Herald Scotland
Celtic Connections: Anda Union and Rant, Mackintosh
Church, Glasgow
January 29th 2016

The top of Maryhill Road became a little part of Inner Mongolia on Friday
evening as the voices and instruments of Anda Union took us right into the
hearts of their homelands. This was the group’s third visit to Scotland and
the international tours and high profile festival appearances they’ve
undertaken since they wowed the Edinburgh Fringe on their first trip would
appear to have raised their performance level even higher.
Their ensemble sound – orchestration really – as their horse head fiddles (a
kind of two string cello), percussion, flutes, frets and precise, muscular bass
create variously vivid colour, gentle backdrops and mighty, vigorous
momentum is breath-taking in its control, discipline and exuberance, and
their vocal harmonies, using the two-tone Khoomei throat singing style, are
fantastically rich.
Each of the traditional costume-clad band members introduced us to their
grassland homes through music and song that was so descriptive as to be
transportive, none more so than their female singer, Tsetsegmaa’s ballad of
longing and deep, deep connection. There’s humour in their presentation,
too, with their male singer, Biligbaatar, wearing his description of “The
Mongolian Casanova” with just the right blend of pride and selfdeprecation. It was all of an exceptionally high quality piece but their 10,000
Galloping Horses finale especially carried the sort of realism that might
make an opportunistic gardener fetch a shovel.
Rob Adams
Rhythm Passport
Review: AnDa Union @ Rich Mix London
February 11th 2016
No matter how much you try to avoid any hackneyed horse riding
comparison or equestrian references, you’ll eventually mention them, failing
in your efforts. Because, when it comes to Mongolian music, horses and
their gaits are so intrinsic to the cadenced tempo that equine movements
and music rhythms eventually mirror each other.
That’s what inevitably happened at Rich Mix during the London stop-over
of AnDa Union’s U.K. tour presented by the folk music “loudspeakers” of
the Nest Collective. The Mongolian ensemble brought to the British capital
its repertoire inspired by the past millennia music heritage of the Central
Asian region, the endless open steppes, indigenous legends and nomadic life.
During the last years, the nine-piece band has elaborated and fine-tuned a
unique show, which aims to connect the musicians’ tradition with their
audience from the first to the last note. As a matter of fact, AnDa Union
don’t make do with dressing their distinctive and colourful deels (traditional
clothes), intoning the mesmerising khöömii (throat singing) technique and
playing handcrafted instruments like the morin huur (horse-head fiddle),
tobshuur (two-strings lute) and maodun chaoer (flute). They also catch their
fans attention narrating stories, tales and funny anecdotes which date back to
century or even millennia ago and retrace Inner Mongolia history.
They relate to the rustic and meaningful folk repertoire of their country,
singing and playing about the hardy short grass of the North called
‘Altargana’, which is strong like family ties; the allegoric representation of
‘Heemor’ (the wind horse) which epitomises good fortune and well-being;
and the Mongolian version of the Robin Hood’s tale titled ‘The Legend of
the Swan Brothers’. The more the stories followed one another and rhythms
trotted, cantered and galloped, the more resemblance had Rich Mix to a yurt
with its large crowd nestled around the stage and absorbed by the unusual
show performed by the “fellowship of blood brothers and sisters” (AnDa
Union).
Despite the fact that vast majority of the audience had only dreamt about
Mongolia before, for one evening, it was like they were strolling through its
steppes and being part of its open spaces. That’s arguably the most
significant merit of AnDa Union musicians, who can epitomise their
country’s atmospheres, landscapes and horses in a two-hour-long live set..
Mumble Music
Eden Court – Empire Theatre
February 82nd 2016
Performance: 
Atmosphere: 
Sound: 
Anda Union is a nine piece band made up of accomplished musicians based
in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, but they have diverse ethnic backgrounds from
varying nomadic cultures and fuse these different styles of traditional music
while at the same time adding their own modern interpretation.
