THROAT SINGING MAKES COMEBACK
Unadorned documentary explores resurgence of traditional art form
When Newfoundland director Jenn Brown heard that young women were teaching themselves to sing in that distinctive, urgent humming, she had to go and discover it for herself. “Imagine, a tradition in Nain, which was nearly destroyed by the missionaries, and now high school girls are practicing their singing during breaks between classes,” Brown exclaims.
“The Return of Throat Singing” is a sliver of a documentary that is a scant seven minutes long.
What Newfoundland director Jenn Brown has done is rely entirely on the spare words and the wide smiles of her participants.
There is no narrator’s voice to pose questions, no historical perspective to contextualize the loss of an indigenous cultural practice.
But when Brown heard that young women were teaching themselves to sing in that distinctive, urgent humming, she had to go and discover it for herself.
“Imagine, a tradition in Nain, which was nearly destroyed by the missionaries, and now high school girls are practicing their singing during breaks between classes,” Brown exclaims.
We are shown the girls, face to face, leaning and rocking with their voices bouncing back and forth. The girls are in casual clothes and only in one outdoor scene are they in traditional dress.
This is not a culture processed and packaged for Western tourism.
When the girls introduce their songs it is in the simplest of terms, “This one is a love song.”
“That one was about geese flying overhead and how the sounds change.”
The songs are sung with evident pleasure, but without fanfare, learned through imitation and practice.
Brown says it was important for her not to impose her view on the revival, although she was struck by the women’s spirit of independence.
“It really is like a gift from the younger generation back to the elders,” she explains.
Inuit throat singing is usually done in duets, and is done almost exclusively by women. They describe it as a game with a leader and a follower. The leader sets the pace of the rhythmic inhalations and exhalations of breath. It is a friendly competition and the first woman to lose the rhythm surrenders.
Laughter is a constant feature and is often the telltale sign that someone has won.
“The Return of Throat Singing” was screened as part of a diverse selection of 55 films from 10 countries over five evenings at the Nickel Film Festival in St. John’s.
As an unadorned documentary it was a most welcome relief from many of the other films that, although excellently made, were often intense or dark.
“The Return of Throat Singing” stood out with an engaging freshness from the other genres such as comedy, horror and experimental.