Tumen Ekh and the Long Song-Day

Yesterday I went by myself to see a performance of the national song and dance ensemble of Mongolia, "Tumen Ekh," meaning, literally: "The Very Best." So I took their word for it.

The show started out with a Buddhist Tsam dance. This involves elaborately dressed mascots pumping their fists in a "rah rah rah" fashion to a steady drum beat. No, seriously, these Buddhist dances form the basis for your basic mascot field prancing. I especially liked the huge mask that looked like a dead deer. That, and the one that looked like a smiling, cross-eyed Spongebog Squarepants.

Then they brought out the vocal stylings of a Khoomi long song singer. I will admit the backup band played a mean Morin Khuur (two-stringed cello) while this guy formed an O with his lips and uttered strange guttural peals with his vocal cords. More than a few in the audience could be heard snickering to themselves. It looked funny and sounded alien. How else to respond?

Next, a master Morin Khuurist belted out a frenetic Mozart piece (I think it was Ode to Joy) that was the highlight of the evening. She played the entire piece using only one of her two strings. Simply rocking.

A drum and bass shaman did a throbbing number onstage, looking revealingly like a dirty hippie in Lithia Park (in Ashland), fire-dancing or communal drumming.

Then the folk dancers bolted onstage and gave a rousing choreographed shuffle that brought back memories of my dancing with the Scandinavians folk dancers in high school. International folk dances have pretty much the same flavor all across the northern hemisphere, I suppose. The Mongolian version used double-joint moves, though, and for good reason because...

...next was the contortionists. All I will say is that despite what I was seeing, it was hard to suspend disbelief. I was waiting for the smoke and mirrors to clear out of my view. In either case, I couldn't help but wonder if any of these girls ever freaked themselves out when they first saw their butt in their face, their legs seemingly bending the wrong way, maybe experiencing some flatulence or belches at the wrong moment.....? Oh, it's something to be seen. The nearest place to see it in the states is at Cirque de Soleil in Las Vegas. So go. Now.

The show was over in about an hour. UB had a break in the clouds and late evening sunshine poured through. It was heavenly, if only for the walk home. I love Sunday in UB. Mongols are out of town. Cars are sparse and lazy. Children dominate the scene. I can actually feel like living a sane life in a sane city.

If only for a day...

SIDENOTE: when I went to Manzir Khiid, one of my students, Ayush, explained that before the Communist rape and pillagery, "over 400 monkeys used to live here." I corrected her ("monks") but it made my day. Later, in a souvenir shop, I bought a weird-looking monkey-doll made of sheep hair. I thought, "How can I beat three bucks for this?"

Monkeys, indeed.