The stage is full of unfamiliar instruments, the band enter the stage,
introducing themselves and explaining Anda means “blood brothers”. From
that moment on we are launched into whirlwind of eclectic sounds, music,
and vocals, with each member introducing songs which had its own personal
significance. Saikhannakhaa sung a beautiful song from her home town,
Chinggel gave some amazing solo’s on his Moadin Chor (ancient flute) and I
was amazed that he was managing to play and sing Hoomai (guttural throat
song) at the same time. They were joined on stage for solos and duets by
Tsetsegmaa who performed her own Buriat songs and by Biligbaatar who is
an award winning long song singer.
There was an charged atmosphere, as the sounds of horses hooves, drum
beats, bells and whistles conjured up scenes from the Steppes. In the
introduction to Galloping Horses the musicians used their Horse Head
Fiddles (Morin Hurr) to create the whinnying of horses, it was simply
wonderful. We were told by Nars that the the Morin Huurs used to be
strung with horses hair but these days they tend to use Nylon. There was
phenomenal singing from Nars, Urgen and Uni on the song Derlcha and
when they were all playing their fiddles in unison, sometimes at great speed,
it was astonishing.
What an extraordinary experience, I was blown away. Definitely worth
catching them on the rest of their UK tour.
Outline Online
Review: AnDa Union @ Norwich Arts Centre
February 9th 2016
From Mongolia and straight out of the pages of "world music" bible
Songlines come Anda Union. A collective of nine musicians with
backgrounds in various strains of Mongolian traditional music, at first listen
this is outside the musical forms and traditions I am used to.
Aside from percussion, a couple of flutes and the fleeting appearance of a
guitar, the instruments are predominantly two or three stringed, bearing
passing resemblance to fiddle, lute, banjo, guitar and bass. At times, the
music is melancholic to the point of heartbreak but there’s also beauty and
joy. Despite the strange instruments and sometimes odd (to these ears at
least) time signatures, the music isn't that alien. No, for that, it is the
moments of throat singing that take the honours. How the human throat
produces those noises is a wonder but hearing five people do it in harmony
is a strangely compelling thing to behold.
So did I enjoy this? Well, over two sets totalling over hour and a half, I didn't
check my watch once. That probably says more about how good this was
than any amount of blathering on about beauty, melancholy or joy. Simply,
utterly compelling. Anyone who missed this should check out the Anda
Union documentary From The Steppes To The City.
Norwich Blog
Review: AnDa Union @ Norwich Arts Centre
February 9th 2016
Quite often when browsing gig listings something different jumps out and
piques the interest, Anda Union being one such example in Norwich Arts
Centre’s rich and varied programme. Being quite keen on the Mongolian
throat singing I have heard I couldn’t resist seeing what this gig would offer.
I was almost caught out by the early start, arriving just after 8pm, a mere few
minutes before the programme started. No support act tonight just two sets
from Anda Union, on their second visit to NAC which it was pleasing to
note appeared to be full albeit with some seating on this occasion it was
impressive on a February Tuesday evening for some traditional Mongolian
folk music. I love how Norwich supports live music.
Taking a look at the stage just before the band came on about the only thing
I recognised was an acoustic guitar amongst the line of two stringed
instruments I know not the name of. Played together they sounded quite
stunning in a varied set of slow and atmospheric numbers, together with
drinking songs, battle hymns, and numerous odes to horses. The throat
singing was truly astonishing, I found myself several times trying to work out
who or what was making that sound and where it was coming from.
There are about nine members of the band including a couple of vocalists
who joined onstage several times. What immediately struck me was how
evocative and atmospheric the music was, as well as the incredible throat
singing there were a host of stringed instruments (all featuring intricate
horse carvings on the neck), drums, flute, delicate bells and what appeared to
be a variation on a Jew’s mouth harp. The seated audience were highly
appreciative if a little quiet to begin with but between songs the band were so
endearing in their introductions everyone loosened up and were less afraid
to join in. It seems the band all write and they each gave, in turn, a little
background to the songs and their home towns, with some of the songs
accompanied by scenes from their DVD film “From the Steppes to the
City”.
