Asian Gypsy - All Things Mongolian

The chaos theory of Mongolia

2023-01-26T16:50:00.002+08:00

I returned to Mongolia 15 years ago after an absence of 13 years, save for the occasional 2-week leave from work, and that time I spent a semester and a half at a local university drinking endless cups of brown, watery 150 Tugrik instant MaCcoffee at the café strangely, or perhaps egotistically, named "In my memory", writing the first and so far the only book that got us into trouble with the local intelligence who apparently had little else to do than to pore through the ramblings of teenagers to catch the tell-tale signs of drug dealery. But I digress. When you visit a country for a short period, be it home or not, you hardly have time to immerse yourself in the spirit of the country and the city and feel the nitty gritty and dirty shiny of it all. So after 13 years, it took me a while to readjust and finally understand what the hometown of my childhood had become.

The most striking, ubiquitous, and inescapable feature was and still, unfortunately, is the traffic. In 2008, it wasn't half as bad as today. But it was still terrible compared to Singapore, whence I came after a 6-year-stint of airconditioned job experience in a city that is eerily similar to a meticulously managed giant airport transit lounge. Traffic, transportation, and how people got around the city were just as carefully thought out and managed. A sharp contrast to the traffic in UB.

In many ways, the city was the same as it was, stubbornly unchanged in some ways and changed nonchalantly in others. Whether positive or negative, it was inevitable, but the speed at which Mongolia and Mongolians adapted and embraced change and transition, despite all their protests, is impressive. We say it is due to our nomadic DNA. Maybe so. I, for one, never herded sheep a day in my life. The closest I come to the nomadic lifestyle, even today, is preparing firewood at our house on the outskirts, also called the "summer-house". But that's hardly unique to the nomads, it's just a thing that humans must do when in need of fire.

This "nomadic DNA" presents itself in traffic in UB. The haphazard, seemingly aimless, flippant, fickle, and non-committal way of driving that often results in U-turns on a bridge, constant lane-changing to the greener side, the complete lack of turn signals by drivers and the abrupt and unexplained stops in the middle of the road followed by emergency blinkers. Until Mongolia, I had not needed a driver's license. I had to get one here, I was told. In my non-driver's naïve, fresh, unknowing eyes, the drivers in Mongolia seemed to be the best drivers in the world. To navigate through the chaos of it all, when anyone and anything can come from anywhere and still live to drive another day, every day? I thought that made them the best, most aware, focused drivers. It was this ability to handle the chaos that I found impressive. Now I know better: They ARE the chaos. It is not that they drove better, quite the opposite. They are being cooked in the soup of their own creation. For one, I found that the driving courses do not teach the trainees how to use their lights, which explains the large number of drivers driving around with their high beams on at night in the city, blinding the oncoming traffic and starting an insane back-and-forth of blinking high-beams, daring each other to end the madness. But I digress. The way we drive is a reflection of the way we govern. At first, I was impressed by those who could navigate through the chaos of red tape, sloth-like government processes, and civil servants with their heads screwed on skewed and still have successful businesses or careers. Now I know better. They ARE the chaos.

The chaos theory of Mongolia

2023-01-26T16:30:00.010+08:00

3/14

2020-03-14T21:58:00.001+08:00

Today is my mum's birthday. Usually, we would celebrate at my parents', eating many-coursed home-cooked meals prepared by our father, with kids running around. But this being 2020 coronavirus era, we called to wish her a brief happy birthday before the conversation turned to talks of immune-boosting supplements and avoiding all unnecessary ventures outside.

We recorded our first case in the country last week. Went to bed as per usual on Monday night and woke up to a Corona Tuesday, a French man has brought in the virus, they said, like he was a spy or a foreign conqueror snuck up on us with a night raid. Panic ensued. News of hour-long queues at supermarkets. When interviewed, a shopper in a store admits to not even looking at the prices of the items he was hoarding. Or stopping to consider the immediate necessity of the items he had chosen to fill his trolley with, or so I wish. In these strange times, these are the items we rush out to buy at the announcement of a first COVID case, in no particular order:
- petrol
- meat
- flour, noodles, bread and similars
- potatoes
- toilet paper

The evening news presented a man apprehended at the police station, sitting with his back to the camera, admitting to sharing fake news that ultimately led to the mad rush for petrol. He worked with a guy who knew a guy who was married to a woman who worked for the government, a credible source for news about the petrol stations closing by 11am. He was the butterfly flapping its wings that started the storm across the city. Now ready for a stern telling off and a fine equivalent to some thousand units, with a unit in this case being equal to 1000 tugriks. The need for an additional symbol / cryptic phrase to refer to money, in itself a symbol, always baffled me.

The petrol rush and the toilet paper crisis were explained by Singaporean researchers as follows:

"The rush for toilet paper and other necessities in the face of COVID-19 is a natural behavioural response to the loss of psychological control," said Yap.

Business Insider addressed the why and how of the toilet paper crisis.

