Iowa debut |
Hanggai’s interpretations of traditional songs
from the Mongolian grasslands have been creating quite a stir. Online
hipster bible Pitchfork said this group of young musicians from Beijing and
the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia “distills everything powerful about
Mongolian folk music and makes something new from the ingredients …
transcendently powerful music that anyone from anywhere can understand.”
World Music Central has called Hanggai’s music “charming, raucous,
brilliantly jubilant and a breath of fresh Mongolian grassland.”
The word ‘hanggai’ is ancient Mongolian, describing an idealized grassland
landscape of mountains, trees, rivers and blue skies. But the roots of the
group’s music were not quite so serene. Hanggai’s leader, Ilchi, fronted a
punk band called T9 before experiencing a conversion upon hearing
traditional overtone singing. He traveled to his father’s homeland of Inner
Mongolia and learned the technique, rediscovering the music and a 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 that produces a note one octave below the note he is
singing.
The music on the group’s debut, Introducing Hanggai, represents adaptations
of traditional songs from the grasslands, sung in Mongolian, many using hoomei, a throat-singing technique handed down over hundreds of years. At
the heart of the music are two traditional instruments: the morin khuur
(horse-hair fiddle) and the tobshuur (a strummed, two-stringed lute). Some
of the arrangements are simply traditional while others are more complex.
“Five Heroes,” a song of vigilantes stealing from the rich and giving to the
poor, includes jangly electric guitar, conjuring cowboy movies and 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 group’s Mongolian roots and the fact that its members sing in Mongolian
add to Hanggai’s unique and transgressive character. Less than 20 percent of
the population of Inner Mongolia is Mongolian, most being Han Chinese. “Most
of our people have moved away from the old way of life,” Ilchi says. “After
moving to the cities, many of us have gradually been subjected to a very
strong cultural invasion by an oppressive culture. So this traditional music
has completely lost its space.”
In spite of the group’s traditional focus, Hanggai conjures up the ghosts of
other places and traditions. The Guardian noted that the group’s “melodic,
often mournful songs at times echo the sturdy charm of Celtic balladry.”
Another writer observed that “Drinking Song” would be as much at home in an
Irish pub on St Patrick’s Day as it is in a yurt on the grasslands. As one
critic wrote, “This music will make you homesick for a place you’ve never
been.”
Tue Sep 22 |
5:30 pm
Greene Square Park | Cedar Rapids
Free | Donations welcome
:::
Thanks to the Friends of China Association, our promotional partner for this
show.
The Landfall Festival of World Music has received support from Rockwell
Collins, the Hotel Motel Fund of the City of Cedar Rapids, the National
Performance Network, the Fidelity Foundation and the National Endowment for
the Arts.
