artist: David Hykes country of origin: USA style(s): Vocal chants, ethno-ambient essential releases: Harmonic Meetings (1986, Celestial Harmonies)

Rudolf Steiner, well-known pioneer of alternative education, has written that "when a human being sings he lends expression to the great wise ways in which the world was made". With his famous Harmonic Choir, American David Hykes would no doubt understand what Steiner meant.  

His primarily vocal compositions are based on an unusual type of singing used by Tibetan monks and Mongolian throat singers. Dubbed by Hykes as "harmonic music", it involves a vocalist singing two notes at the one time - a basic fundamental note plus one of a number of overtones that make up that note. Sung alone, it sounds distinctively different from any singing you’ve probably ever heard. Sung by the Harmonic Choir, and it’s hard to believe that the resulting other-worldly sounds have not been electronically manipulated in some way. It’s a skill that requires considerable training and breath control and when everything gels, as on Hykes best album Harmonic Meetings, the effect is nothing short of extraordinary. The music is recorded in various abbeys and cathedrals, the acoustics of such buildings being particularly suited to capturing the harmonic vibrations of his vocal arrangements.

Hykes work has been quite influential. The trippy, buzzing vocal sounds he helped expose to Western audiences can now be often heard in psychedelic trance and related psy-ambient, styles which first appeared in Europe and India in the mid-1990's.

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