Last year during the music fest I saw a really cool band from Mongolia called Hanggai. When I saw that they were on the bill this year as well I was stoked.
One of my Shanghai friends is also from Mongolia. He's in with the band, so he had a pre-party for them at his art gallery before the concert. I was hoping they would play a little for us there, but I guess they were tired from their flight in, so we just hung around drinking Mongolian whiskey & munching on Mongolian snacks.
The concert was to start at 9:00 at one of the few dedicated music venues in town. We got there early to get a good spot at the front. We waited & waited for the band to come on. The audience started getting restless around 10:00. Finally at 10:30 a guy came on stage saying that the authorities had cancelled the concert. In the English version, they didn't give any reason for the cancellation - they just said that we should line up at the box office for a refund.
I can't imagine why the concert would be cancelled. All of the band members were there. I had seen them all earlier in the day, & after the announcement they all came on stage to thank everyone for coming. It couldn't have been the content of their songs either. Although I don't speak Mongolian, I'm pretty sure their songs are all about the grasslands & horses & drinking.
But anyway, the concert was cancelled & I was super bummed. As a consolation, I spent about an hour on YouTube watching their videos. These guys are absolutely amazing.
Take a listen:
Wuji
Borulai's Lullaby
Throat singing
2 comments:
Can't believe they cancelled this! Fingers crossed for Tom Pang & Hanneke Cassel on Friday (maybe I'll see you there?).
Someone said today that the neighbors were complaining about the noise at MAO. There's a circus & I believe a hotel in the same building. I wonder if that's an ongoing issue :(
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