Anda Union - Homeland
Anda Union are a nine piece from Mongolia playing various strains of Mongolian traditional music. Alongside percussion, woodwind and guitar, the band plays two- or three-stringed instruments in the fiddle, lute and guitar families and it is undeniably good stuff.
With beautiful, clear ringing vocals Buriat Song and Handgai Gol show how heartbreakingly melancholic Anda Union can be. The vocals on the otherworldly Jitalin Gurgul could almost be a muezzin calling the faithful to prayer. The Herdsman, on the other hand, is joyous, opening with the morin khuur (horse head fiddle) imitating the whinnying of an excited steppes pony.
With throat singing, group vocals and a martial rhythm, Mini Mongol is perhaps the best point of entry for the uninitiated into the strange but enthralling world of Anda Union. Despite being sober for October, Drinking Song makes we want to raise a glass or four and quaff my cares away.
The band's show at NAC back in February was one of the best shows I've seen this year and Anda Union shine live. That said, this second album - as with its predecessor and the excellent documentary From The Steppes To The City - is well worth checking out.
8/10