They obviously take huge pride in their culture and history and play with
great enthusiasm, eager to share what their homeland means to them. There
was much humour in evidence too especially in the drinking song and
comments on the English weather. Playing for over 90 minutes with a short
interval they had the audience eating out of their hands towards the close
with great cheering and clapping along for the frenetic 10,000 Galloping
Horses (which featured remarkable whinnying sounds from the strings),
even some singing in a call and response moment. This was fun. Exemplified
by the young girl of six or so, surely the daughter of one of the band, dancing
in the aisle joyously. Fittingly she joined them onstage to take a bow at the
end. Anda Union played brilliantly and endeared themselves to everyone
here, the applause rang out for a long time. They have also made me
interested in their culture and Inner Mongolia, which I’m sure is part of
their mission along with the obvious love of playing their music.
I’m so glad I took the chance on this gig, it’s so rewarding on occasions like
this. On my way out I couldn’t resist buying their CD, and the DVD (and I
was far from along in doing so) which I watched today. A fascinating account
of not only the band but a 10,000 km journey through the grasslands of their
Inner Mongolia homeland. The backgrounds touched upon in the
introductions at the gig are wholly expanded upon in the film.
Daily Info Oxford
9-piece traditional band from Inner Mongolia
St Barnabas, St Barnabas Street, Jericho, Oxford OX2 6BG, Fri 12 February 2016
The top of Maryhill Road became a little part of Inner Mongolia on Friday
evening as the voices and instruments of Anda Union took us right into the
hearts of their homelands. This was the group’s third visit to Scotland and
the international tours and high profile festival appearances they’ve
undertaken since they wowed the Edinburgh Fringe on their first trip would
appear to have raised their performance level even higher.
Their ensemble sound – orchestration really – as their horse head fiddles (a
kind of two string cello), percussion, flutes, frets and precise, muscular bass
create variously vivid colour, gentle backdrops and mighty, vigorous
momentum is breath-taking in its control, discipline and exuberance, and
their vocal harmonies, using the two-tone Khoomei throat singing style, are
fantastically rich.
Each of the traditional costume-clad band members introduced us to their
grassland homes through music and song that was so descriptive as to be
transportive, none more so than their female singer, Tsetsegmaa’s ballad of
longing and deep, deep connection. There’s humour in their presentation,
too, with their male singer, Biligbaatar, wearing his description of “The
Mongolian Casanova” with just the right blend of pride and selfdeprecation. It was all of an exceptionally high quality piece but their 10,000
Galloping Horses finale especially carried the sort of realism that might
make an opportunistic gardener fetch a shovel.
Rob Adams
Chronicle Live
Band from Mongolia crosses the language barrier with
humour and horses
February 8th 2016

I was expecting an unusual concert and I wasn’t disappointed. AnDa Union
play Mongolian traditional music heavily featuring horses in their tunes and
instruments. The band, made up of musicians from inner and outer
Mongolia, was formed at a music college with the aim of preserving and
developing songs and tunes that had been handed down over generations.
Arriving on stage they immediately had a presence. Some of the band wore
traditional Mongolian clothes – long bright gowns that looked like they were
made of silk and strange shaped multi-coloured hats.
Apart from a guitar, the instruments were all traditional Mongolian
creations.
Stringed instruments dominated much of the concert, weirdly shaped cellotype instruments and horse head fiddles (officially the morin khurr which
looks vaguely like a violin with a carved horse,s head at the top of the
strings).
Some tunes had a classical feel, a little like something performed by a string
ensemble, whilst others had Celtic or eastern European rhythms. A
percussionist provided a driving beat. On slower tunes whistles and flutes
provided a delicate contrast to the dance rhythms.
Some songs were ballads but perhaps vocally the highlight was the
Mongolian throat singing. It’s a low growling sound, sometimes harsh and
mostly sung without the backing of the full band for full effect.
While performing their music, AnDa Union were earnest, almost stoical.
In contrast, between tunes and songs, they made the best use of their limited
English in a relaxed, jovial and self-deprecating manner.
