Asian Gypsy - All Things Mongolian

Heesco at Outpost Festival and aMBUSH gallery with Art Series Hotels

noreply@blogger.com (Heesco) — 2011-12-05T03:28:19-08:00

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

noreply@blogger.com (Bilguun Munkhjargal) — 2011-08-22T03:01:21-07:00

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

noreply@blogger.com (Bilguun Munkhjargal) — 2011-07-04T21:44:10-07:00

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

noreply@blogger.com (Д.Цэрэнбат) — 2011-06-29T14:55:18-07:00

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

noreply@blogger.com (Bilguun Munkhjargal) — 2011-06-22T22:08:21-07:00

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

noreply@blogger.com (Д.Цэрэнбат) — 2011-06-16T13:03:15-07:00

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

noreply@blogger.com (Д.Цэрэнбат) — 2011-06-02T05:53:46-07:00

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

noreply@blogger.com (Bilguun Munkhjargal) — 2011-05-16T19:41:57-07:00

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

noreply@blogger.com (Bilguun Munkhjargal) — 2011-05-09T18:40:22-07:00

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

noreply@blogger.com (Bilguun Munkhjargal) — 2011-03-29T04:24:46-07:00

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

noreply@blogger.com (Heesco) — 2011-03-12T20:28:41-08:00

Playing Love II: Morin Khuur Ensemble concert

noreply@blogger.com (Bilguun Munkhjargal) — 2011-03-07T03:44:39-08:00

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

noreply@blogger.com (Bilguun Munkhjargal) — 2011-02-28T21:45:24-08:00

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

noreply@blogger.com (Bilguun Munkhjargal) — 2011-01-30T20:25:24-08:00

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

noreply@blogger.com (Heesco) — 2011-01-28T04:00:06-08:00

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

noreply@blogger.com (Bilguun Munkhjargal) — 2011-01-26T22:00:22-08:00

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!

Pres. Elbegdorj, one of the world's top leaders?

noreply@blogger.com (Bilguun Munkhjargal) — 2010-10-26T23:13:00-07:00

Interesting article on the top leaders of today at Newsweek. President Elbegdorj, aka the Future King Midas, made it to Number 11.

Thanks to (the) mostly untapped mineral wealth, analysts from Eurasia Capital and Renaissance Capital predict Mongolia will be the fastest-growing economy of the next decade (the IMF predicts the fourth-fastest). Elbegdorj is intent on using this resource wealth to help develop his country, still one of the poorer nations in the world.

Full article here

Rumors of Starbucks & McDonalds opening in Mongolia

noreply@blogger.com (Bilguun Munkhjargal) — 2010-10-26T05:23:30-07:00

There are unconfirmed rumors of Starbucks opening a branch or five in Ulaanbaatar, along with that of McDonalds setting up shop. Starbucks. McDonalds. The modern barometers of globalization and international recognition of a country as one worth its space on the map. Unfortunately. But amidst all the hoohahs, "god-forbid"s, and the apparent inevitability of a cultural apocalypse brought on by the grease and grind of the McBucks invasion, I find myself wondering at their significance. Doomsday prophets may disagree, but the invasion of the greasy burger and the bland overpriced java will not spell the end of nomadism.

After all, the hamburger aspiration has been in Mongolia for some time, with the Big Burger joints in UB city, MonDonald spinoffs and I swear I saw a small wooden trailer in the middle of Khovd city square with a McDonalds logo on it. I am not your regular burgerite, but I admit, without any shame, to enjoying the occasional grease-monster, whether it be McDonalds, Big Burger or the gigantic mountains they serve at Granville's. Coz when you're hungover, sometimes you. just. got. to. As for Starbucks, I personally don't care much for their bland brew. When desperate and caffeine-deprived, I will drink it and complain about it, but it's never my first choice.

But here in UB, there are plenty of caffeine vendors to choose from. And often the smaller local cafes are much better at their own mixture of caffeine and water than Starbucks' standard brown water. My point is, the caffeine and burger invasion has already happened to Mongolia. Perhaps some see McDonalds and Starbucks reportedly and rumoredly setting up shop in Mongolia as THE sign of Mongolia's downfall as the exotic nomadic anachronism, but I am not worried about them. I AM, however, worried about the downfall of my favourite local cafes and deterioration in the coffee standard.

And before Louis Vuitton manages to invade the countryside with their herder-with-an-LV-bag posters designed to destroy the nomadic way of life, or before McDonalds and Starbucks shove caffeine-soaked burgers down our herders' throats, they face a formidable adversary: Mongolians, who might just beat them to the punch by destroying the pastures in the (black and yellow) gold rush, leaving the herds to feed on blended coffee beans and sesame-seeds of burger buns.

