weaving Voices 01.04.2025 issuu - Flipbook - Page 51
Non-tempered scale
In traditional Georgian singing, we do not always use the exact piano
scale, i.e. the tempered scale that has governed our Western music for two
centuries. There are micro-differences. To give two examples, Georgian
singers often sing the fifth interval slightly larger than that of the piano and
look for a ‘neutral’ third that lies between the minor third and the major
third.70 By listening and practising, foreign singers can also manage to
reproduce these chosen dissonances, which give this music a very special
flavour.71
Singing songs from the different traditional musical cultures of Europe
has enabled us to come into contact with sound materials that predate
the standardisation brought about by the mass distribution of sound
recordings: as we immersed ourselves in listening carefully to the ancient
recordings of kulning in Sweden, we were able to observe that the
shepherdesses of that country also used a non-tempered scale (different
from that heard in early Georgian recordings) for their calls to the flocks
and their songs.72
Overtones
Another fascinating acoustic phenomenon is overtones. Scientific research
proves that in every sound there is a fundamental note (the one we hear
most) and overtones, i.e. higher frequencies, other notes present in the
sound but a little less easily audible.73 However, we can hear them if we
focus our attention on them, and we can also choose to amplify some of
them as we sing, in particular by pronouncing exactly the same vowels
when singing in several voices. This seems to be an unconscious and
empirical skill among Georgian singers, who use this phenomenon but
don’t talk about it.
Accession_of_Georgia_to_the_European_Union [Accessed 17 Jun. 2024].
70 Here is a rather extreme example. The recording dates from the 1930s, and the sound quality is noticeable.
But you can hear that some of the notes are not what you would expect.
Harira - Maqruli (2008) YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItEZxmtAC9w [Accessed 17
Jun. 2024].
To explain briefly what happens in this repertoire, the second voice (which,
as we said earlier, initiates the song) generates overtones above the melody
line it is singing. If the bass and first voice singers choose their notes and
vowels wisely, they will position themselves according to the notes and
overtones already present in the second voice and will reinforce some of
them. As each voice generates overtones, the three voices come together
one or more octaves above the main melodies. When each voice reinforces
the other with these very high common notes, a so-called ‘cathedral’ effect
is produced: the group’s sound becomes more powerful and richer, and it
gives the impression that there are more people singing than there really
are. Non-Georgian singers can take pleasure in tuning themselves in a nontempered way and singing in a very supportive overtones relationship. A
number of physical sensations are linked to these two acoustic aspects: for
example, you can feel the sounds spinning or beating around you.
Musicality of language
Singing in a foreign language potentially gives you the opportunity to
enjoy the pleasure of being unencumbered by the meaning of the words.
As non-Georgian singers are generally not fluent in Georgian, with a few
notable exceptions, the words of the songs do not make direct sense to
those singing them.74 A word is also a series of sounds – phonemes – that
have their own musicality. It is easier to rediscover this musicality through
a foreign language, because our own language has become too familiar to
us: meaning usually takes precedence over listening to the sound. Some
foreign singers who sing in Georgian will rediscover a very old pleasure,
that of the child they were who grasped the sound of words before their
meaning. We are talking here about the pleasure of uttering phonemes
without them making complete sense, or even the pleasure of stammering
and losing control of one’s diction. During the first work sessions on the
work song Khert’lis Naduri, one of our Leeds University partners, Teresa
Brayshaw broke into a long, unquenchable fit of giggles when trying to
pronounce the Georgian words of this song. It is true that some of the
words contain trains of consonants (up to 4 consonants in a row before
a vowel) as well as glottalised consonants that are quite challenging to
produce!75
71 See also the notion of ‘authenticity’ below.
72 Kulning - The Ancient Scandinavian Herding Calls (2021) YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=MTjlM8_KLwk [Accessed 17 Jun. 2024].
73 Documentary 昀椀lm produced by Hugo Zemp and Trân Quang Hai for the French Centre National de Recherche Scienti昀椀que (1989):
Chant des harmoniques (extrait) (2013) CC.Webcast. Available at: https://webcast.in2p3.fr/video/chant_harmoniques [Accessed 17 Jun. 2024].
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74 The highly complex verbal system that governs Georgian makes it one of the most dif昀椀cult languages in the
world to learn. If you don’t believe us, take a look at this 645-page pdf on the following link, which covers just a
few Georgian verbs!
Makharoblidze, T. (n.d.) The Georgian Verb. [online] Available at: https://eprints.iliauni.edu.ge/3038/1/TheGeorgianVerb.pdf [Accessed 17 Jun. 2024].
75 To listen, not to Teresa’s laugh (which unfortunately we didn’t record!) but to the version we used as a refer-
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