Formant and Source-Filter Coordination in a Culturally Iconic Vocal Performance: Mayabini Ratir Bukut

Quantitative acoustic characterization of culturally significant vocal performances remains rare for South Asian traditions, leaving open whether such distinctiveness reflects raw spectral difference or structured vocal control. Motivated by the prominence of Mayabini Ratir Bukut, by Zubeen Garg, in Assamese popular music, this study analyzed formant structure, intensity trajectory, and source-filter interaction within the recording, alongside its position in a corpus of 12 recordings spanning five singers, using descriptors extracted from separated vocal stems. Formant frequencies vary significantly across structural segments, peaking in the middle segment rather than progressing monotonically. Harmonic alignment with formant peaks strengthens at the most salient moments, while peak loudness, roughness, and pitch rarely coincide, indicating intensity distributed across distinct dimensions rather than one climax. Fundamental frequency correlates consistently and stably with only the first formant, indicating sustained rather than climax-linked coordination. Relative to the corpus, the recording occupies a mid-range multivariate position and is not a timbral or dynamic outlier; its distinctiveness instead lies in the precision and consistency of its internal vocal coordination rather than any single differentiating descriptor. These findings offer a reproducible, corpus-grounded account that locates the recording's distinctiveness in the organization of vocal control rather than raw acoustic differences from other singers.