A few days gone by, the initial panic has subsided somewhat. All those that came in contact with the Frenchman have so far tested negative. Seeing as he is the only one to get sick, we are coming to our senses a bit with most ready to accept that it was not his intention to contract the virus in the first place. It was bound to happen sooner or later, many realize. After all, we held out for so long largely thanks to our lackluster tourism industry, ever-decreasing travel budget of the middle class and fickle investment environment.

Imagine if patient zero was Chinese, some propose. Or worse, a Mongolian. The Frenchman can always return home to escape the madness and anger. A Mongolian would have to migrate, outcast, flu-ridden, off to scramble for toilet papers elsewhere.

Spit it out

2015-11-22T23:41:00.001+08:00

One of my pet peeves in Mongolia: the chronic, incessant, all-around spitting. Mongolians spit everywhere, all the time. They also blow their noses too; just hock a loogie out in the middle of the street in broad daylight. As if stuck in an impossible situation where spitting it out onto the sidewalk was the only choice left for them to stay alive. They spit with passion and noise that seem to express a deep hatred of their salivatory gland secretions. Rid of it, we must be at the soonest, as with a bad one-night-stand, and hurriedly walk away never to think of it again. The way you would spit out a fly that accidentally flew into your mouth. Your mouth that was for some reason wide open, as you ran at full speed, to let a fly in. So there you are, sputtering like a clogged engine, leaving DNA traces of yourself around the city like a dog in heat.

There is such a deep hatred of saliva that drivers will stop their cars in the middle of traffic to deal with this problem right there.

Sometimes you have to be careful to dodge the spit, as the person walking in front of you might let one loose without a warning or a noticeable pause in his/her stride. Just a casual, matter-of-fact, speedy trajectory of bodily fluids from his/her face, only a step ahead of you. Pray that you are not walking downwind from the spraying.

I am ready to wager on the fact that the frozen spit cakes around the city lead to a few injuries in the winter. Next time you walk the streets of UB in the winter, look carefully for a few seconds at the street surface. The streets are patterned with spit-spots that will evaporate in the spring. Evaporate and most definitely enter your lungs.

For the time being, I would advise you to keep a few steps between you and the person in front when walking. You never know when he or she decides to shoot out some bodily fluids from their mouths

Skipping over bits and pieces

2015-09-09T23:45:00.002+09:00

As someone working in the teething advertising industry in Mongolia, I get tasked to do a lot of thinking about Mongolians and their attitude towards and perception of various items from money, smartphone usage, drinking habits, attitude towards friendship etc. Y&R Asia along with its regional network offices carries out a survey of some 30,000 people from all around Asia, called GenerationAsia, that brings about some very interesting insights about the new generation of Asians.

Mongolia is not yet included in the GenAsia report, but will soon be. In the meantime, I refer to the findings of the report and sit around thinking if the same applies to Mongolians. Do the youth in Mongolia place as much importance on their passions as those in Shanghai or Tokyo? Certainly the world has become a much smaller, a lot more uniform place than it used to be. Mongolia is not some exotic nomadic and isolated country where deel-clad people ride around on horses drunk on fermented horse milk anymore. We are a country where deel-clad people ride in Hummers and Priuses, drunk on fermented horse milk and locally-brewed beer, all the while taking selfies and welfies on unlocked iPhone6's. Mind you, thanks to the new, much stricter traffic law introduced by the Government on September 1st, we should hopefully see a sharp decline in drink-driving. And jaywalking, which, really, is no different from walking in Mongolia at the moment. I digress. I am left wondering if the world has become a more boring place because of technology. The elements of surprise and spontaneity are denied to us thanks to our modern constantly-connected lifestyles. Everything is too accessible, too connected, to the extent that there are people somewhere in the world connecting their toasters to their Wi-Fi's, and those who are probably reading about it on their Twitter-feed reading microwaves. This leads us back to the question: are we as passionate? The answer is probably pretty obvious. Having a passion is probably the same across all human cultures. The question is whether Mongolians live in a society where pursuing one's passion is possible, encouraged or feasible. Perhaps it has to do with the various developmental stages a society has to go through before the pursuit of passion and happiness become the obvious thing to do, i.e. Maslow's hierarchy of needs. As the theory goes, one must go from the bottom up, i.e. satisfy the basic needs before we focus on those higher up. We are somewhere at the bottom and should be more worried about the physiological and safety needs. We, as a society, are not even half-way up the pyramid of needs yet.

However, for the young and urban Mongolians, their needs are quite different. As individuals, they are heading up the pyramid of needs towards esteem and perhaps, for some, self-actualization. This is, in large part, due to the rise of technology that made the world a smaller place. Technology makes, sometimes deceptively, goals seem more possible. We feel like we know more, because Google does. We feel like we could know everything, if we wanted to, and had reception on our devices. Knowledge has become an external thing that we access when required, and not something that necessarily needs to be internalized. Why know anything, when you could know everything.
I guess the point, if there ever was one, I am trying to make is that we have skipped over the fundamental bits of progress. Mainly because progress has become too fast.

