Songs of a prairie girl

Families on the Ordos prairie in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region are known for having at least one talented singer in the household, and there are usually a couple of musical instruments in each home as well.

And Ordos-born Urna Charhar-Tugchi is typical of this phenomenon. Over the past 10 years, Charhar-Tugchi's songs have traversed the whole of Eurasia, evoking the serene landscape of her homeland in her audience's minds.

Shanghai, after Hangzhou and Beijing, is the third and the final stop of her China 2012 tour. Performing alongside her are the zarb (a goblet-shaped drum) master from Iran, Djamchid Chemirani, and the critically-acclaimed Hungarian violinist Zoltán Lantos.

Born to sing

Born into a family of livestock farmers, Charhar-Tugchi's relatives were all enthusiastic singers, especially her grandmother, a woman she now regards as her first music teacher.

"We sing about everything on the prairie, such as the livestock, the grasslands, the sky, the Gobi Desert, and the people around us," the Berlin-based vocalist told the Global Times.

A little-known fact is that the 43-year-old has never received any professional vocal training. She went to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music to learn the dulcimer (an instrument with strings stretched over a trapezoidal sounding board) when she was 18, and it was there that she decided to sing songs "in a more natural way," as she puts it.

"When I closed my eyes and listened to the music majors singing during their college tests, I could only picture a monochrome vision. I couldn't see the unique colors and landscapes which their singing should have naturally conveyed," she said.

In 1997, the musician met up with singers in her hometown, and started to record their songs and the stories behind those songs.

"I think we should all respect our own culture, and only by doing this will the world be presented with a colorful and diversified cultural landscape," she added.

Nomadic career

Charhar-Tugchi moved to Berlin in early 1995, and five years later moved to Bavaria spending another five years there. Then she toured Egypt for four years, and is now back living and working in Berlin.

During her nomadic career, she has cooperated with a wide range of leading musicians from around the world. Her latest album Portrait, for example, includes two numbers alongside the Polish instrumental ensemble, Kroke.　

And this China tour sees her joined by two more renowned names. The 70-year-old Chemirani, who founded the Chemirani Trio with his two sons in 1988, is an important advocate of zarb playing. Meanwhile, Lantos, the recipient of the Gold Cross of Merit from the Hungarian government, is known for blending Hungarian and classical traditions with Eastern music and contemporary Jazz. Both musicians will give solo performances during the Shanghai leg.

"Communicating with the champions of other cultural traditions helps inject more vitality into my music," said Charhar-Tugchi. "I don't want to treat my music as something akin to a museum exhibit, something which is lifeless; I want to keep it moving in a positive way."


Date: November 2, 8 pm

Venue: JZ Club

Address: 46 Fuxing Road West 复兴西路46号

Tickets: 100 yuan (pre-sale), 120 yuan (at the door)

Call 6431-0269 for details