Factory Theatre, December 2
Mongolian culture is so intertwined with horses that their key traditional instrument, the bowed, two-string morin khuur (or horsehead fiddle), is decorated with a carved horse’s head at the top of the neck. The equine influence inhabits the music made, too, most obviously in the rhythms, but also sometimes in the sounds themselves.
This, Khusugtun’s first visit to Australia, was part of a regional exercise in cultural diplomacy riding on the back of the fact that the band came second in the massive Asia’s Got Talent TV show this year. Alas we had to witness that television appearance and the judges’ reactions on a big screen before this concert began, which rather undermined the band’s initial impact, the glitz and falsity of the talent show at odds with the charm and honesty of the live performance.
Khusugtun is a sextet led by Ariunbold Dashdorj, who plays the plucked, bass-register ikh khuur as well as guitar, and like the other four male members of the band, is a throat-singer – a technique that makes possible the creation of overtones simultaneously with a fundamental pitch. Standing out in this regard was Chuluunbaatar Oyungerel whose voice and morin khuur playing combined to create high notes so improbable they were otherworldly. The remaining fiddle player, Batzorig Vaanchig, meanwhile, had a voice of almost equally improbable depth. Completing the ensemble were Amarbayasgalan Chovjoo balletically playing the yatga, a koto-like zither, Ulambayar Khurelbaatar on cello and tovshuur (two-string lute), and Adiyadorj Gombosuren on limbe (flute) and percussion.
The material was mainly traditional, whether sweetly melodic and yearning or more vigorous and underpinned by cantering or even galloping rhythms. The pieces were short, tightly arranged and expertly played, with minimal improvisation. Perhaps to prove their versatility they also trotted out O Sole Mio and Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 5, but these were unnecessary novelties compared with music evoking a remarkable culture that in the 13th century held sway from the Pacific to the Black Sea.