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Review: Hanggai

Hanggai arrived in to the Set Theatre as an exotic, unknown quantity to most people. Highly recommended by Music curator Gerry Godley (take a bow!), nothing prepared us for what we witnessed.

By the end of their performance Hanggai left firm friends of every member of the enthusiastic audience. In a packed venue, people stood, sat on the floor and eventually stood up and danced, drawn in and embraced by the sheer spirit of the music. You felt the rush of hooves of their horses and the sheer vastness of their home country in every note. These are a proud people and they expressed this pride in a sincere performance that brought us all in to their world.

Coming from Mongolia, the band's sound is undoubtedly authentic and thoroughly fascinating, the instruments and scales fresh to most ears. They are adaptations of Mongolian folk songs and yet: strains of country, punk, (Irish) traditional music, sean nós and rock and roll melded to provide one of the musical highlights on the Kilkenny Arts Festival 2011.

Nothing prepares you for the live experience of throat singing; it is a technique that defies description, sounds and harmonies that amaze.

They were due to play a set of 80 minutes, but took a break and delivered a second set of such ferocity that time stood still. A cliché, but an apt one.

Accepting a present of a hurley from the festival, the lead singer held it like a native, bringing it down as the last notes crashed, clearing his lines. A fitting exchange of culture and sport, the final whistle bittersweet and memorable.

Leaving the venue, the remaining audience members applauded Hanggai once again; a fitting last goodbye to a group of performers that will be welcomed back with open arms.

Martin Bridgeman

Hanggai

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