Khuleg Baatar

December 20, 2014 7:03 PM

Mongolian. Throat singing. Rap. [slyt]
posted by cthuljew (31 comments total)

That was awesome.
posted by annsunny at 7:12 PM on December 20, 2014

This made me smile.
Thanks
posted by key_of_z at 7:13 PM on December 20, 2014

This is why I come here. Thanks cthuljew and MetaFilter!
posted by dylanjames at 7:14 PM on December 20, 2014 [3 favorites]

Khan I kick it?
posted by swift at 7:16 PM on December 20, 2014 [7 favorites]

Is "Khuleg Baatar" the name of the song, "Ethnic Zorigoo" the name of the primary artist/group, and "Tatar Zaya" the name of a guest artist? If not, what is what?
posted by Flunkie at 7:17 PM on December 20, 2014

There's a really great documentary about Mongolian hip hop culture called Mongolian Bling. You should check it out if you enjoyed this.
posted by KGMoney at 7:19 PM on December 20, 2014 [4 favorites]

This just beat out french as my favorite language to hear rap in that I don't understand.

I had high expectations. Did not disappoint.
posted by el io at 7:20 PM on December 20, 2014 [4 favorites]

Is "Khuleg Baatar" the name of the song, "Ethnic Zorigoo" the name of the primary artist/group, and "Tatar Zaya" the name of a guest artist?

Yes, yes, and yes. Looks like Ethnic Zorigoo also cross over into euro/dance pop, while Tatar Zaya may be more strictly Mongolian rap.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:29 PM on December 20, 2014 [1 favorite]

That was a lot of fun. Love me some throat singing.
posted by notsnot at 7:47 PM on December 20, 2014

You might want to fix the tags, unless this also involves someone with a single glial cell (I haven't clicked on the links yet).
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 7:57 PM on December 20, 2014 [1 favorite]

Oh yes, this is awesome. Thank you.
posted by seawallrunner at 8:21 PM on December 20, 2014

What he said.
posted by spitbull at 8:25 PM on December 20, 2014

omg. was literally JUST talking about how i wished throat rap exists last night. AHHMAZING.
posted by shikkokuKori at 8:28 PM on December 20, 2014 [2 favorites]

Wow. What a time to be alive. Amazing.
posted by Fibognocchi at 8:33 PM on December 20, 2014

el io: "This just beat out french as my favorite language to hear rap in that I don't understand."

Have you heard rap in Arabic? I've been fascinated with an Egyptian compilation klang linked on his blog around the time of the initial Egyptian revolution.

It's endlessly fascinating to me the extent to which rap music has become an entirely global phenomenon. Who knew that it had such universal appeal?
posted by stet at 8:40 PM on December 20, 2014

MetaFilter has a love affair with throat singing.

ME TOO!!
posted by BlueHorse at 9:17 PM on December 20, 2014 [1 favorite]

Mongol swagger is the O.G. (Original Ghenghis) swagger.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 9:38 PM on December 20, 2014

stet: "Have you heard rap in Arabic? I've been fascinated with an Egyptian compilation klang linked on his blog around the time of the initial Egyptian revolution."

I'd appreciate a link.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 9:39 PM on December 20, 2014

The album is Mish B3eed Mixtape Volume One. I think this is a working download link. I don't have time to verify it right now but there appear to be a bunch of sites hosting the album if you search for the artist and title.

I don't speak Arabic so it might be a horrifically offensive album. It sounds good though.

Non-American hip hop is just so fascinating.
posted by stet at 9:57 PM on December 20, 2014

Have you heard rap in Arabic? I've been fascinated with an Egyptian compilation klang linked on his blog around the time of the initial Egyptian revolution.

I have not. I'd love a youtube link as well (i'll download that, but seeing people rap is pretty awesome), or better yet a FPP.
posted by el io at 10:03 PM on December 20, 2014

Flippin' awesome. Love it.
posted by kaibutsu at 10:09 PM on December 20, 2014

Well, it only took 66 years but I finally found some Rap that I enjoyed......
posted by HuronBob at 3:40 AM on December 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

Nice post.

Here's some Hungarian: Északon Délen by Animal Cannibals. It's notable for the massive number of guests taking their own verses. So it's like a sampler platter!

One of the more peculiar and interesting things I've heard recently is Nem Kunszt which is in Hungarian but was written for a language-teaching firm who apparently asked Sub Bass to write a song featuring as many German-derived loanwords as possible (to communicate the idea that German isn't really all that foreign because so many words are familiar already!). The cross-language pun in the chorus (Ne csak az angolt magold, hanem a what's your "Német") is the sort of thing you just don't get enough of in rap, for my taste.
posted by Wolfdog at 4:34 AM on December 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

Well, it only took 66 years but I finally found some Rap that I enjoyed......

Interesting, you've been searching before anyone had actually rapped, even if you're including U-roy's first toasting in 1968/9.

Snark aside, I would like to help you find more rap you enjoy, because at this point, rap and hip-hop have been integrated and mixed into every conceivable genre. Can you pick out what part of this you like? Is it more enjoyable because you can't understand the lyrics? (I'm not joking about the lyrics - sometimes understanding the content can ruin otherwise great vocals, in any musical genre.)
posted by filthy light thief at 6:24 AM on December 21, 2014

Here's someone rapping in Algerian, from Terry Hall & Mushtaq's album "The Hour ofTwo Lights".
posted by the bricabrac man at 7:33 AM on December 21, 2014

My general rule is to never read youtube comments. But one of them points out that there is a swastika on the drum that the one guy is playing. A little googling tells me that the swastika is a traditional symbol for eternity in Mongolia (which I kind of suspected).

It also tells me that there are Mongolian neo-nazi groups:

http://espressostalinist.com/2012/01/20/the-neo-nazis-of-mongolia-swastikas-against-china/

So who knows what they're actually singing about?

Catchy, though.
posted by etherist at 7:34 AM on December 21, 2014

..Interesting, you've been searching before anyone had actually rapped,...

Didn't so much say I've been searching.... more a reference to being old as dirt.... Me, that is, not rap...

I think you may have nailed it with the fact that I can't understand the lyrics... There has been SOME hip-hop that I've appreciated, but way too often I've been put off by the content... it wasn't the style or that talent was lacking...

I suspect that, while working with young folks (for about 28 years), I was so often frustrated with the fact that the content of the music they presented to me was in direct conflict with the message we were trying to convey to them as regards violence, sex, drugs, gender issues, hope...all of that... That probably turned me off to the whole genre (unfairly, I'll admit)..

I'm always open to suggestions.....
posted by HuronBob at 8:35 AM on December 21, 2014

huronBob let me point you towards Chance the Rapper rapping about how much he loves his grandma: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQriCKszlHc
posted by subtle_squid at 11:12 AM on December 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

There is a scene in Netflix's Marco Polo series with some Mongolian soldiers doing some campfire singing that I found myself wanting the album for as well.
posted by srboisvert at 11:20 AM on December 21, 2014

i never seem to remember to set up links properly

Chance the Rapper on loving his grandma
posted by subtle_squid at 11:31 AM on December 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

The throat singers on horseback, the Alash ensemble, gave a lecture-demonstration in a course I taught a couple of years ago. They were amazing, and it was such a treat to hear them without microphones. They had a subtle sense of electricity-free graphic equalization in their singing. Each song was mixed differently within their chests and heads.
posted by umbú at 12:08 PM on December 21, 2014 [2 favorites]