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MAY 2007
from the urban sophistication of central moscow...
...to the rural timelessness of outer mongolia...
...our year in mongolia has been extremely productive
Well, it's been a year since we organised our Mongolian and Russian visas in London and started to pack for our new life in mysterious Mongolia. It's also been a year since the Church of Logick album launch supporting Mercury Prize-nominated Polar Bear at the Glee Club, Birmingham, and also a year since the premiere of my musical setting of Liber AL vel Legis. So, Sunday, Monday and yesterday, I performed a melodica and electronic score reduction of the Liber AL work again, in time with the three days of the receiving of the book by Aleister Crowley back in 1904. I think it may have been the only Thelemic activity in Mongolia on those days, barring the actions of the AUM in Shingwa, of course, and it took place in our kitchen! A mountaintop performance would have been preferrable, but work commitments on Monday and Tuesday ruled that out. [Ed's note: the 2007 working of Liber AL is available through this website at the RECORDINGS page"]
So, almost a year down the line from our arrival in Mongolia, what has this sabbatical achieved? First of all, it hasn't been much of a sabbatical! I've been busier with playing commitments here in Ulaanbaatar than I had been for the last year of living in the UK. Ganbat and I set-up and ran the city's only ever 100% Jazz night, playing American standards alongside arrangements of Mongolian songs and some old and newly-penned originals of mine. Mealody Jazz Club was the highlight of the week for many people, including myself and Andrew Colwell, the Colombian-American double bass player and khoomei singer who, by the greatest act of coincidence ("debop"-style happenstances seep through into everyday life too, it seems), I met on our second day in Mongolia. After 39 uncomprimisingly Bebop-and-onward Friday-night performances, the legacy will hopefully continue through the leadership of Purevsukh, the best Mongolian Jazz musician living in Ulaanbaatar at the present time.
Alongside Ganbat, I opened the country's first Jazz Academy, at which the course was written and delivered by myself. Students were able to study, for the first time, the theory, practice and history of Jazz music, and most importantly for Mongolian musicians, the discipline of improvisation itself. Traditionally, Mongolian music students have little to do with improvisation, and helping students to "open up" to the delights of improvised music-making has been one of the definite highlights of this one-year sabbatical.
On the teaching front, Hannah was awarded the "Teacher of the Year 2006" award from Santis English Language Centre, an award voted for by all the students at the school and testiment to her teaching abilities and of course the good judgement of the students at the school!
My dealings with shamans didn't extend as far as I had hoped for. Unfortunately, being able to interact with practising shaman musicians in the countryside will have to wait for another time or place. The meetings I did have with the ASCWA (Asian Shaman Continent & World Association) only fed the hunger for more. I refuse to go down the tourist path and visit one of the shamans who the major tourist companies wheel out for the big-paying customers to snap photos of, so will have to be patient and wait for the stars to align appropriately.
So, what happens next? With the funding to stay in Mongolia to teach having fallen through, we are focusing our attentions on finding the most suitable way to exit the country. China is just across the border, bewildering in its size and scope. We could use a break from the harshness of Mongolian life and in particular the eternal cold! Having arrived by train, I feel it is most suitable to leave the same way, so we will probably be arranging our international tickets at some point in the very near future and leaving this amazing place - at least for the time being. Watch this space!