Welcome to Mongolia

For those who haven't heard, I've headed over to Mongolia to pursue a new job with Rio Tinto, working for their Oyu Tolgoi copper mine. It's been a bit over a month since I arrived here; life has somewhat settled down into a routine and so now there is a bit more time to update the blog. I thought it might be fun to reflect over my first few weeks here, and so over the next week will upload some "retrospective" posts based on emails I sent to friends and photos I uploaded to Picasa at the time, capturing those first moments of newness, excitement and change.

Welcome to Mongolia, indeed

An eye-opening night at the Opera

On Friday night, Tuugi invited Todd and I to join her mum and some of her friends at the Grand Opera, a special performance from a number of well known Mongolian opera singers accompanied by a symphony of Morin Khuur (Horesehead Fiddles).

A seemingly unusual fusion of a traditional instrument of Mongolia, and a classical western style of music!

You’ll be pleased to know that a Horsehead fiddle, does not involve a real horse head, but is a stringed instrument, with two strings made of horse-tail hair (the best are made with white horses hair) and an ornate scroll carved in the shape of a horse’s head. Horses play a critical part of life on the steppe, and it came as no surprise when Tuugi explained that it is the most respected, national instrument of Mongolia, symbolising peace and happiness. Many UB families have a Morin Khuur in their homes, so that even in an urban environment, there is a reminder of this beloved animal.

Morin Khuur's

 The instrument is played vertically, with the trapezoidal wooden box sitting clasped between the legs of the player and a bow drawn across the two parallel strings. According to Wikipedia, “the larger of the two strings (the "male" string) has 130 hairs from a stalion’s tail, while the "female" string has 105 hairs from a mare’s tail.”

In action during the performance

 The Morin Khuur has a distinctive, violin-like sound which Wikipedia says “is poetically described as expansive and unrestrained, like a wild horse neighing, or like a breeze in the grasslands.”

A few legends about the origin of the Morin Khuur:

One legend about the origin of the Morin Khuur is that a shepherd named Namjil the Cuckoo received the gift of a flying horse; he would mount it at night and fly to meet his beloved. A jealous woman had the horse’s wings cut off, so that the horse fell from the air and died. The grieving shepherd made a horsehead fiddle from the now-wingless horse's skin and tail hair, and used it to play poignant songs about his horse.

Another legend credits the invention of the Morin Khuur to a boy named Sükhe (or Suho). After a wicked lord slew the boy's prized white horse, the horse's spirit came to Sükhe in a dream and instructed him to make an instrument from the horse's body, so the two could still be together and neither would be lonely. So the first Morin Khuur was assembled, with horse bones as its neck, horsehair strings, horse skin covering its wooden soundbox, and its scroll carved into the shape of a horse head.

But back to the opera. Mongolia has a very active and talented arts scene as a result of a strong Russian influence – with ballet and opera being performed weekly at the National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet of Mongolia, to a relaxed audience, and at very reasonable prices ($10-20 a ticket). It’s probably not what you first think of when you hear the name Mongolia, but it is a very large part of the urban culture.

Tonight’s performance was a little different, and incredibly spectacular. I wasn’t quire sure what to expect, especially when the first 30min was spent on speeches from 4 dignitaries (I later found out that one of them was the composer of some of the Mongolian operas). It was a brilliant surprise to see the 14 (?) piece ensemble strike up and the opera singers come out to perform short excerpts from famous Mongolian operas. It was incredibly uplifting to hear their strong voices around the intimate space in the very modern State Independent Hall on the 7^th floor of MPP building, with LCD screens providing a moving backdrop. And the women had beautiful dresses! It was hard not to forget that I was in Mongolia – I could easily have been in one of the smaller theatres of the Opera House.

I never considered myself a big opera fan, but I really enjoyed the performance. In another surprise, after a short break, the second session was filled with what I would call “popular opera”. All those fabulous sections of opera (for example from ‘Troubadour’, ‘Madam Butterfly’, ‘The Magic Flute’ . ‘Carmen’, ‘The Barber of Seville’) that you and might be tempted to blast out in the shower one day.

The evening was topped off by a few glasses of wine at Verandah with some of Tuugi’s very accomplished Mongolian friends. I was introduced to the secretary of the President, a hotel owner, dentist married to the CFO of a large Mongolian corporate, head buyer and brand manager of luxury brands of Naran Department store and financial advisor at MCS, one of Mongolia’s largest companies. Not only had each woman successfully driven a strong career, but most also had up to 3 children, and appeared to be no older than 35. It was refreshing to see such strength and ambition, but also illustrated the huge opportunities to succeed in this country.

It was a wonderful evening, and I thank Tuugi very much for inviting me along to a very special and memorable night!