Promoting Mongolian culture in an authentic way - A review of The HU's The Gereg

The HU is a folk rock quartet from Ulaanbaatar that promotes Mongolian culture with the use of traditional instruments such as horsehead fiddle morin khuur, traditional lute tovshuur, Jew's harp tumur khuur and end-blown flute tsuur. The vocals consist of traditional throat singing and war cries while the Mongolian lyrics talk about local history and poetry. The band has gained quite some momentum over the past two years to a point that the Mongolian President congratulated the band on promoting the country's culture and that the band was awarded the highest state award for Mongolia. Renowned international musicians such as Papa Roach's Jacoby Shaddix, Halestorm's Lzzy Hale and members of From Ashes to New started collaborating with the band and recording international versions of their songs. This is why the album that initially consisted of nine tunes has now been released again and includes three additional collaborative efforts and three acoustic versions for a whopping fifteen songs in total.

To be fair, the idea to combine Mongolian folklore with rock music isn't particularly new. Chinese folk rock sextet Hanggai has been active for a decade and a half now, Voodoo Kungfu has experimented with different types of Central Asian folkore on numerous occasions throughout its eclectic career and Tengger Cavalry has even managed to gain international recognition by playing Mongolian folk rock at New York City's renowned Carnegie Hall. The HU is however the only band of its kind to actually feature Mongolian members and to be supported by its own government. The four musicians have in a certain way become ambassadors of their culture and already played all around the world in the last two years despite the coronavirus. Even though the band might have jumped the bandwagon after discovering groups such as Dream Spirit, Nine Treasures and Suld, the band's dedication, origins and support make for a quite authentic concept.

The music itself might be slightly repetitive at times but very fascinating since it differs quite a lot from Western music and even other folk rock bands. The songs are filled with appeasing throat singing, longing string melodies and stoically galloping rhythm section. Highlights are the melodic, mysterious and rhythmic ''Yuve Yuve Yu''and the appeasing, epic and spiritual ''Song of Women'' that cracks the seven-minute mark.

Witnessing Tengger Cavalry as a trio in concert has been a rather underwhelming experience while Hanggai's performance last year was filled with much more passion even though the band exclusively communicated in Madarin. If you are looking for a most authentic Mongolian folk rock band however, The HU is the group you have been waiting for. The album and especially its generous new edition is very entertaining but attending a concert of the band might even be an unforgettable highlight. The band has recently been recording a COVID-19 relief effort fundraising concert on YouTube but I can't wait for the pandemic to be over and finally witness this band in concert.

Final rating: 80%