I Have Never Heard a Voice Like This in My Life!

[Dana5140]

Mods, I originally posted on the other forum, but without any context. So I want to post it here, because I am telling you that this is one of the greatest voices I have ever heard and it is the most unique voice I have ever heard- and I have heard Kate Bush and Grace Slick and Diamanda Galas and Annie Lennox and Annie Haslam and Stella Vander (and Cher and Shakira, for reasons you will see). I heard my first clip just 3 days ago and have spent my time since watching vocal coaches react, leaving many of them speechless and some in tears.

This is Diana (Dee-ah-nuh) Ankudinova. She is Russian, and has a terrible backstory. Abused by her mother during her early life, she was abandoned by her mom in a train station in the middle of winter and lost her ability to speak. Taken to an orphanage, she was later adopted by one her caregivers there. She is a true contralto and likely the youngest contralto on the planet. And in the first clip I have here, she was 14! She has an astonishing voice, smoky and low and in full control- whether using vibrato, harmonics, multiphonics, vocal fry or vocal flip or yodeling, head voice or chest voice. Her vocal chords have to be freaks of nature. In the clips, all of which come from Russian competition shows (the first two specifically for children who come from orphanages), she was 14 in the first, 15 in the second and had just turned 18 in the last. There are kind of prog elements here, for what it is worth. But I am enthralled by this- and I am telling you, this is unique and unprecedented. For fun watch some of the reaction clips, just to see who people who teach voice react to this. And none of this is processed. I suspect some of you will argue that, but this is her natural voice- resonant and full and round and simply stunning. She has a lower voice than most men, but can still reach high notes no contralto can reach. Holy cow!

Videos will only open in Youtube, but click and open them. Really!

1. Rechenka


2. Wicked Game


3. Can't Help Falling in Love- there is a drop here that is mind-blowing!

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Holy. Fucking Shit.

That is one of the throatiest voices I have ever heard, but the control is incredible. I didn't care for her arrangement of "I Can't Help...", but there's no denying its power.

Thank you for posting this.

[happytheman]

Wow.. what range! Hard to put her in a box.. closest thing I can think of was when my brother brought a Klaus Nomi album home one Christmas and told me.. "check this guy out".. Thanks for posting...

[soundsweird]

Very impressive. And the arrangements of the songs were not cheesy, which I really didn't expect from a Russian singing competition TV show. She could do some great prog.

[Dana5140]

Just a few reaction videos:

[Digital_Man]

I couldn't play these videos but looked them up and listened to them on my own. She does have a very unique voice. She also has a very deep one. Apparently a singer by the name of Heather Leahey holds the record for deepest female voice though.

[StarThrower]

I heard something similar to her low vibrato about 30 years ago when I found this album in a bargain bin.

[neuroticdog]

I heard something similar to her low vibrato about 30 years ago when I found this album in a bargain bin.

This album is very excellent, although haven't heard it in years and don't remember the vocal you speak of.

...well here's an idea...

I'll have to spin this

best
Michael

[StarThrower]

This album is very excellent, although haven't heard it in years and don't remember the vocal you speak of.

The vocal is on that track. That's why I uploaded it. They were also on David Sanborn's Night Music show way back when.

[Zeuhlmate]

Russians...

[Zeuhlmate]

Opera singer reacts to Diana Ankudinova

[Steve F.]

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Unless there are 2 reaction videos for every performance video, no matter what it is, it isn't worth watching.

signed

that grumpy old guy whose first reaction to this thread was slapping the side of my face in shock

[Dana5140]

Steve- in shock over her voice? For sure! And there are hundreds of reaction videos to Diana's music. I am hooked watching them. The inability to speak, to understand, the goosebumps people get- it is all amazing to me. PS. Zeuhlmate, that Lenor Oren clip is excellent, an opera teacher who really gets what is happening.

Here is another clip of Diana singing:

[Udi Koomran]

Truly spectacular voice and technique
But as much as this is amazing I can’t truly enjoy it
A rare talent indeed

But The setting the attitude and the music it self ...
mmm
Imagine her singing for Magma or Sleepytime that could be something
But Stella wouldn’t allow ...

