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Hanggai’s leader, Ilchi, was fronting a punk band until he experienced a conversion after hearing traditional overtone singing. He travelled to his father’s homeland of Inner Mongolia and started to learn the technique – rediscovering the music and the repertoire of songs that had faded but not disappeared during China’s turbulent past. There he met Hugejiltu and Bagen, both music students, who joined the group. Hugejiltu plays lead fiddle and Bagen sings deep bass using a technique of overtone singing, producing a note one octave below the note he is singing. The songs on the album are adaptations of traditional songs from the grasslands, sung in Mongolian, many using hoomei, a throat-singing technique that has been handed down over hundreds of years. At the heart of the music are two traditional instruments – the morin khuur – the horse-hair fiddle and the tobshuur – a strummed two-stringed lute. Some of the arrangements sound very simply traditional and others are more complex. ‘Five Heroes’, a song of vigilantes stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, includes jangly electric guitar, conjuring up cowboy movies – creating a connection between east and west. ‘Wuji’ is predominantly throatsinging, with the strong repetitive sound of the horsehair fiddle pushing the song forward. ‘Lullaby’ (Borulai) is a gorgeous mix of vocal harmonies – the familiar feel of a gentle lullaby with a strong atmosphere of the grasslands. The penultimate track, ‘Drinking Song’, recorded during a drunken evening and spliced together in the studio, hits the spot. ‘Let our song never end, let our fortunes never decline, a cup for ever in our hands, a song for ever in our throats.’
22 Sep Landfall Festival, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA 23 Sep Matyrs Chicago, Illinois, USA 25 Sep Loeb Playhouse West Lafayette, Indiana, USA 26 Sep Lotus World Music Festival, Bloomington IN, Indiana, USA 27 Sep Lotus World Music Festival, Bloomington IN, Indiana, USA 30 Sep Dennos Museum Center, Traverse City, Michigan, USA 13 Oct De Centrale, Ghent, Belgium 14 Oct Bierbeek - Cultural Center de borre, Bierbeek, Flemish Brabant, Belgium 15 Oct Cultural Center Hasselt, Hasselt, Limburg, The Netherlands 16 Oct Espace Senghor, Brussels, Belgium 16 Oct Espace Senghor, Brussels, Belgium 17 Oct Tropentheater, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 18 Oct Zuiderpershuis, Antwerp, Belgium 19 Oct Les Ecuries, Liège, Belgium 21 Oct Paard, The Hague, The Netherlands 22 Oct Doornroosje, Nijmegen, The Netherlands 24 Oct Ekko, Utrecht, The Netherlands 25 Oct Poppodium Romijn, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands 27 Oct Vogelverschrikker Festival, Valkenswaard, The Netherlands 30 Oct WOMEX, Copenhagen, Denmark 13 Nov Mao Livehouse, Beijing, China
I hadn't expected to work with something so instant and direct, and noted comparisons between their melodies and Western motifs and phrases. ‘Drinking Song’, for example, would be as much at home in an Irish pub on St Patrick's Day as it is in a yurt on the grasslands. For the first few sessions we recorded the band in a traditional way – getting their parts down first and then working on the arrangements. However, the arrangements didn’t sound organic enough, which prompted us to work with the instrumentalists on their individual parts, creating arrangements in real life rather than ‘in the edit’. Some of the arrangements were simple; others took a great deal of prodding! On ‘Wuji’, the mix was becoming denser and denser as we layered more extra parts, but (frustratingly) the more we did, the less it worked. It was only when we muted all the recorded tracks – leaving just the horse-hair fiddle in the mix – that it suddenly came to life! Another memorable moment was the recording of the jangly electric guitar on ‘Five Heroes’. The song is about a gang of Robin Hood-types who go around the countryside stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. The idea was a connection between these Mongolian vigilantes and the gangs from old cowboy movies, and the arrangement is based around ‘Eastern meets Western’. Robin Haller's flat (co-producer) became a great place to hang out for all of Hanggai's buddies, who we would collar into laying down a track or two whenever they came round. We had perhaps the most fun whilst recording ‘Drinking Song’. We'd had a crack at recording this in Robin's flat, but always knew that it only really came to life in its natural settings — while drunk, and with a big group of friends! On the last night of recording, Robin and I had secretly planned to get everyone into a restaurant and record them at their drunken peak. We slowly worked the place into a frenzy and spliced the studio and field recordings together for a focused blend of chaos and mayhem. Matteo Scumaci
My beloved white horse, The beloved grasslands where I was born, 02 Yekul Song Long long ago, at a remote frontier post, there was a young soldier named Hurnamjr, who came to know a beautiful princess. Finishing his service and ready to return home, the princess gifted him a black steed to carry him safely on his way. The majestic stallion was as quick as lightning and the thunderous sound of his hooves kept the wild beasts at bay. The black steed’s stride beat Hurnamjr a safe path through the twisted roots and jagged stones. Harrassed by foes on the road home, the black steed never shirked from battle and delivered him to safety. Long, long ago there was a black steed… 03 Zhaoderen Nana Needles are forged from iron, Zhaoderen Nana Ceramic bowls are easy to break, Zhaoderen Nana We take the flock of sheep, We take the goats, We take the oxen, We take the mares, We take the camel train, We leave you your father, We take all the livestock, 05 Flowers Flowers blossoming on the cliff Once there were oaths to love, 06 Haar Hu I, a swarthy young man, have fallen for you, 07 Wuji Sanggu dangu, a tale, Wuji Dajudayou, Muqigai Muren, White pagodas, like mountain peaks, Parents’ greetings and watchful gaze, Wuji Dajudayou, Muqigai Muren, 08 Lullaby (Borulai) Collecting the best wood, Mama’s here, 09 Drinking Song I present a whole bottle of Let our song never end, Close families cannot be without 10 Four Seasons When spring arrives, When summer arrives, When autumn arrives, When winter arrives, |
