morin khuur | Through the Shattered Lens

I woke up this morning and chose the beauty of combat.

Well, that would be the beauty and majesty of traditional Mongolian throat-singing and instrumentation combined with the modern styling of metal and you get The Hu.

The Hu is the popular, at least with metal and folk music fans, Mongolian folk metal band created in 2016 by members Gala, Jaya, Enkush and Temka. In addition to the requisite electric guitars and drums we find with rock and metal bands, The HU also incorporates traditional Mongolion instruments such as the Morin khuur (a two-stringed, horsehead fiddle with strings made from horsehair), Tovshuur (a three-stringed Mongolian guitar), Tsuur (Mongolian flute) and the Tumur khuur (a jaw harp) just to name a few.

Throat-singing is at the forefront of most of The HU’s songs. While The Hu is not the first Mongolian band to find success with music fans (I was first introdcued to Mongolian rock scene with the Mongolian folk rock band Altan Urag), they have been the most successful in crossing over to a somewhat mainstream success in the West.

There are other songs that are probably better musically structured, but I always go back to the song that introduced me to the band: Wolf Totem.

The latest “Song of the Day” comes from a band that many haven’t heard of but should. It was fellow site writer necromoonyeti who first introduced me to their band of folk rock almost three years past now. It was their song “Requiem” that first got Altan Urag onto my music radar.

“Requiem” is a difficult song to categorize. It’s definitely traditional folk music in sound and gives hints of Altan Urag’s folk rock sound. It is also a song that cannot be called a ballad and too melodious to be a dirge despite the title. The video made for this song actually starts off with a young boy asking his grandfather a question. We don’t know what he asks but the song itself gives u s hints as to the answer. An answer that has notions of sorrow and hope, of death and rebirth.

We don’t get to hear the distinctive “throat singing” from the band in this song, but their use of traditional Mongolian folk music instruments like the morin khuur (horse head fiddle) and ikh khuur (grand horse head fiddle) could easily be heard throughout the song and gives the song it’s unique sound.

Altan Urag may not be a house hold name to the general public, but songs like this should give those who have never heard of them an idea why so many people hold them in such high regard.