Well this was an interesting change of pace. To start with, although I love World music, I hadn’t ever considered what is or may be called “Mongolian” music. Frankly, it doesn’t get much call around these parts! I would have likely lived my entire life without ever knowing about the existence of The Hu. It just so happens that a family member had a birthday coming up and they have a flair for the stranger side of things. As such, when we ran across this band (while looking for some live entertainment, hopefully finding something for a birthday show) we thought they would fit the bill perfectly. Can you imagine a Who-inspired Mongolian cover band singing Roger Daltrey lyrics? Neither could we. Except we were wrong about The Who part…

Let me reiterate–I don’t usually go to shows like this. With so little time to see live music these days, I prefer to use the time to see shows that are more up my alley. However, duty calls–this was an important birthday! I must say that The Hu did not leave me disappointed, even though I have no idea what they were singing about! These guys are talented performers and the stage show was engaging. I must admit, by the end of the show I was a Hu fan!

First of all, let’s talk about Mongolian music, or more properly, Mongolian Rock/Metal music. You could say it lives on the far other side of world from Jazz. The first thing that caught my eye were the strange looking stringed instruments that adorned the guys on either side of the vocalist. These are called “Morin Khuur” which literally means “fiddle with a horse head”. It has a long, skinny sized neck with a smaller, hollow (or semi hollow) body and a horse shaped head for the head stock. There are two strings and it is played with a bow. The “electric” models appeared to have frets, but it also looks like the traditional types are fret-less. Overall, they have tenor sound, similar to the viola.

Unfortunately, due to the low-mid range of a tenor instrument, it made it very difficult to hear the notes amongst a backdrop of loud drums and metal guitars (unless they were playing in the upper register of the instrument). In any case, this did not take away from the uniqueness of the look of the instrument or the performance value, both were very high. It appeared that these guys knew what they were doing and they looked really cool!

The music has quite a noticeable drone quality to it. Lots of E and A overtones throughout their songs with very few chord changes. The Morin Khuurs were backed by two electric guitars and a bass, and being honest, it all kind of all ran together almost like a saw wave on a synth. The beats were fairly down tempo or perhaps even standard slower rock ~ 90-100. They did change up the time-signature a couple times, but generally much of the music sounded the same. I’m not saying this to disparage them, I think this is just a particular quality of Mongolian music that is more of an acquired taste. In addition, similar to many native “musics” there is always a quality to the music that draws from the experiences of the native people themselves. In this case, I found it interesting that the music often sounded like one was riding a horse. Think of Norteno or Ranchero Mexican music tempos and feels (not melodies or harmonies) but with a harder Mongolian edge.

The vocals are another ear-mark of Mongolian music history. Apparently there is this thing called Mongolian throat singing that is a technique native to Mongolia where the vocalist kind of growls behind what are very low (think tenor to bass) sung notes. It is very dramatic! It is also hard to discern the words and phrasing, especially when they are in Mongolian! (Not to mention the wash of all the low-mid frequencies.) This was definitely a staple of the music and added to the drone-like quality. I have no idea what The Hu was singing about, but the vocals fit the music very well.

It’s fair to say that this was quite a different experience from your normal rock concert. I think the metal edge is a nice touch, even though it was hard to hear everything clearly. As this was my first time at The Ritz, I didn’t know if that was on the sound engineer, the venue acoustics, the band or all three. What did shine through perfectly was their absolute devotion and professionalism to the music, their instruments and the performance. When it comes to the stage show, these guys were total pros. They knew how to work an audience and I would have to say that it appeared that the audience was full of their fans! Who knew? (The Hu!) I was happily entertained and the overall experience was well worth it! I hope to see them again in a festival setting.

For the fans, I did manage to catch an almost complete set list of the show. I don’t know of any of these joints, but in case you were wondering, here is the song order: Shihi Hutu, Shoog Shoog, The Gereg, Chinggis Kaan, Shireg Shireg, Uchirtai Gurav, something “Biyley” and then it cuts off. What was unmistakable (to me) was the encore “Sad But True” (Metallica). The crowd wasn’t sure what they were hearing at first, but they were super enthusiastic once they figured it out. I had listened to The Hu doing a version of this on YouTube earlier in the day, so I was totally stoked to hear it in the flesh. This was a high energy show closer.

In closing, I would say that there is something about all World music that has a universal quality to it, especially when performed live. When done right, there is an authentic quality to it that transcends the various genres. Even though I had never heard Mongolian Rock music before that show I was digging the experience big time. It’s always fun and interesting to hear music from different parts of the world, even if it’s wildly different from one’s tastes. It is also good reminder to step outside of the comfort zone every once and a while and surprise oneself with something completely different. A musician is always cataloging music, whether they are aware of it or not. In my opinion, the more diverse the catalog, the more well-rounded the musician. Until the next show, be safe out there!