I was watching the news the other day, which already indicates the age group to which I belong. 33,000 graduates will soon be competing for 10,000 jobs. We have produced too many lawyers and not enough school and kindergarten teachers, too many economists and businessmen and not enough civil engineers and child psychologists.

The image included above is of a famous Communist era painting that was proudly captioned "Skipping capitalism, straight to socialism", an iconic image for most Mongolians of my generation. The same image still applies to us today. It could represent the discord and disconnection between the left-behinds and the go-forwards of our society. Or it could represent our unquenchable desire to walk hand-in-hand with progress, leaping over the necessary developmental stages, whatever the consequences.

Nightclub lands Heineken in hot water

2012-04-19T13:27:00.002+08:00

A journalist friend of mine informed me of this. Photos from 2010 of a dogfight with Heineken banners plastered around the venue has recently gone viral on Facebook, with consumers threatening to boycott Heineken products. The photos are from a 2010 dogfight "championship" organized by a pit bull terrier breeders' club at a UB nightclub called Elite. According to the site that originally posted the photos, the breeders' club has been organizing these "official" fights since 1997. (source here. be warned though, graphic images of animal cruelty).

In an official statement on their website, Heineken denies any knowledge of or involvement with this activity, stating:

Images continue to circulate in social media channels showing a dog fight, with Heineken® banners clearly visible in the background. This is very distressing and totally unacceptable. As a company and a brand owner, we do not and would never knowingly support any event, outlet or individual involved in this type of activity...The venue owner has verbally confirmed that Heineken banners are visible in the pictures because the previous evening the club had been decorated for a promotional event and he had failed to remove the banners once it was over. [Source]

The company claims to have removed all promotional materials from the venue and ceased relationship with the nightclub since the incident came to light.

I have not been able to find any information on laws prohibiting such activities and according to friends, dogfights are not illegal, i.e. nobody's bothered to address it so far. These events are most likely low-key and never publicized, as I have never heard of this before yesterday.

Genghis / Chinggis Khan statue unveiled at Marble Arch, London

2012-04-16T12:32:00.001+08:00

Gengis Khan.
Originally uploaded by maggie jones..

A giant sculpture of Chinggis Khaan on his horse by Dashi Namdakov, a Buryat Russian artist was unveiled in London on April 14th. Love the Medusa-like mane on the horse.

More info here @ BBC

Via Flickr:
Genghis Khan on a horse by Dashi Namdakov.
Marble Arch, Westminster.

Arrest of N.Enkhbayar and questions

2012-04-14T14:13:00.000+08:00

Following the arrest of Mr.Enkhbayar, various questions spring to mind. For one, why did they carry him shoeless out of the apartment and into the car like a drunk crowdsurfer at a concert? Couldn't they give him a minute to put on some shoes? Another question, why punch MP's in the face and overturn sofas on them? I understand one may have various reasons for wanting to punch an MP in the face, but it was neither the time nor the place what with all the media and spectators. During the raid, why were the first people to come through the door in plainclothes and ski-masks, making the raid look more like an ill-planned robbery than an organized and legal operation?

The competence and organization of the raid were best summarized by a conversation between a policeman and a spectator, who accused an unidentified plainclothesman of attempting to shoot the ex-president during the earlier bungled arrest attempt. As people shouted out that he had a gun, he ran for cover to a police van, and sat with his face covered by his jacket. As various media gathered, the spectator started asking the policeman guarding the van about the identity of the man.

Spectator: - Who is that man? If he is not one of yours, why did you take his gun from him?

Policeman: - You told me to take it from him.

Hilarious, yet sad at the same time. No formal announcements have been made with a list of accusations against the ex-president, except that he is being charged under Article 150.3 of the Criminal Code, which deals with "Misappropriation or embezzlement of property". If convicted, he may face up to 5 years in prison.

Former President N.Enkhbayar arrested

2012-04-13T12:54:00.000+08:00

After a long night of stand-off between the police and his supporters, the former president N.Enkhbayar was arrested this morning at 6am. News reports and eye witness accounts point to the use of excessive force by the police during the arrest, including smashing the former president's car window and forcefully dragging him out of his car. According to news reports, he is now under investigation by the Anti-Corruption Authority, and has been transported to a detention center in Tuv aimag.

The MPRP members and supporters showed up to protest against the arrest, and are planning to organize a demonstration on the Sukhbaatar square this afternoon.

The defendant's lawyer O.Baasankhuu gave a press statement on the charges being filed against Mr.Enkhbayar N, which include misappropriation of television equipment donated from overseas to found TV9 in 2000, and corruption charges, tax evasion charges related to the importation of books written by Mr.Enkhbayar and activities of a private company allegedly owned by the former president's son. A bizarre collection of vague allegations that are, at best, confusing. It comes across as an arrest-first, charge-later case, as the folks at the Anti Corruption Authority try to come up with more solid allegations that are not a decade old.

More updates to follow.

