Gyuto Monks Create a Dreamlike Experience

The human voice is an essential component in the spiritual life of most religions throughout the world. And its use is as varied as cultures, embracing everything from Gregorian chant and the contrapuntal cantatas of Bach to the qwaali of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and the orisha songs of Brazilian candomble.

Yet another fascinating variation surfaced at UCLA’s Royce Hall on Saturday night with the performance of the Gyuto Monks Tantric Choir. The all-male ensemble is part of Gyuto University--founded in Lhasa, China, in 1474, and relocated to Dharamsala, India, since the Dalai Lama’s exile after the Chinese occupation of Tibet.

The Gyuto Monks, who are touring to raise funds for their university, have mastered the art of “throat singing.” This describes the ability to manipulate the vocal chords to produce overtone sounds at the octave, the fifth and so forth.

In the work of the Gyuto Monks, it is a technique applied strictly to chanting associated with tantric meditation via pieces that include an introduction, a consecration of the evening and a group of works celebrating the Buddha nature of meditation. The monks’ throat singing produced some eerie harmonic textures, especially when the fundamental notes slid from one tone to another, or--even more impressively--when vocal overtones from different fundamental notes were combined.

The addition of percussion and horns in the second half enhanced the already dense qualities of the chanting. It was, for a Western audience, a daunting experience, with the hypnotic qualities of the performance placing many listeners into their own dreamlike states. But it was also a compelling example of the transcendent spiritual powers of the human voice.

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Don Heckman