Hanggai

Last Friday I went to see a band my friend Tracey described as Mongolian folk punk.  While I had no idea what that would be like, Tracey never has a bad suggestion as far as I can tell so I told her I was in.  After getting some preshow munchies and drinks at Blue Frog, an expat burger joint; we arrived at Mao Livehouse a live music venue that opened about 6 months ago in Shanghai. 

I was impressed by the atmosphere in the space and imagined that if didn’t look at anything too closely and didn’t know I was in China, it could have been a bar at a hip college town in the states. It was dark with no real seating to speak of, a bar along the back wall, a large sunken area in front of the stage and an elevated section towards the back and the side of the venue.

As people trickled in; a lone man started to play mellow Mongolian music with a guitar and then as the crowd grew bigger you could feel the anticipation for the upcoming band.  While I waited, I went to the washroom and saw these funny signs so I just had to take a photo.  I waited until no one was in there and then sneakily snapped away .

 

When the band came out I noticed that they were dressed in Mongolian clothing or at least had Mongolian elements to their dress.  It made me want some Mongolian style boots- they looked amazing.   As the band took their places on stage; the first thing I heard was singing that sounded a lot like Tibetan Buddhist throat singing that I heard at Mackey auditorium at CU-Boulder several years ago.  It was a deep sound that reverberates through the space so much that you can not only hear it but feel it as well.  I could probably have listened to that in a blissed-out, Zen state for hours but then on top of the throat singing, instruments and more modern style vocals were intermingled.  If I could compare this band to another band, I would say they are like the Mongolian version of Gogol Bordello but more mellow at times.  In other words, Hanggai is a really great, energetic band with an unusual flair.

At the start of the show, I stayed towards the back with friends and listened but as the show continued, I had to move and ended up working my way to just in front of the stage with friends.  The crowd was so into it and I noticed that the music made everyone really friendly and smiley.  The audience was filled with laowais (foreigners) and locals of all ages which added to the experience and demonstrated that this is a band that I think can be liked by all.  There are some bands that are definitely worth it to see live and this is one of them.  They had two encores because the crowd was so into it.  It was one of those shows that left you energized and content when it was over.   They were selling cd’s at the beginning of the show and I didn’t see many people buying them but at the end of the show, they were mobbed with people trying to buy cd’s.  They sold out of their regular cd’s and then someone with the band went to get some other cd’s they had.  It turned out it was a live concert recording and the guy I was standing next to in line and I got the last two cd’s they had.  I felt lucky!  I’ve already arranged to meet up with a friend who got one of the first cd’s so we can copy each others’.

All in all an amazing experience.  I loved this band – check em out if you have time – it looks like they are on itunes.  Oh and below is a link to a short video I took at the show (pardon the shaky camera) and there are some other photos of the concert too.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauramichellepowers/4608391951/
Cheers!