[Dana5140]

Udi, all three clips are from Russian competition programs. The first two specifically are for children whose upbringing were difficult, notably those orphaned or abused (or both). So, the arrangements are at best collaborations, but clearly they chose well with Diana. The last is recent, a newer competition where the talent involved judge each other over 8 episodes, each of which requires a different kind of genre. The man standing in awe is husband to one of the world's great Russian opera singers (I forget who, but will see if I can remember).

[Duncan Glenday]

Wow.

Wow.

[moecurlythanu]

Truly spectacular voice and technique
But as much as this is amazing I can’t truly enjoy it
A rare talent indeed

But The setting the attitude and the music it self ...
mmm
Imagine her singing for Magma or Sleepytime that could be something
But Stella wouldn’t allow ...

Wow, really? It's kind of Ethereal Goth with a cinematic edge. I was impressed. I thought "Leave it to the Russians to have dark, brooding, moody music on their singing contest TV shows." I think that's to their credit, and a big improvement over the "We all wish we were Aretha" style of American singing contest shows.

Her voice is amazing, and her control of it is the best I've ever seen. Even better than Streisand's.

[lazland]

Fair set of pipes on her!

The video I viewed looked like a Russian version of the British “talent” show, The Voice.

[Dave (in MA)]

I guess I'd have to agree with both Udi and Moe. Kind of reminded me a little of the Lisa Gerrard + Klaus Schulze collaborations. Maybe in that sort of a setting I'd appreciate it more.

The whole concept of watching people watch videos is completely lost on me.

[Dana5140]

Lazland- it is a show specifically for Russian children who grew up in difficult circumstances. Well, two of the videos are from that. The third, her doing the Elvis song, is recent. Man, can you imagine the other contestants sitting there watching that and realizing their hopes just went out the window? That's what you see with the woman in the red dress and the guy who just sits there staring.

The man who stood up, Yusef Eiwazov, is the husband of Anna Netrebko.

Dave: I was in shock when I first watched her sing. I still am. I watch the reaction videos because they give me a lot of happiness seeing people's reactions. I think this is an astonishing voice and the the most unique and wonderful singer I have seen in my life. I am gobsmacked.

PS. When you can reduce a heavy metal goth girl to tears, you have to be doing something right. (For all her make-up, she's a sweet lady).

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Of course, if you really want to see range ... this guy went from E-flat #1 to D #5



ETA: Something about these supervoices gets semi-blocked...

[Udi Koomran]

I was told by a russian friend who knew her that Her alcoholic mother beat her, humiliated her and even tried to drown her in the bathtub. She ended up abandoning her on the street with a broken collarbone and crushed larynx and that is the reason for her deeper, lower pitched vocal range.

[Dana5140]

All true, but also helped by her own vocal anatomy. When Diana was found she literally could not speak. I just learned that she was rejected by the first music academy she applied to- they felt she only had a lower range. How wrong they were! She is now at the Moscow Academy of Music.

A new clip was just posted! Watch again on youtube, but I think a lot of prog bands could take lessons from the setting. This clip demonstrates how well she has extended her range, to the upper levels and falsetto. But again, shamanic.



Edited to add this clip as well, James Brown!

[Udi Koomran]

All true, but also helped by her own vocal anatomy. When Diana was found she literally could not speak. I just learned that she was rejected by the first music academy she applied to- they felt she only had a lower range. How wrong they were! She is now at the Moscow Academy of Music.

A new clip was just posted! Watch again on youtube, but I think a lot of prog bands could take lessons from the setting. This clip demonstrates how well she has extended her range, to the upper levels and falsetto. But again, shamanic.



Edited to add this clip as well, James Brown!

But what about the essence ( the music)
You dig this?

[Dana5140]

Usi, if you're asking me, you already know the answer. I'm the one posting the clips. Yes, I dig this. I dig all of this- does not matter the context, whether from competition or from her own youtube channel. She has many songs available, including songs like "Twist in My Sobriety" and then Russian folk songs. I understand on her first album, she will also have some originals.

By the way, this reaction video from Anastasia Luna is incredibly perceptive about the Russian pop business world. This is worth a listen, just for insight into that world. Anastasia is livid that pop mavens have not helped her become a bigger star as yet.