For those of you who were excited to read this post because you thought it was about a classic Beatles song, I am sorry to disappoint you.
For those of you who were wondering: “what friends could I possibly have”, I’d be wondering the same thing.
And for the remaining 98% of you who are reading this because you have nothing better to do, then this post will make you realize how wrong you were. Virtually anything would have been better.
But I digress.
The title for this post comes from the fact that last week’s post and today’s post were inspired by fellow bloggers. Since I often have trouble coming up with an idea for my blog posts, I am always grateful when someone suggests a possible topic.
Last week I wrote about a band from Indonesia, Voice of Baceprot, thanks to a suggestion from Jeff Cann.
And tonight’s Music Monday was motivated by a comment from Clive, at Take It Easy.
Clive mentioned a heavy metal band, The Hu, a band I had never heard of. His description of the band was quite intriguing, mentioning that they were Mongolian, and used something known as throat singing. That was all I needed to follow through and do some searching.
Here is what Wikipedia has to say about the band:
The Hu (stylized as The HU) is a Mongolian folk metal band formed in 2016. With traditional Mongolian instrumentation, including the Morin khuur (a horsehead fiddle), the Tovshuur (Mongolian guitar), and Mongolian throat singing, the band calls their style of music “hunnu rock”, hu inspired by the Hunnu, an ancient Mongol/Turkic empire, known as Hünnü in Mongolia. Some of the band’s lyrics include old Mongolian war cries and poetry.
According to an article from Open Culture, the band’s themes focus on past national triumphs, the legendary rule of Genghis Khan, and the glorification of the nomadic warrior’s life.
“The graphic visuals used in the video certainly evoke pride in our nomadic culture,” writes Batshandas Altansukh, “but the lyric is quite the contrary. It’s very political and highly critical of today’s Mongolian society” and what the band sees as their country’s propensity for “emptily boasting about the past” rather than actually learning about and respecting it (with motorcycle gangs riding across the plains).
In other words, not your typical heavy metal band.
Some additional fun facts about The Hu from Wikipedia:
- The band released two videos on YouTube in late 2018, “Yuve Yuve Yu” (28 September) and “Wolf Totem” (16 November), which had together garnered over 161 million views by March 2022. On 11 April 2019, “Wolf Totem” reached No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hard Rock Digital Song Sales, making The Hu the first Mongolian musical act to top a Billboard chart.
- On 27 November 2019, The Hu were awarded the highest state award for Mongolia, the Order of Genghis Khan, for promoting Mongolian culture around the world.
- On 12 May 2022, The Hu released the single “This Is Mongol”. On 8 July, the band released the single “Black Thunder” and announced their second album, Rumble of Thunder, which was released on 2 September.
So, enough background info, let’s listen to some of their music.
From what I read, it seems as if I had three songs I could pick from to highlight The Hu: Yuve Yuve Yu, Wolf Totem, or Black Thunder. After listening to/watching each one, I have decided to go with Wolf Totem. Each video takes a minute or more to actually get into the song, but the videos are all well done, and the scenery in Yuve Yuve Vu in particular is quite stunning. But something about Wolf Totem reminded me of an Irish rebel song, and so I had to share it. Fortunately, the lyrics are translated into English.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
And thank you to my friends…
*image from The Guardian
I have heard throat singing by Canadian first-nation solo artists bu this takes it up scale. Like the big-band version. I love the tribal beat of this. They may call it heavy metal but it is very spiritual.
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that’s a good way to describe it, it does seem quite spiritual…
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That was very different. Eerie at first but it has a good beat!!!
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it is quite different, but I found it enjoyable…
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I love Inuit throat singers, but this is a bit different…Mongolian bikers ready to Mad-Max it in the steppe. Loved it!
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I was not familiar with throat singers, but I like your description of the Mongolian bikers!
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I enjoyed this group. They look like Hell’s Angels or Native Americans on Harleys. I caught the reference to Garuda, a divine bird creature that appears in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain religious texts. The sound is great and the lyrics are fitting for a Golden Horde.
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Is the lead singer named Attila? He’d be Attila the Hu. They sound scary good. I wouldn’t want to mess with them. No wonder they conquered Asia many years ago.
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if The Who fought The Hu I know whom (hum) I would put my money on…
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I sure wouldn’t bet on the Pinball Wizard.
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but he wizard sure made the best out of his situation…
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True. And The Who can see for miles and miles.
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so how are they qualified to sing about a deaf, dumb, and blind kid?
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Good point. It seems as if they’re rubbing it in, to make the poor kid feel bad.
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but once somebody challenges that deaf, dumb, and blind kid, they won’t get fooled again…
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Those would make great lyrics for a song.
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for The Hu?
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Sure, if sung throatily.
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👍
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… and now for something completely different 😊. If a fight breaks out, I’m on their side. These guys make 5FDP look like a girly pop band.
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yes, quite different. and I’m with you if there is a fight. I had never heard of 5FDP, so I looked them up. Not bad!
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Hi Jim, this is very interesting, but I must admit the music sets my teeth on edge.
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the music is not what you would call mainstream…
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All I know is if I were sitting in accounting class and you opened with some throat singing, you’d have my full attention.
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and you’d be looking to switch teachers right after class…
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I would not have found this on my own, so thank you for sharing this. I enjoyed their music and love the fact that they use traditional cultural instruments. Great post, my friend!
