Wednesday, December 30, 2009

A slightly belated audio/visual postcard from blustery Hohhot

Two weeks ago, I had the honor and the privilege of spending three days in Hohhot (the capital of Inner Mongolia) with members of the Mongolian folk ensemble Anda Union. I had the luxury of being the only one in my guesthouse, and by extension, somewhat alleviated the bitter loneliness of its owner who, since the temperature plummeted to 30 below zero (c) and people stopped traveling to Inner Mongolia, seriously needed the company. I sat in on a rehearsal, participated in a wedding, and ate more than my fair share of hot-pot mutton.

My experience was educational, inspiring, uplifting, and really, really cold. Here are some A/V souvenirs I took away from the trip.

Narisu, the front man of Anda Union, gave me a taste of Khoomii throat singing while driving to his band mate's wedding.

Here is the wedding.







About two years ago, Narisu founded his own horse head fiddle (morin khuur) school. Here I am jamming out on a traditional tune with him and one of his students.





Click HERE to listen. Try not to listen for too long though... between icy fingers and a sketchy guitar, I get kind of sloppy by the end.