Mongolian folk rock...
December 13, 2018 9:54 AM   Subscribe

The Hu are amazing...this is what the internet is for, getting these guys well-deserved attention. The article gives a little context.
posted by agatha_magatha (19 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: poster's request, given the sketchy stuff folks noted in-thread -- cortex



 
This is highly relevant to my interests!
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:59 AM on December 13, 2018 [1 favorite]


Wait til these dudes pick up a few distortion pedals.
posted by gwint at 10:07 AM on December 13, 2018


Wow. Cool!
posted by Splunge at 10:20 AM on December 13, 2018


It’s Judas Khan! 🤘
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 10:26 AM on December 13, 2018 [1 favorite]


This was twice as good as it had any right to be. The throat singing is what really makes it memorable. I occasionally listen to Huun Huur Tu, so I expected something more like that, but the throat singing is so well-suited to the metal sound.
posted by briank at 10:33 AM on December 13, 2018 [1 favorite]


I would like a little more context, though. Pretty slick production/instruments/costuming. There’s clearly money behind this group. And the lyrics in these two songs are a bit...fighty and nationalistic. I mean it’s the same as most other metal, I’m just curious to hear more of their artistic vision. That’s the thing about metal I guess. It’s cool because it’s kinda scary.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 10:36 AM on December 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


Headlining this weekend with the Who and the Guess Who! Yes!

Note: The Credibility Gap will not be making an appearance
posted by Quindar Beep at 10:48 AM on December 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


Yeah, came to say the same thing Slarty Bartfast. Much like when I see a viking metal band or anything of that ilk I'm reserving judgement on this until I know what their politics is like.

I know that Mongolia has issues with ultra nationalists and neo nazis, so yeah, the music is cool, the imagery is fun, but it could end up pretty gross.
posted by fido~depravo at 11:00 AM on December 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


Everybody needs to hear "Khuleg baatar" by Ethnic Zorigoo this instant. I'm playing it for my empty open-plan office right now.
posted by groda at 11:23 AM on December 13, 2018 [8 favorites]


Those are the most metal bowed instruments I've ever seen...
posted by Snowishberlin at 12:25 PM on December 13, 2018 [1 favorite]


Warning: there is quite a YouTube rabbit hole to disappear down in the area of Mongolian rock/metal/folk of varying degrees of deathmetal badassitude. It's a Thing, apparently.
posted by soren_lorensen at 1:24 PM on December 13, 2018


This is an awesome post, but . . .

I know that Mongolia has issues with ultra nationalists and neo nazis, so yeah, the music is cool, the imagery is fun, but it could end up pretty gross.

Five minutes and thirteen seconds into the second video: Close-up of the dude's hand, wearing a ring with a big swastika on it.

I'm sure there's an innocent explanation, but I'm not interested in hearing it.
posted by ferdydurke at 1:54 PM on December 13, 2018


The swastika is a Buddhist symbol and is still used pretty freely in Asia (you can find it on packaging for vegetarian food, indicating "if you're a Buddhist vegetarian, this is cool for you".)

Doesn't mean these guys aren't Nazis, but in the context of Mongolians who are probably Buddhist/Bon, it doesn't necessarily mean they are.
posted by soren_lorensen at 2:06 PM on December 13, 2018


There appears to be an iron cross on the ring next to it, so it does feel a bit fashy.
posted by knapah at 2:56 PM on December 13, 2018


Reading through the video comment thread, someone accuses the band of having connections to Tsagaan Khass, a small nationalist group that happily uses nazi imagery in the service of violence. It gets weirder from there, with Mongolian fascists positioning themselves as eco-warriors bent on keeping foreign mining companies from revaging the landscape. I am inclined to both suspend my own reflexive judgements and to avoid music that has this kind of imagery baked into it.

There are plenty of non-nationalist entry points to Mongolian folk rock, though. I recommend Suld and Tengger Cavalry.
posted by Leeway at 3:28 PM on December 13, 2018 [3 favorites]


Meanwhile with the Olympics coming up Tokyo is purging its tourist maps of the swastikas usually used to indicate Buddhist temples .... in small villages in Vietnam you can find headstones with Christian crosses, communist stars and Buddhist swastikas .... It really is an ancient and common piece of iconography in Asia, culturally appropriated by the Nazis, but not lost to it's original users
posted by mbo at 7:35 PM on December 13, 2018


Mongolia is an isolated country with 30% poverty surrounded by super powers and their environment is being destroyed by foreign corporations. On some level yeah, be proud and angry and suspicious of foreigners. I have absolutely no way of knowing where exactly the line gets crossed. As soren_lorensen points out, they have a legitimate cultural claim to the swastika and a proud history of great military leaders that is ancient enough to maybe gloss over the more rapey and killey details. Is it actually violent in a 21st century context to talk about swords and swarming hordes running across the plains?

The Mongols have a history of attempts at ethnic cleansing of Chinese Han people in the 1920s in the context of a communist revolution and Chinese occupation. And there is a political movement that doesn’t appear to have much momentum for uniting Inner Mongolia (China) with independent Mongolia. Interestingly, the Mongolian nationalist movement is hampered by the fact that many Khalkha Mongols believe they are the more “ethnically pure” Mongols as opposed to the Kazakhs or the Buryat of China.

At any rate, google doesn’t yield any information about actual pro-Mongolia nationalism violence and there’s very little out there to suggest modern pro-Mongolia nationalists are in favor of suppressing other people (there is a long standing and understandable beef with the Chinese). Tsagaan Khas seems to have some interest in preserving Mongolian racial purity and is opposed to intermarriage with the Chinese but they appear to be an extremely small group. From Wikipedia, they “admire” Hitler’s focus on national identity but specifically reject his extremist positions, his military aggression, and his killing of Jews.

So I guess I would say I’m reserving judgement at this point on The Hu. And they can say and do or not say and not do whatever the fuck they want to, but looking at their Facebook and Instagram someone has clearly bankrolled them prepping for a big selling release. If I was their manager, and they’re *not* neo-Nazis, I would recommend they get something out there to clarify their politics.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 7:53 PM on December 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


Everybody needs to hear "Khuleg baatar" by Ethnic Zorigoo this instant

Holy shit! Throat singing rapping!
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 8:00 PM on December 13, 2018


fido-depravo points out that "Mongolia has issues with ultra nationalists and neo nazis."

I point you to a point in the video where the director has chosen to feature a ring with the Nazi swastika -- of the exact same design and alignment as the one on the Nazi flag.

knapah points out that "There appears to be an iron cross on the ring next to it." The iron cross has no meaning in buddhism, to my knowledge. But it is associated with Nazi Germany.

I know a fair, but not extensive amount, about Buddhism. There is no distinctively Buddhist element in this video as far as I can tell. On the other hand, the video culminates with that fingered hand being raised in a fist, and a crowd chanting and punching the air in unison. That's straight-up fascist imagery, albeit adopted by a lot of heavy metal bands over the years.

I doubt the members of The HU have ever met a Jew, so why should they care about my feelings? They just know how to cultivate a cool, transgressive image. But I do think that members of Metafilter should care about my feelings -- and the feelings of other members of Jewish ancestry. It's disturbing to me to read comments about "reserving judgment," as if the understanding of the band is more important than the understanding of your fellow Metafilter member.

This is a video that features overt Nazi iconography -- a Nazi swastika and an Iron Cross -- in a frankly fascistic context. This shouldn't be here on Metafilter, full stop.
posted by ferdydurke at 9:24 PM on December 13, 2018 [4 favorites]


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