Search - Egschiglen :: Zazal

Nice modern Mongolian music

Robert W. Vonmoss | Chicago, IL USA | 10/25/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A Mongolian told me that the title is actually "Tsatsal". My favorite tracks are track 1 "Hartai Sarlag", which literally means "with black yak" or I've been told this means "jealous man." The singing, especially at the beginning is really decent, then they go into that dark mesmerizing drumming and khoomei. I also really like track 6, "Manduhai" which is a tribute to Jantsannorov, who is very influential in modern Mongolian music. It is a cover of "Land of Beauty", but it has that dark khoomei interlude at the beginning, which has a lot of energy. It seems Egschiglen is some Mongolians living in southern Germany. It's like they took the traditional elements of Mongolian music, but seemed to be getting absorbed into the modern German culture, so the music is really polished and kind of intense and focused. I like the music because it is so unique and intense, and I am a fan of khoomei. This is not modern Mongolian pop music, more like traditional music with a modern spin for a somewhat younger (and probably non-Mongolian) audience. Like their other stuff, they really have mastered their instruments and the recording is really clean. Personally I now listen to this more than their "Sounds of Mongolia" CD.

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