976 magazine English / Mongolian edition out now

noreply@blogger.com (Bilguun Munkhjargal) — 2010-10-20T23:59:23-07:00

The bi-lingual, 2-in-1, sugar-free, fibre-rich, Mongol-English October issue of 976 magazine is out now. An informative and interesting magazine, both in English and Mongolian, the new issue includes articles on Mongolian politics (English), IPO (Mongolian), music and coffee and many other topics, all written by real people for this magazine only. What I mean by that is: no copy-paste articles from Wikipedia or Google or other sources. Authentic and original articles carefully thought-out, meticulously researched (except perhaps for my article), well-written and wonderfully laid out!

So make sure you get yourself a copy from your nearest magazine stand at Nomin and other supermarkets.

For those living abroad, the digital editions of 976's current and back issues are available at GoGo's online bookshop. Here's a direct link.

Mongolian Mining Corp raises USD 650 million in HK stock exchange IPO

noreply@blogger.com (Bilguun Munkhjargal) — 2010-10-13T22:24:41-07:00

Mongolian Mining Corp, Mongolia's largest privately-held domestic producer and exporter of coking coal, raised $650 million by pricing its Hong Kong initial public offering at the middle of an indicative range. [Source]

The company is partly owned by MCS Holding of Mongolia and Kerry Group of Hong Kong.

Watch an interview with Mr.Odjargal, the exec. director of MMC:

Mongolian fashion Designer Tsolmandakh Munkhuu at Hyeres festival of photography and fashion

noreply@blogger.com (Heesco) — 2010-10-07T09:41:22-07:00

Mongolian fashion designer Tsolmandakh Munkhuu picked up the "Public Prize" a month or so ago at the annual Hyeres Festival of Photography and Fashion. I can't find much information on her, apart from few bits and pieces from other blogs: she is 30, apparently graduated from Atelier Chardon Savard, and lives and works in Paris. Nevertheless, it's awesome to see someone getting a break in a creative industry on a world stage. And I just love the detail on those clothes, and the traditional Mongolian looking shoulder parts on the dresses are just superb! And it's all black! BLACK! How can anyone not love it?

Hyeres Festival is run since 1985, and Viktor & Rolf got their break through Hyeres in 1993.

(sourced from http://musingsofbuffyleigh.blogspot.com/2010/05/tsolmandakh-munkhuu.html, http://gunuhaanduguilan.blogspot.com/2010/05/hyeres.html, http://fashionmongolia.blogspot.com/2010/06/blog-post_09.html)

Hyères 2010 - Tsolmandakh Munkhuu Show from modabot on Vimeo

Mongolian Ger (aka Yurt) at Peats Ridge Festival in NSW, Australia

noreply@blogger.com (Heesco) — 2010-10-07T09:32:41-07:00

My friend Lisa emailed me about this. Apparently, they're hiring out a luxury ger at the annual Peats Ridge Festival this year. It is located at Glenworth Valley, which is about 2 hours drive up north from Sydney, and if I'm correct it goes for 4-5 days. It's a sustainable arts and music festival that draws thousands of people each year, and big name bands, as well as local and international visual artists. This year they have around 120 acts, and multitude of interactive installations, including one 20 metre long psychedelic tunnel that you're invited to paint on (for those who're on acid and mushroom trips, I assume). They are so sustainable that they use 100% renewable energy to power the event, using biodiesel fuel, which is just vegetable oil and animal fat, and solar power of course. For more info go to the festival website at http://www.peatsridgefestival.com.au

The Ger accommodation will cost you a whopping $5,000 for 5 days, though. It has 12 volt solar power system, a double futon bed, as well as a mongolian couch, apparently, and sleeps 3 people. They obviously don't wanna do it the original way of sleeping an entire family of 5, AND guests, hehe, but then again they wouldn't be able to ask 5 G's if they let a horde of people have it their way, now would they? To check full specs, and book, click here. They also have teepees and tents on offer as well.

AsianGypsy.net is no more

noreply@blogger.com (Bilguun Munkhjargal) — 2010-10-05T22:31:30-07:00

Thanks to my procrastination I've lost my custom AsianGypsy.net domain name. I think I'll stick to the blogspot.com URL for the time being. Any changes will be updated soon enough.

