Sponsor July 6 –28, 2013 July 16 Alice Tully Hall Starr Theater, Adrienne Arsht Stage Hanggai Band Tobshuur, banjo, and höömii vocals Yiliqi (Ilchi) Guitars and sanxian Ailun Drums and percussion Yeerbuluo Wulazihan Vocals and amne huur Hurizha Morin khuur and höömii vocals Batubagen (Bagen) Guitars, sanxian, and vocals Yilalata (Shang Li) Bass guitar and vocals Niu Xin Approximate performance time: 1 hour and 10 minutes, with no intermission Major support for Lincoln Center Festival 2013 is provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The Lincoln Center Festival 2013 presentation of Hanggai Band is made possible in part by generous support from China International Culture Association. This performance is made possible in part by the Josie Robertson Fund for Lincoln Center. Lincoln Center Festival 2013 is made possible in part with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL 2013 HANGGAI BAND Program Program order and selections are subject to change. Hong Galu Jiao Di Nana Brothers Mini Tobshuur Golden Autumn Gobi Road Drinking Song Togur Jin Mountain Xiger Xiger Hai Ran Bagen Song Hu He Na Mu Ji Le Heshut Hero Hometown Mountain Baifarg Wuren du Xi Four Seasons Juan Zoude Ren (“He Who Travels Far”) LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL 2013 HANGGAI BAND About Hanggai Band punk band T9), which is an element that In a country dominated by pop music, trad - influences Hanggai’s music greatly. Besides ing cultural heritage for Westernization, their focus on Mongolian folk music, the Hanggai Band has defeated the odds by group also cites many Western rock bands, making crossroads in the Chinese music including Pink Floyd, Radiohead, and Rage industry with their modern take on tradi - Against the Machine, as some of their tional Mongolian folk music. “Hanggai” is an most important musical influences. In ancient Mongol word referring to an idyllic 2008 Hanggai released their first album, landscape of sprawling grasslands, moun - Introducing Hanggai , which showcased tains, rivers, trees, blue skies, and white their more traditional sound. But after tour - clouds; not only is it the band’s name, it also ing both domestically and internationally, describes the band’s mission—giving listen - the group began to make a subtle change, ers a glimpse of a place they have probably moving away from the more straightfor - never been, from a time they have proba - ward, traditional sound captured on their bly never experienced. first album. Today their live shows reveal the players’ rock sensibilities and show - China is a country of nations, comprised of case their ability to truly cross over from a 55 different minority groups inhabiting var - traditional-instrument constructed sound ious parts of its vast region. Music is the built around a rock framework to a new way many of these groups are able to sound—one that is a richer, more complex retain their distinct identity in the midst of blend of cultures. cultural assimilation. Mongolia is one of those sub-nations within China, and Hanggai Hanggai has played at some of the world’s Band is a modern pioneer, ushering their leading international festivals since 2009, native music into the modern world. Most including Roskilde Festival in Denmark; of the band’s members come from Inner Lowlands Festival and Zwarte Cross Mongolia, which covers a vast portion of Festival in the Netherlands; Lotus World China’s north, but their founding occurred Music & Arts Festival in Indianapolis, In - in Beijing, the capital of the Republic of diana; Chicago World Music Festival; Sziget China and the country’s cultural center. Festival Budapest; Wacken Open Air (W:O:A) in Germany; Festival Músicas do Mundo Hanggai formed in 2004 when Yiliqi and for - (FFM) in Sines, Portugal; Sydney Festival; mer bandmate Xu Jingcheng rediscovered and World of Music, Arts, and Dance festi - the beauty of traditional Mongolian music. vals (WOMAD) in Abu Dhabi, the U.K., The band has now grown to seven players, Grand Canary Islands, Australia, and New who are either ethnic Mongolians or ethni - Zealand. Last month the band performed cally Han Chinese: Batubagen (Inner on the African continent for the first time. Mongolia), Yiliqi (Inner Mongolia/Beijing), Yilalata (Inner Mongolia), Hurizha (Qinghai), Hanggai made their Australian debut at the Yeerbuluo Wulazihan (Xinjiang), Niu Xin Sydney Festival in January 2011, followed (Inner Mongolia) and Ailun (Inner Mongolia). by shows at WOMADelaide, and a three- week tour of Australia the following year. In Before starting Hanggai Band many of the U.S., Canada, and Japan, the band has the members were part of Mongolia’s performed at the Bonnaroo Music and under ground punk scene (especially Yiliqi, Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee; who was frontman of the Beijing-based Millennium Park’s summer concert series, LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL 2013 HANGGAI BAND Music