After great applause following a tune related to horses, with whinnying
sounds from the fiddles and galloping horse percussion effects, we were
asked: “Would you like more tunes about horses? We have loads of tunes
about horses.”
Clearly humour is a common language.
The term ‘unique sound’ is over-used but is totally appropriate when
describing this nine-piece. Their music was intense, absorbing and
entertaining.
Martin Ellis
Local Sound Focus
LIVE REVIEW: AnDa Union, Square Chapel Halifax, 7th
February 2016
I jumped at the chance of reviewing this acoustic performance from
Mongolian group AnDa Union – not because I had seen them before and
liked them but because it was something different. I believe this is
something we should all do from time to time – push our musical
boundaries. And all in all it turned out to be a very interesting and
memorable experience
AnDa Union come from Inner Mongolia but combine different traditions
and styles of music from all over Inner and Outer Mongolia. The nine
members of AnDa Union use vocal styles found in Mongolian songs and
play traditional Mongolian instruments – including the Horsehead Fiddle. If
you are interested in seeing more information about Mongolian music then
you can visit this page.
Before going to see them I discovered that AnDa Union usually play mic’ed
up and their music is, as a result, a lot louder and has higher energy. This
acoustic concert presents some of the songs in what is probably a more
traditional arrangement and sound.
After a brief introduction when we learn that AnDa means blood brothers –
although given that two of the members of the band are women, I assume
AnDa is non-gender specific – and that it’s a special performance as it’s
taking place on Mongolian New Year, the band play their first song.
This is wonderfully surprising stuff, and my first introduction to throat
singing. It starts with a slow section and then shifts into a faster section and
then back to a slow section. The key thing in their music is the layers of
sound produced by the various types of stringed instruments, the percussion,
flute and voices. While the sounds some of these instruments produce may
be unusual to our ears, the music is easily accessible. The fast section of this
song has a driving rhythm and I could quite imagine dancing to it in a more
informal venue.
Throat singing by the way sounds as though it’s actually quite painful for the
person doing it. The fact that they can harmonise with themselves and
circular breath is amazing. To hear it live was a real thrill.
What I can’t work is how to describe what this music sounds like to you.
Fortunately I don’t need to, I can get you to listen to the video below (which
is actually of one the later songs in the set). This isn’t acoustic but it’ll give
you an idea.
The next song is about drinking and focuses on the band members’ voices.
There’s just a lovely sweet interplay of vocals.
And so to our first horse related song – there will be others – this one about
horsemen. For this we have our first introduction to a new singer. He
doesn’t exactly dance but sways while singing. I, and the person sitting next
to me, thought this song sounded like the theme to a spaghetti western in
places.
The next song is introduced as being “about missing the grassland” – this is
a deceptively simple song which was just achingly beautiful. I don’t
understand the words but I don’t need to, the emotion comes through so
very strongly.
After this song I’m afraid to say that my note taking became a bit, well,
patchy. I was just carried away with the music. So you’re just going to get
highlights of the rest of the concert.
A piece that was simply layers of throat singing, thrilled the audience. The
depth of sound that the group can produce with this is incredible. And there
was a solo piece by the flute player which was quite extraordinary – where he
both played flute and throat sang.
Towards the end of the concert a song about one of the member’s home
town was introduced. This was very much one of the stand-outs of the
concert for me and I’m going to give you the opportunity to actually listen to
this song.
Wasn’t that just wonderful? The acoustic arrangement the band played on
the night was so moving.
The band encore with another horse related song called – I think – ‘10,000
Galloping Horses’. This starts with a slower section that evokes the sound of
horses and then moves into a fast section which is frankly a bit of freakout.
You can find videos of the band playing this live on YouTube.
Before leaving the stage the band get us to say Happy New Year in
Mongolian which they video. This may appear on their Facebook Page if it
worked out.
