On June 16th at the National Library of Belarus took place a creative event “The palette of free sounds”.
Participant of the event, Russian vocalist from St.-Petersburg Galina Parfenova performed vocal overtone improvisations and medieval songs. Guests of the event familiarized themselves with the technique of overtone singing. The program of the event also included playing of musical compositions from the latest album of meditative music Sfumato by Galina Parfenova and Greek-American flutist Demetrius Spaneas and showing of a fragment of the video of their performance in St.-Petersburg.
Singer Galina Parfenova presents concerts and master-classes in Russia and Europe. She is a honored professor of Baltic Pedagogical Academy and winner of a diploma of the International Contest “Modern World Culture and Art-2010” for the unique author’s techniques of vocal and great contributions to harmonic development of a person. Her creativity combines European medieval songs, Byzantine and Old-Russian church traditions and the techniques of overtone singing.
While listening to the melodies, guests of the event were drawing on paper abstract pictures reflecting their perception of the music.
Overtones are additional high-frequency sounds arising in the spectrum of each note at the moment of sounding. They make voice timbre original and unique.
From the earliest times, overtone singing has been used in prayers. The overtone technique of singing is well-known not only in the East, but also in the West where it is represented by Gregorian chants, Byzantine motets, Russian singsongs and traditional folk songs.
In the 19970s– 1980s the new European style of overtone singing arose. Harmonic choirs singing overtone songs and composers experimenting with overtone sounds appeared on the scene.
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