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golomt centre headquarters
shaman with tuur drum
stuffed birds at the ascwa
the aman khuur in action
golomt centre sign
the cultural palace (left) and the opera theatre (right)
the frozen selbe river
One thing I haven't been able to report on up until now is my efforts to contact the Shaman community in Ulaanbaatar. On my arrival here six months ago, I sent a few emails to a couple of Mongolian Shaman sites I could find on the internet, which I found listed in Riding Windhorses - a journey into the hear of Mongolian Shamanism by Sarangerel (a book I bought prior to coming over here). Some of the links listed in that book are now defunct, so I was especially pleased when I came across www.tengerism.org, an interesting site in itself, but a great find since it has a contact email address that works! I emailed recently and received a reply from a Mongolian living in San Francisco, Chonobaatar, who was especially helpful, and offered to put me in touch with someone called Maam, who lives in Ulaanbaatar. It is testament to the power of the internet that the initial contact for Ulaanbaatar Shamanism should come from San Francisco!
Maam called me last week and also this morning to arrange for me to meet with the Director of the Golomt Centre in Ulaanbaatar, which is where I am going in half an hour's time, to discuss my Four Holy Mountains piece and hopefully get some help from them as to being able to use Shaman songs for the four mountains, and also hopefully be able to witness a Shaman ritual performance at some point soon. I'll report the outcome of today's meeting on my return...
Hurai. Hurai. Hurai. Mongolia just keeps on giving. I have just returned from my meeting with Shagdarjav SUKHBAT, President of the Asian Shamanist "Continent and World" Association. His office is near Gandan monastery in the Bayangol District of Ulaanbaatar, on the second floor of a most unassuming building. Maam (who turns out to be the Vice-President of the Association) met me outside the Chinggis Khaan Hotel, a couple of minutes walk down the road from our apartment. He is a friendly, affable man who has good English (luckily for me!), and after a brief introduction, he leads me over to a waiting 4x4 which whisks us off to meet Sukhbat. After around a ten-minute drive I get to have the meeting I have been waiting to have for the last six months of being over here. And it was definately worth the wait! Sukhbat's modest-size office is crammed full of fascinating artifacts: whilst waiting for him to arrive I took a look around and saw some great pictures of Shaman ritual, some lovely paintings of bears and wolves, a Chinggis Khaan tapestry, and a couple of stuffed eagles and hawks. One of the pictures shows a Shaman wearing the traditional reverse headress (the face is covered to blot out any visual distractions during the ritual) standing in this very office playing a large hand-held drum. The sight of this gives me an incredible spine-tingling sensation, and I am looking forward to meeting a real-life Shaman for the very first time.
Sh. Sukhbat is a powerfully built man with a calm gaze and a ready smile during Maam's translation of my English. I make sure I return the smiles during Maam's translation of the President's replies and questions. After asking my most important question ("Is it possible to transcribe any Shaman songs that exist about the four holy mountains, either just the words or ideally the music too?"), he responds immediately: there is a Shaman travelling as we speak from Khovd (in Western Mongolia) to Ulaanbaatar. The journey will take around 3 to 4 days, and on his arrival in Ulaanbaatar, I will be introduced and allowed to ask him as many questions as I like, and also I will be allowed to record the Shaman in performance (on a dictaphone or something, which I will have to source this week asap!). This is an INCREDIBLE opportunity, and certainly much more than I could even have hoped for.