Before I end this review I’m going to have a bit of a rant. And I make no
apology. My guess is that you might consider seeing AnDa Union if you are
a fan of ‘World Music’. Well for me this is folk music, or even just music,
and it’s bloody brilliant music, Does it matter that we don’t understand the
words of the songs? Not a bit when the emotion and feeling in the music is
there and it’s played so well. So this is music for fans of good music, not just
for fans of ‘World Music’. Rant over.
Go see this band if they are in your area. You’ll be glad you did.
Rob Adams
Band from Inner Mongolia charms UK with nomadic melodies|Tops News|chinadaily.com.cn
18/02/2016 09:22:36GMT
Band from Inner Mongolia charms UK
with nomadic melodies
Updated: 2016-02-17 10:21
By Chen Nan and Yuan Hui(China Daily)
The band Anda Union reaches out to global audiences with its new interpretation of traditional Mongolian music.
[Photo provided to China Daily]
At Settle Victoria Hall in England, Chinese performers in long colorful robes and leather boots recently enthralled an
audience, members of which had seldom heard the sounds of the morin khuur (horse-head fiddle) and such other indigenous
instruments before. Showcasing the traditional khoomei, or throat-singing, musicians brought alive the magic of the
grasslands and the mountains.
During the hourlong concert, the band from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region led the audience through a mixture of
nomadic melodies, as part of its UK tour that started on Jan 26.
Anda Union, the band from Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia, performed 23 concerts in Glasgow, Liverpool and Oxford,
among other cities. The tour will end on Friday.
"It has been raining since we started our tour in the United Kingdom. Some people may not like the rain but we enjoy it very
much. The smell of the grass reminds us of our home. We love being close to nature," says Nars, the lead musician, who
grew up in the Horqin grasslands of Inner Mongolia with his herder grandparents.
Since the band's birth in 2001, the musicians' mission has been to find inspiration from old and forgotten songs while
creating a new form of music.
One of their songs, The Legend of the Swan Brothers, is based on a Mongolian song, which tells the story of a local folk
hero similar to Robin Hood, stealing from the rich to help the poor.
"We all grew up with legends of Genghis Khan, Mongol tribespeople and many other folk tales about love, brotherhood and
courage. They are our wealth," says Nars, 34.
Since most of the tales have no written form, the band members sought help from their parents and grandparents to learn the
melodies and lyrics.
Nars learned to play the horse-head fiddle from his grandfather.
At age 12, he went to Chifeng to study music, where he met some of Anda Union's future members. The rest of the band
came from Hohhot after Nars joined the Inner Mongolian Music and Dance Troupe.
The band's name, Anda, is derived from the Mongolian word for "brotherhood".
Most of the members are skilled in khoomei singing. Each member also plays a traditional instrument or does vocal music.
Uni plays the tobshur, a two-stringed Mongolian lute; Chinggel plays the moadin chor, a Mongolian flute made from a reed;
and Tsetsegmaa and Biligbaatar are masters of urtyn duu, or the long song, a style of singing which stretches sentences over
minutes.
In 2006, the band won the first prize for ethnic music at CCTV's Youth Singing Competition, which gave it opportunities at
the national level.
The band's performance at an arts festival in Shanghai in 2006 caught the attention of Tim Pearce, a UK filmmaker, who
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/culture/2016-02/17/content_23522375.htm
Page 1 of 2
Band from Inner Mongolia charms UK with nomadic melodies|Tops News|chinadaily.com.cn
18/02/2016 09:22:36GMT
became the band's manager three years later.
"It doesn't matter that people do not understand the language. Their music is truly universal, and there is no other band
presenting Mongolian music as they are. They have the greatest variety of songs and take people on a wonderful musical
journey," says Pearce, who has toured with the band in the United States, UK, Australia and New Zealand.
In 2009, Pearce traveled with the band to the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, where they discovered old songs and a rapidly
changing social environment.
After three months of filming and a year of editing, the documentary, Anda Union From the Steppes to the City, was
released.
"The lifestyle of Mongolian people has changed. For example, people ride motorcycles on grasslands rather than riding
horses. But we are proud of our nomadic culture," says Nars, who runs a music school in Hohhot, teaching young people to
play various instruments.