Heesco at Outpost Festival and aMBUSH gallery with Art Series Hotels

2011-12-05T18:59:00.001+08:00

A little bit of self-pimping :)
Recently I took part in Outpost festival, and was part of a group show titled Surface Tension at aMBUSH gallery in Sydney.
Outpost festival is the first major street art festival in Australia, and as such it attracted a lot of attention. More on the festival here. I did a few works there thanks to Art Series Hotels who sponsored my trip up.
Later I took part in a group show with 5 other local street artists from Australia at the aMBUSH gallery (aMBUSH guys organised and coordinated the whole of Outpost festival too). I painted 4 pictures of Mongolian traditional Shamans for the show, and also painted the wall in the gallery to make it into an installation. Exhibition catalogue can be viewed here.
A video recap of the walls painted and a small interview below (thanks Miklos!).

Heesco - Art Series Hotels supports the Outpost Project Cockatoo Island from Art Series Hotels on Vimeo.

Joe Biden and Lee Myung-Bak in Mongolia, cause major traffic jams

2011-08-22T17:59:00.000+08:00

President of South Korea, Lee Myung-Bak arrived in Mongolia Sunday evening, and US vice president Joe Biden arrived this morning in Mongolia. The police have set up major roadblocks throughout the day, causing traffic jams across the city. As we headed back to the office after our lunch, a cop ordered us to stop walking until the motorcade passed. (and I later found out that if we did, we would've been standing there for at least 40 minutes). I don't know what the logic is, but perhaps they were afraid we might be carrying banners with slogans against using Mongolia as a nuclear dump site [details here], which some people apparently did this morning during Mr. Biden's arrival.

When foreign emissaries visit Mongolia, it is a source of major headache for the commoners: ambiguous headlines as to the purpose of their visits, e.g. promotion of bilateral relations, encourage democracy and boost trade, with traffic jams being the most obvious and direct outcome of the visits. It seems every time a US representative arrives in Mongolia, the purpose is to praise and laud our democratic efforts, the way one might praise a retarded child that somehow managed to tie their own shoelaces. Or at least, that's the impression the news reports give us. Most reports follow the standard template phrases for Mongolia: " land-locked Mongolia", "lauded for efforts at democratization", "a country that is strategically located between China and Russia".

The occasional positive outcome would be the filling of potholes in the roads the emissary might take. Before the President of India visited Mongolia, they filled all the road potholes leading to Hotel Mongolia where she was to have been staying, leaving the gaping potholes that come after Hotel Mongolia as they were.

In any case, we know that the visits are all about coal and uranium. Specifically:

"The [S.Korean and Mongolian] ministers also signed [a] MOU pledging to work together closely to jointly explore and develop uranium ore and earth materials. Mongolia is believed to have the world's 14th largest deposits of uranium." It also said that the two countries agreed to expand defense cooperation.[Source: Korea Times]

The last bit about defense cooperation is intriguing. How does it affect our relationship with the North Koreans, with whom our relationship has so far been friendly. Speaking of which, the news reports for the Biden trip:

"[Mongolia's] location between Russia and China, untapped mineral wealth and ties to North Korea give it added importance. Biden said the U.S. was “very proud to be considered a third neighbor” for the landlocked country... One possible purpose of the vice president’s trip is to glean information on North Korea’s intentions, said Elizabeth Economy, director of Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York." [Source: Bloomberg News]

and:

Last month US mining giant Peabody Energy said it was among the firms chosen to help develop a section of the highly coveted Tavan Tolgoi coal mine in the Gobi desert, although later reports said the deal was still under negotiation. Tavan Tolgoi is one of the world’s largest coal fields with 6.4 billion tonnes of reserves... In June, President Elbegdorj promised to give US companies a role in its booming energy sector during talks in Washington with President Barack Obama. [Source: The Gulf Today]

The US Vice President left for Tokyo this afternoon, while the S.Korean President will stay on for another day.

Heesco @ Westsyde Connection

2011-07-05T12:44:00.000+08:00

Check out the cool video of Heesco, painting at Westsyde Connection, made by Kiah Roache-Turner.

HEESCO @ Westsyde Connection 2011, www.heesco.net from Kiah Roache-Turner on Vimeo.

Mongolian Khöömii Festival

2011-06-30T05:55:00.002+08:00

Embassy of Mongolia in London
& Art Café at Lingua Global
proudly present the Inaugural European
Mongolian Khöömii Festival
in celebration of Khöömii being recognised as an intangible cultural heritage of Mongolia with UNESCO in 2011.

Inaugural Khöömii Conference & Film showing of “Mongolian Khöömii”
from 9:30am to 5:30pm Tuesday 19th July 2011
Ticket £50/30concs (inclusive the Gala Concert on 20 July)
For ticket sales and more info, please email: hmandakhtsetseg@yahoo.com ; unurmaa@linguaglobal.org.uk ; ormi_khoomii@yahoo.com
Venue: Room 111, Vernon Square Campus, School of Oriental and African Studies,
University of London, Penton Rise, London WC1X 9EW

Mongolian Khöömii Gala Concert
from 8pm to 10pm Wednesday 20th July 2011
followed by the After Party Disco until midnight
Venue: Venue 229, International Students House
229 Great Portland Street London, W1W 5PN
Tickets £20/15 concessions Box Office info: 020 7631 8306

Mongolian Khöömii (Overtone/Undertone) Singing is an amazing art that must be seen and heard to be believed! One person can sing two notes at the same time: a low throaty drone with a high flute like harmonic melody magically floating on above.

