Hailing from Beijing, Hanggai’ folk music is steeped in the sounds of the Grasslands, an area in Inner Mongolia that covers 887,300 square kilometres that has forged centuries old traditions. They’ve approached this legacy with their own traditions, over a decade playing punk, rock and rap metal in sweaty Beijing dives, and the results are astounding. Merging modern amplified instrumentation with traditional Mongolian melodies, instruments and throat singing, their fusion feels like it updates and draws attention to their cultural traditions as opposed to diluting it. Their first album, 2008′ Introducing Hanggai (World Music Network) placed a strong emphasis on the traditional instrumentation with only minor nods to western instrumentation, though its follow up He Who Travels Far (World Connection), produced by Ken Stringfellow (The Posies/REM) began to introduce more of the bands rock inclinations. Their new album Baifang (Harlem Recordings) released this month continues to develop their unique fusion.
Cyclic Defrost spoke with bandleader and founding member, Ilchi over a scratchy phone line whilst on tour across the Netherlands.
Bob: I saw you play at Womadelaide I thought your show was amazing.
Ilchi: Thank you.
Bob: I thought a lot of your songs were about drinking. Is that something the band does a lot of?
Ilchi: Yes. It’s part of the culture for Mongolian people. Also we are travelling and when we come back to Beijing, usually we don’ have time to see each other. During touring usually we like to drink together, after the show and maybe before the show we drink maybe we drink one of two beers.
Bob: I got the feeling that a lot of the traditional music seemed to be about drinking alcohol.
Ilchi: This song is when we’re together drinking, most important thing is that we have time together and second thing is drinking. Enjoy the time happy together don’ drink a lot.
Bob: Well when I see you again in Australia I’m afraid I will be drinking a lot because I think Hanggai is very good when you are drinking.
Ilchi: (laughs)
Bob: I understand in the past you were in a punk band. Do you see much of a link between playing punk music and what your doing now?
Ilchi: For Hanggai music I think maybe just a little bit, I think people like to see I’m coming from a beginning of having a punk band but that’s when I was very young and after this band I also had a rap metal band.
Bob: Oh my god.
Ilchi: (laughs) from 2004 we try to make this kind of Mongolian traditional music with rock, not every song was with rock, some were traditional.
Bob: The reason I was asking was because punk music seems so different to what you do now. And so does rap metal. I was curious about how that change happened for you?
Ilchi: You mean how the change happened to traditional music?
Bob: Yeah, did you just start hearing traditional music and think I want to do that?
Ilchi: Our band members, where we grew up, most of us have Mongolian culture from our family also from our hometown also from when we were at the grassland, we got to the grassland people gave us their music. During this we had a rock and roll band, but we also were listening to music from Mongolia. From 2003 a friend give me a listen of some homemade music from a traditional band. We very much like this music. We want to do this kind of music but when my teacher from Mongolia he go to Hohhot for teaching. I go there study with him, and bring instrument tobshuur (two-stringed lute)) back to Beijing. Me and my friend make music with rock and roll, but this time bringing traditional Mongolian music with rock and roll was not very good communication. So we started to play traditional instruments without guitar bass and drums, only traditional instruments and choose a lot of traditional songs to play. So we don’ have a normal band, we have an ensemble traditional band.
After two years we started with traditional songs and we know a little bit how to play traditional music. And we record our first album Introducing Hanggai. First album is more like traditional music traditional band with a little bit of guitar bass and percussion. After the first album our band is getting bigger and bigger although we are recording with just 3 or 4 musicians, after that we have percussion, a bass player, another guitar player. In 2009 Illeta come to our band and he bring more electric guitar sound, I think after 2009 we have almost sound like now. Have you heard our new album?
Bob: No, is it more of a return to rock music?
Ilchi: This album is just released this month (Baifang). This album is different from the second and first one. The new album has some more rock. But a lot of songs are more traditional classic like a studio sound, many musicians play with us; we have piano, double bass, and a girl singer from Shinkai. This album has a lot of songs.
Bob: So you decided to bring in new instruments to see how they would mix? Because I have to be honest I can’ imagine you playing with piano. It seems very strange.
Ilchi: (laughs) Well I hope you can listen with an open mind. I really like this one more than the second album.
Bob: Is there throat singing?
Ilchi: Yes.
Bob: Is it you who does the throat singing?
Ilchi: I do, but usually Gugjilt does on the recordings. He is also the fiddle player. Sometimes I do with the band.
Bob: I’m curious to know how your music is accepted in both Beijing and Mongolia. Is there a feeling that you shouldn’ be playing around with traditions?
Ilchi: Most young people they like. Old people can listen, some people they like, because I think we’re keeping songs traditional. We don’ change the melody, the lyrics, we just make the song more wild maybe more fast, more feeling from the traditional sound, but we didn’ change any of the cultural I think.
Bob: I would think that a lot of the traditional sounds would not be so popular anymore. Is that true? Or is it more popular overseas than it is at home?
Ilchi: I think our music is about coming back to listen to the traditional songs. It doesn’ matter when you’re listening its always nice. Many things change and the traditional sound also changes. There are so many pop songs or people doing electric with traditional sounds, or they copy music like Korean or western, they are in Mongolia and that is more bad. Not a good thing. So before we do the band I think most young people don’ know about this. But now many young people can do something for our own culture. Some young people they are designers and they design with traditional Mongolian clothes, some of them design Mongolian tattoo. Now I think that many people do for Mongolian culture but in a different way, different things.
Bob: That’s a beautiful thing. I have to say that when I saw you play in Womadelaide it was really hot and when you started playing I felt like I was on a grassy plain in Mongolia and I could see the horses all running across the field. It was a beautiful gift you gave us.
Ilchi: Good. Thank you. Next time we will bring so new sounds to Australia. I really like coming to Australia. My uncle and my cousin are living in Sydney; it will be good to see them.
2014·Hanggai Australia Tour
7-8/3/14 Womadelaide Adelaide
9-10/3/14 Port Fairy Folk Festival
13/3/14 Brunswick Music Festival Melbourne
14/3/14 Tanks Arts Centre Cairns
15-16/3/14 Blue Mountains Folk Festival North of Sydney
19/3/14 The Basement Sydney