Band member and vocalist Saihanniya runs a Mongolian bar in Hohhot that promotes Mongolian music.
"We especially want to catch the attention of young people, who more likely listen to hip-hop, pop and rock," Nars says.
"What we have done is just a drop in the ocean since Mongolian music is a huge treasure that needs to be rediscovered and
preserved."
Contact the writers through [email protected]
Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/culture/2016-02/17/content_23522375.htm
Page 2 of 2
Nightshift Oxford
ANDA UNION
St John the Evangelist
World music reviews are often taken up with descriptions of the instruments,
techniques, and even outfits. Education is all very well, perhaps, but nobody starts a
dubstep review with an Ableton tutorial, and such lecturing seems to be evidence of
publicists and journalists – and sometimes the artists – playing up the “otherness” of
foreign cultures, as if we’re only supposed to understand them as some diverting National
Geographic slideshow. We can’t confidently confirm whether the two-string fiddles
Mongolia’s Anda Union play are morin khuurs, but neither can we tell a Stratocaster
from a Jaguar, and that never hurt us (in fact, we secretly think it makes us better than
tedious musos who can); what we can tell you is that this band is phenomenal, hiding
glorious melodies in a dark swathe of harmonised throaty vocals and relentlessly abraded
strings, capable of forlorn beauty even as they whisk you up in a rollocking gallop. The
range of vocal techniques is astonishing, from a lambent wistfulness that reminds us of
Celtic folk, to tingling overtone singing, sending eerie motives across the music like
damned Debussian flutes.
Much of the music is clearly influenced by the environment, with imitations of rushing
wind and clanking stirrups, but there’s enough melodic sensibility and suppleness on
display to make it mere sonic metonymy: the opening of the last piece is clearly supposed
to recall whinnying horses, but the cloud of wraithlike glissandi is more akin to Ligeti
than a rodeo.
Oddly, the one thing Anda Union repeatedly remind us of is The Velvet Underground.
They have the same knack of bringing complexity and depth to material of heartbeat
simplicity, and smuggling gorgeous tunes into relentlessly thumping mantras. When the
strings leap from aggressive pizzicato to swooping arco plummets it’s like `Venus In Furs’
fuelled by fermented mares’ milk instead of heroin.
No, we don’t learn much about Mongolian culture from this Oxford Contemporary
Music-curated gig, but we go home buzzing from complex harmonies and stampeding
rhythms. Which would you rather have?
David Murphy
Herald Scotland
Review: Anda Union Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow
Wednesday January 30th, 2013

It says much about Celtic Connections' promotional clout that two groups with not
exactly household name status making their debuts together at the festival should attract
such a good attendance as this in the face of strong opposition up the road from the fairly
heavily marketed BBC Folk Awards.
And next time, you can be sure both Finnish fiddle troupe Frigg and Mongolian folklore
specialists Anda Union will be headlining to even more people.
The Mongolians have some Scottish friends, having created quite a stir at the Edinburgh
Fringe last year, and as they did there, they brought a marvellous sense of a long and still
vibrant tradition with their bi-tonal throat singing, brilliantly atmospheric arrangements
and dramatic songs of love, battles and charging horses superbly depicted by vigorously
bowed two-string equivalents of the cello. In their formal costumes they look quite
serious but there's mischief at work here and their playful dialogue as well as the soulful
keening of their solo singers, their extraordinarily rich vocal and string harmonies,
masterly flute and percussion and general joie de vivre deservedly took a trick with the
Fruitmarket crowd.
easily in the front rank alongside recent Northern European visitors such as Väsen.
Rob Adams
Folk & Jazz critic
Friday 1 February 2013
Herald Scotland
Anda Union – The Wind Horse, Assembly George Square
Published on 6 August 2012

A few years ago, Huun-Huur-Tu, a folk group from the Republic of Tuva,
set up a Mongolian enclave on the Fringe and charmed the socks off
everyone with their amazing throat singing and songs about horse herds and
weather patterns on the steppes.