This is the first time in Europe that a Khöömii festival has been organised. It is an unique opportunity to hear from and discuss with the keepers of the tradition, top Mongolian and UK academics about its past, present and future, as well as hearing the exciting developments made by Mongolian and non-Mongolian Khöömii singers.

The conference, which is open to academics and non-academics, will feature presentations on history of the tradition, comparative showcase of Mongolian and Tuva Khöömii, Q&A sessions on Khöömii future with Tserendavaa, one of only three Khöömii singers who have been bestowed the highest national culture award for his art; Dr Carole Pegg, Affiliated Scholar/Musicologist of the Inner Asia Studies Unit, University of Cambridge; Ariunbold, Khusugtun’s leader; the representative of the Mongolian National Commission for UNESCO; Overtone Singers Michael Ormiston, Borg Diem Groeneveld plus other speakers tbc. We will show the Mongolian Musicologist Badraa’s film “Mongolian Khöömii“ (1986) at the conference.

The Gala Concert will be the culmination of the festival featuring generations of Mongolian Khöömii Singers: Tserendavaa, the elders of the tradition, “Khusugtun”, the new and exciting younger tradition, who will be also performing at the BBC Prom 2011 and European Khöömii singers including Michael Ormiston, Candida Valentino, Borg Diem Groeneveld and other special guests.

For general info and advertising opportunities, please contact Unurmaa on 07888 713429.

www.embassyofmongolia.co.uk
www.mongolianartlondon.wordpress.com
www.soundtransformations.co.uk
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=182612601797689

Hanggai, Rock Naadam coming to UB

2011-06-23T13:04:00.002+08:00

A while back, Heesco blogged about Hanggai, an ethnic rock Mongolian band, hailing from Inner Mongolia.
Today I found out through Mongolian Music blog that they are coming to UB and Darkhan before Naadam for a Rock Naadam! So be sure to check them out, coz they are pretty awesome. They played at Wacken Open Air, which is like the Woodstock of heavy metal, held annually in Germany. So, much respect!
Here's a video of them performing live.

Click on the image to visit their Official FB Fanpage.

EBRD hosts art from across the Gobi Desert

2011-06-14T19:12:00.001+08:00

The exhibition which attracted distinguished members of the Mongolian community including the Mongolian ambassador to London, was officially opened on Wednesday 8 June to the spherical sounds of a traditional Mongolian fiddle player and a throat singer.
Welcoming staff and guests to the reception, EBRD First Vice President Varel Freeman commented on the extraordinary creativity and variety of art on display which also reflected his personal impressions of the country and its incredibly rich cultural history. To date, the EBRD has invested over €1 billion in Mongolia and Mr Freeman took the opportunity to express his hopes for even greater future cooperation between Mongolia and the EBRD.
‘Mongolian art is vibrantly alive’
"Our aim was to introduce the London audience to the brilliance and originality of contemporary Mongolian Art," explains EBRD banker Aza Ulziitogtokh, who helped bring the exhibition to the Bank. "Mongolian art is vibrantly alive. Emotions are expressed in a kaleidoscope of colour, movement and space, which feature strongly in paintings by Ochirbatyn Enkhtaivan, Monkhoryn Erdenebayar and Dolgorjavyn Bold."
One of the most respected contemporary Mongolian artists, Choindongiin Khurelbaatar also focuses on traditional Mongolian themes such as landscapes, still lives and history alongside his fascination with the mystery of Shamanism which remains active in the remote parts of the Steppes. His technical brilliance is evident in his precise paintings which are executed in soft tones and gentle brushstrokes.
Another ancient Mongolian tradition is continued by young artist Munkhgerel Odgarig, whose incredibly intricate and elaborate paper cuttings have an almost statuesque quality. Her works reflect peoples’ aspirations and hopes, including bravery and good fortune.
Among the more traditional yet younger artists displayed at the exhibition is Nurmaajav Tuvdendori, voted Mongolian artist of the year in 2009. For her ink paintings she uses a spontaneous and very rapid technique, resulting in disarmingly simple yet evocative and sensual characters. Ms Tuvdendori also uses traditional materials such as “earth paint” and gouache, a form of water paint.
From traditional to ‘Post’-modern art
Otgonbayar Tod’s style, on the other hand, is more contemporary. He uses bold and vibrant colours inspired by Mongolia’s blue sky. Rather intriguingly, he used to be the chief artist of the Mongolian Postal Service where he was involved in the design and production of over 500 Mongolian stamps.
Qualified lawyer Odgarig Sereeter enjoys researching and painting important historical figures, such as Genghis Khan and warriors of the Mongolian Empire. Perhaps not such an obvious choice are depictions of the indigenous people of North America. But Mr Sereeter has researched and is intrigued by the many similarities he uncovered between native Americans and Mongolians, including the tradition of throat singing.
A passion for throat singing is also what has transformed the work of René Polak a graduate of the Royal Academy of Art in Holland. "I used to be a very conservative artist: I painted what I saw, such as landscapes and animals", he explains, "but listening to Mongolian music, particularly folk-rock band Altan Urag and their contemporary take on traditional Mongolian throat singing, has inspired me to paint more magical, dream-like themes."
Role reversal
While Mr Polak's work is heavily influenced by a Mongolian band, Mongolian artist Batbileg Darjaa has devoted his latest exhibition to British rock band Queen, who are celebrating their 40th anniversary. Some of Batbileg’s work will also feature at the Freddie Mercury’s Montreux Memorial Day celebration in Switzerland later this year.
Upon visiting the exhibition, Freddie Mercury’s sister, Kashmira Cooke, praised Mr Darjaa’s work and expressed her surprise about the connection between Queen, Mongolia and the EBRD.
Instrumental in bringing this connection to life is Mongolian art patron, Unurmaa Janchiv from the Art Café at translation and interpreting company Lingua Global in London who helped organise the exhibition at the EBRD. The Art Café promotes Mongolian art and culture in the UK and Europe and donates a proportion of the proceeds from art sales to supplement the cost of educational workshops on Mongolian culture at schools in the UK.
After living in the UK for over a decade, Ms Janchiv is keen to give something back to her country. "I want to support our young talented artists and to show people what Mongolia has to offer!"
By Claire Ricklefs
For more information about any of the artists contact Unurmaa Janchiv at the Art Café.
The exhibition will be on display at EBRD headquarters in London until 24 June. For more information and free admission please contact Aza Ulziitogtokh.

