I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: November 13, 2019] The HU

The HU are from Mongolia.  I first heard about them when their video for “Wolf Totem” was getting some buzz.  I loved their heavy sound and their gorgeous instruments.  I wish these pictures did justice to the intricate detail and coloring of these traditional(ish?) instruments, but the lighting was just awful the whole night.

There are technically four guys in the band, but for the tour they had four extra guys supporting them.  It’s hard to know how “necessary” the other four guys were, but honestly, the songs are so percussion-heavy, there’s no way that they could have made these songs without at least one drummer (two were even better).

The band has only one album out (so its pretty amazing that they headliners)  They played the whole album and jammed out some of the songs longer than on record.

The most surprising thing though was that the DJ from WMMR came out and introduced them saying that they played their songs on the station.  Is that possible?  That’s pretty amazing if they do.  He also made a pretty funny comment about talking to them all day (they speak almost no English), although they posted a picture showing that they took them axe-throwing which is pretty hilarious).

The four guys stood at the front of the stage.

I was on the left side in front of Temuulen Naranbaatar a.k.a. “Temka” who plays the tovshuur (a two or three string lute-like instrument). He had two of these.  The body of the first one looked like a bow with the headstock shaped like an arrow.  [see left].

Next to him was Galbadrakh Tsendbaatar a.k.a. “Gala” who is credited with “lead throat singing,” which I love.  His voice was incredible.  He also played the morin khuur with a gorgeously carved horse head at the top.  This instrument is two-stringed and you play it with a bow–rather aggressively I gather.  [see right]

Next was Nyamjantsan Galsanjamts a.k.a. “Jaya”with the long hair.  He was sort of the lead singer, although Gala sang lead as often.  Jaya’s main instrument was, fascinatingly, the jaw harp which played a significant role in several songs.  He also played the tsuur (a Mongolian flute) [see left]

On the far side, someone I couldn’t see very much, was Enkhasaikhan Batjargal a.k.a. “Enkush” who played lead morin khuur.  He did a lot of the solos, although Gala did get a few as well. I wished I could have seen him play a little more closely.  And I wish I could have gotten a closer look at his Morin Khurr. [no good pictures]

The touring guys mostly hung at the back, although occasionally the guitarist Jambaldorj Ayush a.k.a “Jamba” would come up front.  I think he soloed once in a while, but mostly he was playing heavy chords.

In the back on the left was Batkhuu Batbayar on bass.

Then there were the two drummers.  Sitting at the full kit was Odbayar Gantumur a.k.a “Odko.”  I pretty much never saw him because he was directly behind Temka.  But I could certainly hear him!

The final player, and one I could see occasionally was Unumunkh Maralkhuu a.k.a “Ono.”  Ono played two large drums.  Mostly they were an accompaniment to the main drum, but occasionally they were the only percussion.  Those drums resonated loudly.

The show was pretty crowded and the crowd was really into it, which was great.  I assumed I would be one of ten people there, but it was crowded enough that I couldn’t get any closer to the stage than off to the side.  And I was behind a tall guy who kept putting his hands on his head, arms akimbo, effectively blocking three times his head width. WTF?

The band fed off the crowds energy though.  And they moved through the album.

All of the songs are sung in Mongolian (of course).  The liner notes do have an English translation (and the lyrics in Mongolian as well, which is neat).  For some details about the content of the songs, there’s this informative page from Louder Sound.

Although they played the whole album (plus additional songs), they didn’t play it in order (track listing is next to set list below)

They started with “Shoog shoog” which perfectly introduced the band’s heaviness and the wild soloing.  It also showed off the improbable lead jaw harp.  It was followed by “The Same,” which was a little slower slower and featured all four guys singing.   I like how in this clip you can hear first Gala singing lead (and playing the cool string melody) and then Jaya singing a kind of harmony. There’s also some more prominent jaw harp.

Up next was the album opener “The Gereg.”  You can see the extra drummer briefly in this clip.  And there’s some serious throat singing (and horses!).

The guys didn’t speak all that much, but Jaya did introduce “The Song of Women.”

I had only heard a couple of songs by The HU before this show, so I was pleasantly surprise at how pretty and folky “The Legend of Mother Swan” was.  There was also some cool throat singing on this too.

Uchirtai gurav is not on the album.  I gather it’s a new song.  It’s really catchy with a cool riff on the tovshuur.  They returned to the album for “Shireg Shireg.”  This was another slow folky song.  Enkush sang in a gravelly style and played the flute, which was a cool surprise.

Another new song was “Bii Biyley.”  I love the enthusiastic introduction and the fantastic catchy riff.  When the strings kick in you can see Jamba on guitar back there.

“Yuve Yuve Yu” is amazingly catchy.  They have recently recorded a version with English lyrics (not the original lyrics translated) by From Ashes to New.  It is such a fun song with a great riff and terrific drumming.  It’s even fun to sing along to (in Mongolian).

I’m not sure what song(s) WMMR had been playing, but it was “Wolf Totem” that introduced me to the band.  It sounded great live, especially when all six members (not the drummers) stood up front and sang while the whole room started chanting “hu hu hu.”

For “The Great Chinggis Khaan,” Temka was given a different tovshuur.  I didn’t notice if it sounded any different, but it was neat to see a second one.  This song is a slow epic that builds and builds and translated very well live.

It wasn’t very often that I could see Enkush, but in this clip from “Black Thunder” you can see him playing a solo briefly.  You can even hear the jaw harp in the clip (who knew it could be so loud).  They jammed this song out for a pretty long time which was very cool.  Everyone took a little solo including Jaya on the flute.

“Black Thunder” was new and so was the song they ended the set with, “This is Mongol.”  “Mongol” has a real heavy metal riff and feel.  When you add the deep vocals in, it sounds pretty great (even if the lyrics at the short break are pretty hard to imitate).

The crowd was pretty great during the show and we cheered pretty heartily for them as they waved goodbye.

I didn’t know if they’d do an encore.  But after a few moments they came back out on stage.  I wasn’t keeping track of the songs, so I had no idea what they’d play.  I was tickled when I knew the encore song right away.  It was only after they played it for a minute or so that I recognized it as “Yuve Yuve Yu,” a song they had played earlier.  But hey when you don’t have that many songs and one of your songs is as cool as this one, why not play it again?

We certainly enjoyed hearing it twice.

The HU were a fantastic live band–dynamic and fun and so interesting to watch (with so many different things going on).  I would absolutely see them again, but I’d make sure I got their early enough to really see them next time.  And boy I hope the lighting is better.

SETLIST

1. Shoog shoog ♥
2. The Same ♥
3. The Gereg ♥
4. The Song of Women ♥
5. The Legend of Mother Swan ♥
6. Uchirtai gurav
7. Shireg Shireg ♥
8. Bii Biyley
9. Yuve Yuve Yu ♥
10. Wolf Totem ♥
11. The Great Chinggis Khaan ♥
12. Black Thunder
13. This is The Mongol
    encore
14. Yuve Yuve Yu ♥

ALBUM ♥

1. The Gereg
2. Wolf Totem
3. The Great Chinggis Khan
4. The Legend of Mother Swan
5. Shoog Shoog
6. The Same
7. Yuve Yuve Yu
8. Shireg Shireg
9. Song of Women