Throat Singer’s Performance Goes Viral
Anna-Maria Hefele is the furthest thing from a traditional singer, and now a video of her performance is going viral. Hefele can sing using polyphonic overtone techniques, also known as "throat singing." She can sing two notes at the same time.
The video has been viewed more than 1.4 million times on YouTube thanks to a nod from Reddit, where users gave it more than 4,105 upvotes. Hefele tries to explain the technique in the video saying, “You can sing the overtone scale on one fundamental. Another fundamental has its own overtone scale, so in order to have more overtones to sing nice melodies, you can use different fundamentals and change them while singing.”
Commenters on the video are mostly baffled at Hefele’s unusual talent, which some are calling "otherworldly." In other words, we’re not sure if she's a human or an alien. One commenter suggests Hefele is not an alien but a witch, writing "Burn the witch! Burn! Seriously though, this is witchcraft."
On her website, Xanmoo.com, she writes that she has been practicing this unique musical technique since 2005. Polyphonic overtone singing started in southwestern Mongolia, where it is known as sygyt. If you’re interested in learning how to sing like Hefele, she is holding a workshop Oct. 25-26 in Austria for 190 euros per person.
