WOMAD

Hanggai

From China (Peoples Republic)

The Mongolian grasslands' answer to The Pogues
"Let our song never end/Let our fortunes never decline/A cup forever in our hands/A song forever in our throats." As band mottos go, no-one could disagree that the philosophy of Chinese six-piece Hanggai, as taken from their excellent Drinking Song, draws from the very essence of the musical life, from hoary old folk singers to leather-clad rock'n'rollers. Although hailing from downtown Beijing, Hanggai have metaphorically moved out of both the city and the 21st century in their embrace of the hills-old folk songs of the Mongolian grasslands. Their reinterpretations might make liberal use of traditional instruments like the morin khuur (a horse-hair fiddle) and the tobshuur, a local two-stringed lute, but they take the music as their own. Led by former punk Ilchi, there's plenty of rebellion in the air and fire in the belly, powered along by electric guitars and propulsive throat-singing, reminding us very much of the wild yet poetic art of The Pogues.

(Biography written by Nige Tassell 2010)

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