But that isn't all. Sukhbat is also an author of several books on Shamanism (in Mongolian), and is researching a book on Shaman musical instruments, and has asked me to collaborate. I of course said yes, and thank you for the opportunity. There are, according to Sukhbat, around 500 Shaman musical instruments, some of which date back 5000 (yes, five thousand) years. I am apparently going to hear some of these next weekend, courtesy of the Shaman who is already on his way to us. I am shown a fascinating photo of the Shaman in question from earlier this year, taking part in a ceremony to welcome the Summer Sun (June 22nd): he is playing a type of flute, with a stringed instrument next to him, and, most strikingly, a Shamaness collapsed in ecstasy on the floor. I am seriously looking forward to the music and the musician that is responsible for these incredible transformations. As a final, last treat, a man appears in the office, with what looks to me like a Jaw's Harp, but in Mongolian is called a Aman Khuur. He plays the instrument for me, and for a couple of minutes I am mesmerised by the rich harmonics that emanate from this musicians mouth as he plays the Aman Khuur, and Sukhbat lights what I think is some Juniper and wafts it around during the performance. I learn afterwards that the instrument was especially made by a Shaman. I leave with immense gratitude and walk the journey back to our apartment (a pleasant hour-long walk) with a sense that I am in stage two of my musical time over here. Stage one was the introduction to Ganbat and Giant Steppes of Jazz courtesy of the Arts Council Mongolia. Stage two will hopefully bring the opportunity to study with Shaman musicians and to witness (and maybe be part of?) important Shaman ceremonies. I will, of course, keep this diary up-to-date with any developments in this area.
Wed November 15th 2006
Yesterday brought disappointment after the weekend's success. I was at work from 12 noon to 9pm and missed a call mid-afternoon from Maam inviting me to meet with the Shaman from Khovd (who seems to have arrived in Ulaanbaatar rather ahead of schedule!). I spoke to Maam on my return home at around 10pm, but it appears I've missed my chance to speak with, and record the Shaman, since both he and Sukhbat are off into the countryside today. I managed to ask a favour of Ganbat's daughter, Chimee, to call Sukhbat and apologise on my behalf, and to explain that I'm only free on Saturdays and Sundays. Sukhbat (who doesn't speak any English - and of course my Mongolian is limited to around 10 words!) told her that he will be back in Ulaanbaatar on Monday, and has arranged for me to meet with a Khoomei singer Shaman. I sincerely hope that I can find enough free time next week to make this next appointment. It is deeply frustrating to have so little free time for important things like this, but it's all part of the struggle to discover the true roots of music and music-making, I guess! And that was one of the main reasons for coming to Mongolia in the first place.
Thurs November 30th 2006
A great morning at the Jazz Academy. Both Soyolmaa and Oyunchimeg (who play Khuuchir and violin in the National Traditional Ensemble and the Military Orchestra respectively) opened out and expressed themselves in a very uninhibited way during an open jam on F Mixolydian. The way these classically trained musicians have been taught is so counterproductive to self-expression, and it has been great to see them developing their improvisatory skills these last two weeks (they're fast learners!). There have been some teething problems with our room at the Cultural Palace (such as Wednesday's surprise installation of an inpenetrable security door between me and my room - followed by the realisation that the plug socket we use for power was now locked away in a newly-erected secretary's office next to my room, and on Thursday, the lock on the door to my room decided it didn't want to open, only to change its mind and open after 10 minutes of struggle), but they are all worth it to be part of the beginnings of Mongolian Jazz.
Some people are curious as to the coldness of the weather at the moment here in Ulaanbaatar. Well, let me tell you, it is pretty damn cold compared to the UK. These last two weeks the temperature has nose-dived to around minus 10 to 15 Celsius during the day, and minus 20 to 30 during the night. During my walk to the Cultural Palace from our apartment, which takes around 20 to 25 minutes (depending on how much ice there is on the pavements), my breath freezes on my coat and jumper, and my legs feel like they've been deep-frozen overnight! Our apartment is still pretty warm, although it does get somewhat chilly at nightime, and the hole in our bedroom window certainly doesn't help matters in the slightest. Both myself and Hannah find, though, that as long as you wear enough layers of clothing, thick gloves and have your hood up, it's not so bad. The news from my students is that it isn't likely to get much colder than this now. Minus 40 and 50 Celsius are becoming a thing of the past as a result of climate change, which is no good thing either, of course. The Selbe river, which we cross each day, is frozen solid and covered with footprints (and, sadly, the occasional dead dog). Our apartment windows are covered with ice on the inside of the outer set of windows. Luckily the inside set haven't followed suit...yet!