Anna-Maria Hefele is a German overtone singer. Hefele is from

Grafing Grafing bei München (officially: Grafing b.München) is a town in the district of Ebersberg, Upper Bavaria, Germany. Geography Grafing is in the Munich Region, about southeast of the state capital, where the Urtelbach and Wieshamer Bach both e ...

near

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. This technique of singing polyphonic overtones is also known as "

throat singing Throat singing refers to several vocal practices found in different cultures around the world. The most distinctive feature of such vocal practices is to be associated to some type of guttural voice, that contrasts with the most common types of voi ...

," and Hefele has been practicing it since 2005. There are several styles of overtone singing found around the world. Canadian

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

and several forms displayed in

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

and surrounding regions are the most recognized. Hefele's style is culturally practiced in the Siberian region of

Tuva Tuva (; russian: Тува́) or Tyva ( tyv, Тыва), officially the Republic of Tuva (russian: Респу́блика Тыва́, r=Respublika Tyva, p=rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə tɨˈva; tyv, Тыва Республика, translit=Tyva Respublika ...

. This whistling vocal version is called ''sygyt''.Christopher Hooton (6 October 2014)
This woman singing multiple notes at once is a total 'I didn't even know humans could do that' moment
''The Independent''. Accessed October 2014. The

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

has commented on her "amazing ability" and her singing being "utterly bizarre". On 10 October 2014, she was number two on The Guardian's Viral Video Chart, with one online video titled ''Polyphonic Overtone Singing'', which features Hefele as she demonstrates and explains overtones. As of June 2021, this video has received more than 18.9 million hits.

References

External links

Official websiteYouTube: Polyphonic Overtone Singing-Anna-Maria HefeleHefele, Eklund & McAllister (2019). "Polyphonic Overtone Singing: an acoustic and physiological (MRI) analysis and a first-person description of a unique mode of singing".
In: Mattias Heldner (ed.): ''Proceedings from Fonetik 2019, 10–12 June 2019, Stockholm, Sweden. PERILUS XXVII'', , (print version), (electronic version), , pp. 91–96. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hefele, Anna-Maria German women singers Living people Musicians from Munich Year of birth missing (living people) People from Ebersberg (district) Throat singing