Gobi by Egschiglen: Dunya records 21750 8005 2 (recorded 1997)

Quite contemporary arrangements of Magtaals, traditional melodies and western classical influenced pieces. The khöömii interest lies with the fantastic singing of Khosbayar who appears on five of the tracks on the CD. He along with Zulsar, seem to have created the kharkhiraa combined with khöömii style. All of the musicians are professionals and masters of their respective instruments.

1. Song of Praise to Genghis Khan 7’48 : A contemporary arrangement of this Magtaal with some great khöömii by Khosbajar and lush morin khuur playing
2. Gobi penetrating the Soul 7’39 : A Piece featuring exquisite Morin Khuur with a quaisi orchestral backing. It begins with a slow long song style movement followed by a fast horse galloping section mainly for yochin which leads into a very western style slower piece in which the yochin and morin khuur share roles.
3. Happy Milker 3’48 : Yatag and yoochin duo in two sections slow then fast, harking back to the times of the Yuan dynasty and the links that Mongolian music has with China.
4. Five different styles of Throat Singing 5’00 : When I saw Tserendaava in 1997 he thought that Khosbayar was a great young singer having control of the basic khöömii styles. This is basically an arrangement of Ganbold’s connecting khöömii styles. Khosbayar has a great tremolo on his karkhiraa and very good strength at his high-pitched drone khöömii. He manages a fairly good “borbannadyr” imitation and performs some fine nasal khöömii and does some strange glissando style tremelo on the last part of his kharkhiraa.
5. Concert for Joochin 4’53 : This is a Mongolian composed concerto for Joochin, a hammered dulcimer. It is far removed from the Mongolian tradition in that it uses diatonic major and minor scales and western classical music harmonies and cadences. The rhythmical aspect has the most Mongolian feel to it. This track clearly bears testament that many of the younger Mongolian musicians have been trained both in classical and traditional music.
6. Legend of a Horse 7’15 : Another Mongolian/classical crossover for Morin Khuurs. A slow romantic/melancholic section followed by the galloping section inspired by the Bii dancing of western Mongolia and returning to the slow movement of the beginning all in a strange hybrid classical diatonic/Mongolian pentatonic hybrid harmony.
7. Two Mongolian Traditional Songs 3.23 : A full ensemble plays these two pieces with Khosbayar singing his great “Zulsar” (I wonder who developed it first?) khöömii style of kharkhiraa combined with khöömii as well as some classical traditional khöömii.
8. On the High Henti Mountain 4.03 : Another ensemble piece with a slow then fast then medium section.
9. Manduul Khan 2.48 : Khosbayar sings this piece which has a slight Tuvan galloping feel at the beginning and then it moves into a duo of khöömii and khakhiraa (by Dagvan) with some tomor khuur speeding it all up to go back into the fast speedy section that it all starts with.
10. Concert for Jatang 8.03 : More western classical style Mongolian music.
11. Song of Praise to Altai and Changaj 5.07 : An Egschiglen style arrangement of this classic Magtaal.

Egschiglen are on this CD

Tumenbayar Migdorj - morin huur, voice

Huyagsaihan Luvsansharav - morin huur

Tumursaihan Janlav - morin huur, voice

Ganpurev Dagvan - bass, khoomii voice

Khosbajar Dangaa - khoomiii solo voice, tobshuur

Sarangerel Tserevsamba - joochin

Monh Erdene Chuluunbat - jatag

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