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I’m glad you enjoyed it, Brad. it was fun to find something a bit different…
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It’s almost as if we synchronised this isn’t it – guess which song is one of today’s Tuesday Tunes? Though not The Beatles version. These guys are amazing, and I love watching their videos. They have a new one out: I’ve sent you the link in a recent comment. Thanks for the mention, too.
I think these guys have solved your problem on getting friends: get a Harley and light a bonfire 👍
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When I read your first couple of sentences, I was thinking Joe Walsh!
and yes, The Hu are quite good.
I just don’t think me and a Harley would work out too well 🙂
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Has Joe Walsh covered it too? You live and learn. I’m with you on the Harley – my days of two-wheeled transport are well behind me!
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oops! I meant Joe Cocker! I never had days of tw-wheeled transport…
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It makes sense now! Can I interest you in something called ‘editing?’ 🤣
I’ve written about my days of tw-wheeled transport. Happy days 😊
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well played 🙂
I’m not sure editing would have caught the Joe Cocker thing. But that tw-wheeled transport? I would hope so!
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It’s my natural Virgoan pedantry coming to the fore 😉
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I am a Virgo as well – I guess that means your birthday is coming up soon…
I will be turning 65 on the 20th…
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Yes, it is. I’ll be 69 on the 16th. A good number, I think. As the 20th is a Tuesday I’m sure I can find a way to mark it for you 😉
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Tuesday Tunes will be a good way to start my birthday!
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I’ll see what I can come up with! I’ve already done a birthday theme but it was a while back, so maybe I could do it again? We’ll see…
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maybe you can do a special homage to your new Prime Minister… 🙂
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I think this week’s did that!
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maybe you can do another one that is more positive 🙂
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I’ll let you know if I can find something positive about it to use as a theme. It may take a while…
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yes, that could take a while. but not as long as it would take to find something positive about our former president 🙂
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The difficulty with that would be whittling the choices down to one word. Liar, perhaps. Crook? Egomaniac?
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narcissist?
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OK, give me some songs about narcissists then 🤣
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how about songs written by narcissists, like Kanye West?
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Remember it has to be music I like, so that rules out ‘Ye,’ as he now calls himself. I’m not sure if this will work for you but I saw this earlier. He got burned! https://apple.news/AwsrYVgQWTvGtzrBAUmZtBQ
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well played, Courtney!
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This is very cool. Around 1:40, the music becomes identifiably metal. This would make great background music for generally hanging around the house. I don’t think I’ve ever said that about a metal band before.
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I’m not a fan of metal, but I also thought this was pretty good music…
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I am very much enjoying these music posts, so many interesting bands I’m learning about thanks to your posts.
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thanks, Pooja; I’m glad you are enjoying them!
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The music is erie , like suspense music for the beginning of one of my stories. LOL!
Can’t say this group is a winner for me, but each to his own. 🙂 If we all liked the same music it would be boring.
I am just waiting for the day that you share songs from Mama Mia, I do remember trying to give you that helpful advice. 😄 I could probably make a bet of $100 and you wouldn’t share it. Too bad that Napoleon guy doesn’t have any music, eh? 😂
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the closing song (after the credits) in Napoleon is a class…
maybe I will feature a song from Mama Mia – do you have a favorite?
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The closing song? Hmm…I must have missed it, my brain had alaready been overloaded. LOL!
Oooh offer $100 and look what happens. 🙂 My favorite . “Adante, Adante” , and “I have a dream”, but tthey are all great of course!
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I think many peole missed that song, becuase it was after the credits.
I’ll give those Mama Mia songs a listen…
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OH MY!!!! Clive seems to be everywhere! He has inspired a significant number of my music posts, too! It must be … CLIVEMANIA!!!! And now … about this song … I was fully prepared to hate it enough to hit STOP within the first minute, but … first off that voice captivated me, then the song started to grow on me, and then I found I was smiling … nay, LAUGHING! And so, I watched to the very end and am still smiling! I have to ask, though, what is that 2-stringed instrument??? Thanks Jim & Clive … this was FUN!
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yes, Clive has influenced many people’s musical habits with his wonderful posts.
I’m glad you enjoyed the music, I did as well.
I’m not sure what that instrument was, either the Morin khuur (a horsehead fiddle) or the Tovshuur (Mongolian guitar)…
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Goosebumps! I’ve been feeling down after searching for my cat the whole night until now. He hadn’t come home, but for some reason the video and the music and the singers’ voices cheered me up. Here’s to hoping he would overcome whatever hardship and come home 😢
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I’m sorry to hear about your cat; I hope he is back home soon…
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Thank you ❤ He came back 🙂
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I’m happy to hear that!
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You’ve turned up a winner here. I like.
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glad you enjoyed it; when I first read about the group, my initial reaction was that I would not like their music. But the few songs I have listened to I found quite enjoyable…
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I many like your beautiful blog. A pleasure to come stroll on your pages. A nice discovery. I will come back to visit you. Do not hesitate to visit my universe. See you soon.😊
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thank you!
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You shared some good music here, Jim!
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a little different, but I found it enjoyable. I’m glad you liked it!
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Different can be fun! Best to you, Jim.
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thanks, Jennie!
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You’re welcome!
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I love the music from The Hu, and their collaborations with other rock artists is awesome.
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from the little I have listened to, they do seem quite talented!
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Seeing that my evening was much filled with too much calm and quiet, what better place to jazz up my night with a dose of blather. My Hollywood film image of Mongolia was shattered by this heavy metal music video. Takes me back to America’s 1960s with the biker gangs and counter culture.
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that is a good description – biker gangs and counter culture. But everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves…
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