Mongolian Rock
By CALVIN CHEONG ‘20
A man stands alone in a vast desert, seemingly oblivious to the heat. His hair is braided into tails which sprout from his head and fall to rest on his jacket—a garment which seems to be a peculiar, but not unfashionable, mixture of traditional apparel and a rock-and-roll leather jacket. He wields a two-stringed instrument and an accompanying bow which resembles a cello, except that he plays with a vigorous manner more fitting in today’s heavy metal concerts.
This bizarre scene is one of many that are featured in the music video of a band called The HU, playing their very first song, Yuve Yuve Yu. The band plays an obscure genre that often goes by “Mongolian Rock,” though other names for it include “Mongolian Folk Rock” and “Mongolian Heavy Metal.” The genre’s just as interesting as it sounds.
If you’ve ever listened to Mongolian throat singing, you’ll know that it is one of the most curious and otherworldly things that humans could have come up with. Also known as Tuvan singing, this ancient art allows its practitioners to sing in several pitches at once, as if two people are creating a harmony instead of one. As you might guess, it requires a lot of practice and talent to learn and master. The HU and other Mongolian Folk Rock singers incorporate this talent—or some version of it—into their songs and lay it over the more modern bass and drums that come with typical rock.
But that’s not all. Mongolian Rock takes it one step further, implementing folk instruments—such as the morin khuur, the aman khuur, the tovshuur, and the tsuur—that can be seen in the music videos of The HU.
The end result is a rhythmic composition that has the intense beat of a rock song and a unique cultural element. Strings are plucked and vibrated with a melodious energy complement overlapping voices crying out hearty and rejuvenating lyrics: “If the lions come, we’ll fight until the end!” (From The HU - “Wolf Totem”)
When I first listened to The HU, I was intrigued by the unusual combination of modern and archaic music, all the while feeling the urge to tap—no, stomp—my foot along with the beat. The hybrid of music styles, however strange, seemed so fitting that I wondered why I’d never heard anything like it before (except for maybe Viking Metal).
Indeed, only recently has the genre of Mongolian Rock become more popular, with The HU releasing two music videos in September and November of 2018. Yuve Yuve Yu quickly accumulated views and now stands at around 5.7 million views. In fact, the Mongolian band has earned over a hundred thousand subscribers in the few months since its conception—a doubtlessly impressive feat.
To conclude, if you want to listen to something you’ve never heard before, I would put Mongolian Rock at the top of the list. It’s both familiar enough that you can tune into it and unique enough to hold your attention.