Procrastination and others /the Ponderanz edition/

noreply@blogger.com (Bilguun Munkhjargal) — 2010-10-02T06:26:44-07:00

See I started writing about advertising in my first draft for this post. Then I thought it reeked of pretension and absolute boredom, which it did, so I procrastinated for a while until I could figure out a suitable topic for meself. And then it dawned on me, on a fine autumn day, walking with my shoes covered in dust and dirt from road works invading UB city: procrastination. What is the nomadic identity? It is procrastination distilled. It’s the subtle and not-so-subtle forms of procrastination hand-selected and distilled into a national identity by us, Mongolians. There are examples to illustrate this on any given day, if you will simply take a short walk down a UB street. It is autumn, and after a summer of Naadam festivals around the country, countryside vacations and general sunny lethargy, Mongolians are back to work fixing the roads and pathways, constructing office towers and doing 5 different things at work which they could’ve perhaps done a few months before. I may be exaggerating, as procrastination is a human thing, I believe. But every culture has unique aspects and cultural traits more pronounced than in other cultures, something that they do more often and/or are better at than others.

We are better at our mañanas than most other cultural stereotypes. Once one starts thinking about these trivial what-you-might-even-call-facts, the trail of thoughts leads eventually to its root. What is the underlying cause, reason for our tendency to procrastinate? And that is, we’ve had it so easy over the centuries. I am not talking about the glory days of the Mongol empire. It’s very simple: we never had to dig for food. We never had to plant our food, seed, water, fertilize and harvest. Our food can walk on four legs. It can feed itself during most seasons. All we had to do over the centuries is to make sure it didn’t run away or get eaten by wolves and other predators or someone else for that matter, and make sure it had enough feed for the winter. Of course the nomads were and still are at the mercy of the weather (e.g. last winter). But climate disasters strike everyone around the world, including farmers and herders.

Then I started thinking about a theory about farming societies my friend Dashka once proposed during a whiskey-fuelled night in the blistering heat of Singapore. He theorized, drunkenly but very convincingly, that Mongolians never went hungry. So long as there was meat, we were good. Whenever we lacked something, we attacked farming villages to the south, i.e. China, which back then was not China but just scattered farming villages south of the Gobi. The Mongols would come take what they needed, women, clothes, gold etc. Perhaps even some herbs and spices, one would hope. And clear off back to the arid and unfarmable country of theirs over the sand dunes of Gobi before the state troopers arrived. Who would want to chase them barbarians over the sand dunes into the middle of nowhere. And so it went. Meanwhile, the farmers were busy digging the ground, discovering and cataloguing plants to understand which types one could eat, and which ones to avoid. Dashka’s theory was that it was famine, hunger and desperation that drove these farmers to discover various plants, to discover what could be used for food and for medicine. During which time, we, Mongolians, were busy discovering more about our tavan hoshuu mal, i.e. the five-headed beast made up of the camel, sheep, cow, goat and horse. We were busy thinking up hundreds of words to describe their colors and anatomical structures.

All very interesting. So the conclusion one would logically reach is that we Mongolians were never hungry nor desperate enough to progress beyond our primal laziness, that comfortably lethargic state of tomorrow-forevers and enjoying the blissful weather while it lasts in our unpredictable climate full of surprises and shocks. BUT not really. There have been desperate times. The democratic revolution, July 1st etc, one can think of many.So are we just a bunch of really chilled-out drug-free but alcohol-fuelled stoners? Makes no sense whatsoever. And as I think these enlightened thoughts, I reach the lift doors of Grand Plaza and find, to my frustration and dread, the lift buttons cold and unresponsive to my fingers. 12 storeys to climb at 8pm. What is the mentality and identity that lead one to build a 15-storey building and turn off the lifts in the evenings? Sadism? Or just plain don’t-give-a-shitism?

[This blog post will appear, probably in an edited format in the upcoming English/Mongolian issue of 976 magazine.]

Unurmaa meets Mr Jim Beach

noreply@blogger.com (Д.Цэрэнбат) — 2010-09-15T03:18:35-07:00

http://mongolianartlondon.wordpress.com

Unurmaa with Jim Beach

It was an honour to meet Mr Jim Beach, Manager of the legendary rock
band Queen, on 6 September 2010 in Montreux, Switzerland. It will be the 40th Anniversary of Queen next year and Batbileg’s artworks on Queen has been invited by Mr Beach to be displayed at the London exhibition in March 2011, dedicated to their early career days (also due to tour around some other cities in the world). Jim was highly appreciative particularly of Batbileg’s main paintings showing the band members.

Batbileg’s exhibition has also been invited to be displayed at the Art Gallery ‘En Beauregard’ for two weeks during the Freddie Mercury Memorial Day in Montreux, Switzerland, in September 2011, by the team who organise the event: Peter Freestone, Former PA to Freddie Mercury, Norbert and Rita. We really look forward to sharing these amazing artworks with more fans and art lovers!

Big congratulations to Batbileg! http://queenart.wordpress.com