The eight-strong folksong and dance team Anda Union are Huun-HuurTu's successors with (Tibetan) bells on. Their songs, many of which have
been handed down through their families, take the throat singing
phenomenon, where the singer produces two or more notes simultaneously,
into another dimension entirely. This is the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
model, with amazing group harmonies and all the more impressive when it
transpires one other-worldly chord pattern is coming from the flute player,
who is playing his instrument while singing a "solo" piece.
Accompanying these songs that tell of ancient legends, female rustlers and
holy mountains, are bowed, two-string cousins of the cello, assorted
percussion and the occasional guitar which create urgent, sometimes
ruggedly impressionistic sounds. After their galloping horses adventure, we
didn't so much need a translation of the song's title as to be dissuaded from
finding a shovel.
Rob Adams
Three Weeks Edinburgh
ED2012 Music Review: Anda Union – The Wind Horse
Saturday August 11th, 2012 06:21

Greeted by a pleasant fellow in traditional Mongolian dress, I’m handed a
blue scarf to drape around my neck, and confusedly oblige. Entering the
venue I’m confronted by a sea of blue-scarved spectators, and have a sudden
feeling of being part of something special.
Over the next hour, we, the Blue Scarves, are treated to an eclectic mix of
Mongolian music, some lullaby-like, some up-tempo, all hypnotic. Every
musician introduces their own favourite melody, each song telling a story –
from mountain narratives, to tales of beautiful girls, passed down through
generations. A wonderful array of voices serenades us, each a unique, finely
tuned instrument. We leave with smiles and souvenirs (our blue scarves!) as
a memento from our special afternoon.
Christy Brown
Assembly George Square, 2-27 Aug, 3.30pm
rating 4/5
Anda Union - The Wind Horse
On a Wind Anda Prayer
Venue Number 3. Assembly George
Square, George Square, EH8 9LH.
2-27 August 15:30 (1 hour).
Suitability: U.
If your knowledge of Mongolian
history is limited to Genghis Khan, or
if you think that folk music is merely
background music for washed-out
hippies, then Anda Union are the
perfect group to shatter these
undeserved stereotypes. Hailing from
Hohhot in Inner Mongolia (which is,
slightly confusingly, located in
Northern China), they bring a
passionate intensity to their music
which not only jumps over the culture
barrier, but shatters it.
Upon entry to the fairground of the
Elegance Tent, blue scarves are
handed out by performers in
traditional dress, ‘for luck.’ The
waiting instruments give off the smell
of resin, an odour that evoked
memories of my own violin lessons.
Suddenly the Mongolian grasslands
don’t seem so remote in the
brightly-coloured
venue.
The
understated lighting and shifting
backdrop
provide
an
effective
complement to the music.
The meaning of the ‘Anda’ is ‘blood
sibling’. It’s a fitting name, for the
band’s success lies in the tight
instrumentation and the closeness of
the musicians. The songs rapidly wax
and wane in volume and complexity,
strings burst into frenzied bowing and
guttural throat vocals quickly become
another instrument. Each song was
introduced and led by a different
performer and all were about a
different topic: girls, a lost lifestyle,
drinking. Each song had its own
distinctive rhythms and harmony, but
the quality and enthusiasm of their
songs was universal. On ‘Galloping
Horses’ the frenetic strings and
shouts were underpinned by a
powerful drumbeat that recreated the
thunder of animals run amok. Yet the
songs did not just rehash a distant
pastiche of Mongolian folk, but
provided a modern update of it. The
throat-singing in particular sounded
as though it would have fit perfectly
on a Talking Heads album.
A minor complaint is that some of
the more vocal-driven songs lacked
the power and drive of the more
instrumentally layered songs. More
could have also been done with the
lead singers, who, when on stage,
added extra harmonies and humour
to the songs. But Anda Union
confirmed by this performance that
they are not just a niche interest, but
essential viewing for anyone who is a
fan of live music of any genre. Their
prodigious talent and infectious
enthusiasm point to future stardom.
Undoubtedly these will be some of
the standout musical performances
of the summer.
[Michael Tansini]