Without Borders, in Chicago; Har - wooden-framed sound box and a head - bourfront Centre Summer Festival in Cana - stock carved into the likeness of a horse. da; and the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan. Both strings are made of horse hair: the larger (male) is made from 135 strands of The band completed their second album in stallion tail hair, and the smaller (female) is 2012, He Who Travels Far , which show - made from 105 hairs from a mare’s tail. cased the new sound the band has devel - White stallion hair is preferred for the con - oped over the past few years and captured struction of the strings—quality materials the energy of their live shows. After a busy are a vital element of the construction of 2012 tour schedule, which brought Hanggai the instrument—and good ones sound like to Europe, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, the U.S., steel strings. The morin khuur is a versatile and Canada, they started working on a new instrument that can play both Western and CD. The band recorded in various studios in Mongolian styles of music well. When Beijing in May 2013 with producer JB playing, the goal is to produce clear, quality Meijers, and new material is scheduled for sound, which means not changing the vol - release later this year. ume or frequency. This quality depends on the finger force used for touching the About Hanggai Band’s strings, pressure from the bow, and ability traditional instrumentation to produce constant sound after the bow changes directions on the strings. When Hanggai Band’s distinctive sound is the played correctly, the sound produced is result of the fusion of traditional Mongolian elegantly described as: “expansive and instruments and techniques that are not necessarily familiar to Western audiences. unrestrained, like a wild horse neighing or Following are some of these unusual instru - a breeze in the grasslands.” ments and a description of their origins. Traditional Mongolian music is primarily The national instrument of Mongolia, the vocal, instrumentation coming second. morin khuur is on the list of Masterpieces Höömii (or “overtone singing”) is a vocal of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Huma - technique from Western Mongolia in nity by UNESCO. It is descended from the which a single vocalist produces up to chuurqin , an instrument created during the three vocal octaves simultaneously. Höömii Tang Dynasty (600 –800 C.E.), however, the was used for a variety of purposes, includ - exact history of the morin khuur is only ing religious and secular ceremonies, matter of myth. Multiple festivals are held herd ing, and hunting. It is also used for its in Mongolia each year to celebrate the calming effects, and many say listening importance of the morin khuur in the coun - actually promotes good health. For both try’s history and culture. It is also kept in folk-religious and political reasons, höömii many Mongolian homes as a symbol of is only performed by men. Producing these peace and happiness. Besides entertain - vocals is a test of physical strength, and ment purposes, the morin khuur has also extensive training from childhood is required. been used by Gobi farmers in the Mongolian steppes for calming and healing their The tobshuur is a fretless, two-stringed camels. Its full name is morin toloyai tai lute developed by nomadic tribes from the quyur , which means “fiddle with a horse’s western region of Mongolia. This tradi - head.” The morin khuur is a two-stringed, tional instrument, which sounds similar to bowed instrument with a trapezoidal, a Western banjo, is carved from a single LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL 2013 HANGGAI BAND piece of wood with two strings made of plucked idiophone found in Mongolia. twisted horse hair (or nylon), a peghead However, this instrument is not exactly carved into the likeness of a swan, and specific to Mongolia or the Far Eastern two breathing holes on the front. The body, region. Actually, more than 1,000 different which is usually covered with baby camel’s types of these toy-like instruments have hair, can be constructed from any type of been found all over the world, and each wood, but larch and pine are usually used. goes by a different name depending on its The tobshuur was one of the first nomadic region. Jaw harps are considered to be instruments created, known for its light - one of the first instruments ever created— ness and transportability. Accompanying tra - so old, in fact, that its origins and prolifera - ditional long songs and epics, the tobshuur tion are somewhat unknown. Yet, the adds especially to recitation of Mongolian instrument is believed to have originated oral history with regular, repeating patterns. in China around the 4th century BCE and its propagation extended from Asia to In Chinese, sanxian literally means “three- Europe on the Silk Road (206 BCE –220 stringed,” which is the perfect description C.E.).