Contemporary Mongolian Art in London: Group exhibition

2011-06-02T20:53:00.001+08:00

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=228363713857223

8th June – 24th June, 2011
Free admissions by appointment only Mon-Fri 9:00am-5:30pm

Opening reception: Wednesday 8 June, 2011 at 5:30 pm
RSVP: unurmaa@linguaglobal.org.uk or ulziia@ebrd.com

Venue: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, One Exchange Square, London EC2A 2JN

EBRD is pleased to host a group exhibition of exciting contemporary works by Mongolian and International artists, whose work is inspired by the rich culture and great history of Mongolia, who once built the largest empire in the history of the world. We present selection of artworks by Mongolian artists, Batbileg Darjaa, Nurmaajav Tuvdendorj, Odgarig Sereeter, Otgonbayar Tod and Munkhgerel Odgarig and of the special guest Dutch artist René Polak, whose works have been inspired by the Mongolian folk rock band “Altan Urag”.

Batbileg Darjaa is an artist well-known for his decorative hand-woven gobelins. He recently finished working on his latest exhibition an on Queen, the British rock band, and displayed some of those magnificent artworks at the 25th Official Queen Fan Convention in the UK last year. Here we display some of the artworks as part of our exhibition dedicated to the 40^th Aniiversary of Queen. Batbileg has been invited to exhibit during the Freddie Mercury’s Day Celebration in Montreux, Switzerland, which is due to take place in September 2011.

A graduate of both the Soyol Art College and the University of Arts and Culture in Ulaanbaatar, Nurmaajav Tuvdendorj is one of a handful of artists inspired primarily by our Mongolian traditions. She produces her ink paintings using a spontaneous and very rapid technique, an imaginative process contributing to their disarmingly simple yet evocative character. Nurmaajav also displays her master in works using “earth paint” and gouache, typical materials used by our native artists over the centuries.

Otgonbayar Tod has a very interesting background, having for many years been the chief artist of the Mongolian Postal Service. In that capacity, he was involved in the design and production of over 500 Mongolian stamps. Otgonbayar’s style is more contemporary, using bold and striking colours. His distinctive style uses vibrant colours inspired by the blue sky of Mongolia.

Our guest artist René Polak is a graduate from the Royal Academy of Art in Holland, which is the oldest art academy in Europe, known in Dutch as “Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten”. He is a devoted fan of the Mongolian folk rock band “Altan Urag” that he even drove several hours from the Hague to see them LIVE in concert in Groninghen in 2010. Recently René shared his artworks inspired by their music and said: ‘Sometimes I think how strange it is for me that I am painting themes about Mongolia while I have never been there. Probably the reason is that I am listening to Altan Urag’s music every day.’

Odgarig Sereeter is qualified as a lawyer with an experience working as an investigator in the Supreme Court of Mongolia, yet he is very passionate about art, history, science and philosophy thus gradually painting since 1988. Influenced by his profession, he does research a lot about history for the artwork he creates. He likes painting the men, who made an great impact on history of humankind, such as Genghis Khan, warriors of the Mongolian Empire and Red Indians.

Munkhgerel’s amazing paper cuttings will be displayed at the exhibition. She is one of the upcoming and new generation artists, who master the art of traditional Mongolian Paper Cutting. She cuts out the intricate patterns using scissors. She chooses the themes that reflect the aspirations and wishes of the people featuring themes like good fortune, bravery and a prosperous life.

