The Power of the Russian Oktavist

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by Super User, 9 years ago
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Visit http://www.oktavism.com for more info!
Subscribe for more of this type of voice: the oktavist is a type of voice used in Russian liturgical and folk music. These singers sing roughly an octave below the bass range. The point of this video, however, is not to demonstrate the sheer depth of these voices, but rather their power. Any bass can croak these notes into a microphone, but what sets these voices apart is their ability to perform notes like this over a choir, to a large audience, with absolutely no amplification. I have here featured only Russian oktavists, but there are many deep, powerful basses from other countries as well. Explore my channel to see a few!

The notes the singers hit are as follows:
Kovcheg oktavist (Pavel Myakotin), Ab1 at 0:15
Kochetov, G1 @ 0:45
Vishniakov, B1 @ 1:00
Michalyk, B1 @ 1:21
Kurilov, Ab1 @ 1:53
Ort, B1 @ 2:18
Miller, Bb1 @ 2:37
Pasyukov, C#2 @ 3:03
Kruglov, Bb1 @ 3:28
Oktavist of Peter & Paul Fortess (Alexey Gdeshinsky), Ab1 @ 3:48
Zlatopolsky, C2 @ 4:09
Kovcheg Oktavist (Pavel Myakotin), F#1 @ 4:39

For the lowest unamplified note ever recorded, see the video on my channel of Zlatopolsky hitting a double low C (C1) singing Prayer for the Dead with the Don Kosaken Choir.