbaby.com/cd/fusica3) and ETOS by Oorbeek (http://cdbaby.com/cd/fusica2)