Organised by:

Art Café at Lingua Global (www.linguaglobal.org.uk)

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (www.ebrd.com)

Embassy of Mongolia in the UK (www.embassyofmongolia.co.uk)

Mongolian Association in the UK (www.mongolianartlondon.wordpress.com)

The artists are presented in association with Art café at Lingua Global in London, who donates proceeds from sales for supplementing the cost of educational workshops on Mongolian culture at schools in the UK and promoting Mongolian art and culture in the UK and Europe. They also support the Mongolian community in the UK by providing free interpreting at their events and sponsorship.

Country of the Khans and iPhones

2011-05-17T10:41:00.000+08:00

An interesting and accurate description of modern Mongolia in Newsweek by Peter Pomerantsev.

Old men in traditional cerulean kaftans with golden tassels, squinting through the smog, are helped over SUV-crammed roads by their children who sport black designer suits. I meet Ankaa, a sarcastic television stand-up comedian (typical joke: at 60 a Mongolian becomes wise; at 61 he dies). He wears drainpipe jeans and a fake Armani jacket, and fiddles with the latest iPhone. We are going to visit his shaman.

Link to full article.

Boerte feat. A-Sound - Ode to Altai Mountains

2011-05-10T09:40:00.000+08:00

A remix of the traditional western Mongolian song "Ode to Altai Mountains" performed by the ethno-jazz band Boerte featuring A-Sound.

District office blues

2011-03-29T19:24:00.000+08:00

To be honest, I am not really against the fingerprint biometric system the Mongolian government is introducing. This is not why it took me months from the start of the new civil registration process to get myself down to the registration office and have myself tagged. It simply was not on the top of my priority list. Giving all ten of my fingerprints to the government is not really a priority at all. So I left it off.

I am not for it either. There’s always the Big Brother / 1984 thing at the back of my mind. What’s next, a chipset installed in your brain? Eugenics through genetic data analysis and he who possesses the criminal gene is no longer allowed to have a gene?

I thought about it for a while, and decided I was being too paranoid. Given the chaos and disarray the district offices are in, who knows how long the government will hold on to your fingerprints. Power shortages, faulty storage disks, network problems and so on. Which brings me to the next stage of paranoia. What if the registration clerk, or the IT guy trying to recover data from a blown HD, messes up my biodata giving me a whole new identity. What if, even as I type these words, I am walking around unaware that my fingerprints are now attached to someone else, a criminal, or a diplomat with a shady past, suspected of kidnapping Mongolian citizens from foreign countries, God forbid.

These were the thoughts running through my head as I stood in line for three and a half hours, waiting to be fingerprinted as a valid and still under-warranty citizen of Mongolia. If you have never stood in a queue for three and a half hours, you should try this. The camaraderie you develop with the people around you, tut-tutting about the disorganization of the registration office or yelling at folks trying to jump queue is one of those single-serving friendships Tyler Durden’s alter-ego so cleverly speaks of in Fight Club. And the excitement, when you’re next in line, after three and a half hours of moving at 2 meters per hour, is comparable to winning a boxing match. The adrenaline, the excitement and the grimy scanner smeared with the remnants of thousands of fingers before you. Only five minutes left until the staff throw everyone out and leave for lunch, and you made it. And they’ve broken you. Blood samples, retinal scans, anal probes, you don’t care anymore, take it all. They have won. And as I walked out grinning like a fool, the young man next to me in line congratulated me for making it.

Heesco - Mongo Hustle - Solo Exhibition

2011-03-13T12:27:00.000+08:00

Playing Love II: Morin Khuur Ensemble concert

2011-03-07T19:44:00.000+08:00

So on Saturday, we went to watch and listen to Playing Love II, the Morin Khuur Ensemble concert. The Morin Khuur Ensemble puts on these concerts once or twice a year. Playing Love II, similar to Cinema Nights, is the morin-khuurification of famous world film scores as well as Mongolian cinema music.
It was my first attendance of the Ensemble's cinema themed concerts, and overall found it very enjoyable, except for the 25-minute opening lecture by composer Jantsannorov on the origins of film scores and film scores he composed and the obligatory announcer, who would step out on to the stage after every song to remind us that the show goes on. Maybe it's just me, I think a concert should be just that, a concert. No lectures, no announcers to talk about the history of the local film industry and the significance of a particular film: just music you paid to see and hear. While the playlist could have been improved, by excluding a song from a Korean TV series featuring a young K-Pop look-a-like singer etc, the rest was excellent.

Below is from the original score to "Ferocious Saint Lord of Gobi" or Догшин Хутагтын Сахиус, a 1998 Mongolian film about the life of Danzanravjaa, the 5th incarnation of Gobi Noyon Hutagt, a poet, painter, writer and one eccentric son of a gun. The video is not the official clip, but it was all I could find on Youtube. For some reason, it reminds me of the Godfather theme. For me, this piece was one of the highlights of the evening.

