The Re-imagination and Pride Construction of “Golden Lineage”: Folk-rock band Altan Urag and Mongol identity

• Main Authors: Yi-Fan Hsiao, 蕭禕繁
• Other Authors: Fumitaka Yamauchi
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/96219505114598446054

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 音樂學研究所 === 101 === In modern history, Mongolia has gone through the major shift from nomad to city, from communism to democracy. Such transformations made Mongolians to seek for traditional culture to rebuild their pride and identity. The revival of traditional music is an important part of that action from 1980s. Today, however, the traditional culture seems not the only element in the identity building process. The youngsters in city try different ways to create their own “Mongolian” images by combining traditional and modern elements. Altan Urag is such an example. Since 2002, they have played the combination of traditional (Mongolian instruments, vocals, melodies) and modern (drum set, effects units, metal/hard rock style) elements in their “Mongolian folk rock” music. Besides introducing Mongolian tradition to city youngsters through their music, they also intend to show the vary possibilities of their instruments to western world. This article starts with a brief talk about Mongolian modern history and music development. Then I’ll analyze Altan Urag’s most famous folk rock songs and the images they built, using interviews and my observation as references. Afterwards, I separate the masses into three subjects: Altan Urag, Mongolians/local, and foreigners/the other. From their perspectives of categorizing Altan Urag’s Mongolian folk rock and imaginations of Mongolian music, I’ll discuss different positions of Mongolian music in Mongolia and the world. In order to avoid arbitrary dichotomy, I also raise Inner Mongolia as an example in between. Under the impact of globalization, Mongolians are keen to show the world their particularity. Meanwhile, the concept of “Pan Mongol” also deepened within Mongolians. Unlike people in earlier days, nowadays they value their heritage but also try new things in the same time. Furthermore, I argue that the creative way of showing “Mongolian spirit” is more important than just adhering pure “tradition” in this Mongolian identity issue.