Mongolian Hip Hop

2011-03-01T13:45:00.000+08:00

Hip hop and rap have never really been my thing, except for the odd Cypress Hill. As for Mongolian hip hop, I never even paid much attention to it at all, until recently. There are some interesting up and coming artists in Mongolia. Here's a video clip of Gee with Tulgat and Rokit Bay.

Political Comedy

2011-01-31T12:25:00.001+08:00

So in November, 2010, the MPRP or Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MAXH in Mongolian), after lengthy discussions that involved the media, the party members and the general public, changed its name to MPP or Mongolian People's Party (or МАН in Mongolian), dropping the Revolutionary from its name. Their reasoning was that Mongolian People's Party was the original name for the party at its founding in 1921, with the Revolutionary added later in 1924. There were a certain number of protesters against the name-change, with some threatening to leave the party and others, such as MPRP MP Shinebayar forming the MPRP temporary headquarters, somewhere.

Last week, ex-Prez N.Enkhbayar (whose team perhaps came up with the funniest campaign slogan in recent times: Number One Nambariin Enkhbayar for the 2009 presidential campaign) and his former MPRP colleagues held an MPRP meeting (which is not the MPP) i.e. MAXH, at Asa-circus, and decided to form a party under the old MPRP name, with N.Enkhbayar as the party chairman, and MP Ts.Shinebayar as the deputy chair. Confusion continues, as MP Shinebayar was elected from the MPP (formerly known as MPRP). With him having eloped to the neo-MPRP with N.Enkhbayar, the question remains as to whether the newly-formed MPRP can consider itself a party with a seat in the Parliament.

So as it stands: MPRP=new party with Enkhbayar at its head, MPP=former MPRP.

While Mr.Enkhbayar and co may use the MAXH acronym, it remains to be seen whether the new party will be called the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MAXH) or Mongolian Honorable Revolutionaries' Party (also MAXH in Mongolian).

No doubt it may prove beneficial to the ex-Prez to use the well-established MPRP name in the 2012 election, one that looks set to be a political comedy for the masses. With the newly-formed MPRP and the newly-renamed MPP sharing almost identical logos and similar ideologies represented by shared members in the past, N.Enkhbayar may, thanks to mirrors and red-rose smoke, be looking at another ride on the merry-go-round.

An identical situation was once depicted by the almighty Monty Python, whose wisdom I will worship to my end. Watch below for the Monty Python reenactment of what happened last week in Mongolian politics.

An Article on Mongolian Cinema

2011-01-28T19:33:00.005+08:00

Good friend of mine Alicia Kish has recently written a pretty insightful article on Mongolian cinema for film.culture360.org. Read it here.

It is mainly about Byamba Sakhya, an inspirational contemporary cinematographer who's been successful at various film festivals, notably for State of Dog (which is embedded below in its entirety with English subtitles, from google videos). I remember it came out when I was just graduating from secondary school. It was waaaay ahead of its time. It instantly became a cult classic. It featured beat poet Galsansukh who's an another Mongolian I aspire to. The film's Belgian co-production definitely shows through with very avant-garde approach to its content.

A definite must-see.

/Heesco.

Snowy Tsagaan Sar

2011-01-27T14:00:00.000+08:00

So I haven't gotten around to writing up a review of 2010 to finish off the year, mainly because I had little to say. There's the IPO for the coal miner Mongolian Mining Corporation, and a whole bunch of other seemingly significant things that took place while we were all busy battling the climate elements and worrying about the tugrik vs US dollar fluctuations.

We are, suddenly, one of the coolest nationalities in the world, according to CNN Go. We're at no.4, losing out to Jamaica at no.3 (I have no problems with this at all. I mean, they're Jamaicans!) and Singapore at no.2 (?!) . Here's the bit on Mongolia:

Along with a carefully crafted air of quiet mystery, these unflappable souls pretty much perfected the freewheeling, nomadic cowboy existence, throat singing and yurts. Fur-lined everything -- boots, coats, hats, undies -- adds hearty splendor to the historic mystique. And who else keeps eagles as pets?

Icons of cool: Actress Khulan Chuluun, who played Ghengis Khan's wife in the very cool film, “Mongol,” and matched the arch badass arrow for arrow, barb for barb.

Not so cool: Yak-based dairy products … at every meal. [Source]

So the bit about fur-lined undies and yak-based dairy makes the article sound like it was just made up by someone who's never been to Mongolia (and they probably haven't.)

I digress. This year's Tsagaan Sar is on the February 3rd, a Thursday (Bituun being the day before), finally giving us the long weekend the New Year cheated us out of. Braving the bitter cold and the UB smog that seems to get thicker every winter, we wait to usher in the Year of the white iron Rabbit also known as ... Donkey. I love these names. They seem more and more made up each year. The year of the Tiger, now passing, was also known as Traitor, which is less confusing than a Rabbit year also known as Donkey.

Mongolians say that Tsagaan Sar signals the coming of Spring. As we get nearer to Tsagaan Sar, it feels more and more like winter, with temperatures dropping down to -30 degrees, and snow that's been absent since the beginning of winter.

In a farewell bid to 2010, here's JibJab's Year in Review.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!