Jazz in Mongolia
From 1924, Mongolian People’s Republic was heavily influenced by Soviet Russia, and this proved a similar hindrance to the arrival and development of jazz that many countries in Eastern Europe would see. During the Socialist era, however, the State did sponsor not only a symphony orchestra, but also state pop bands, Soyol Erdene and Bayan Mongol, and a jazz big band from the early 1970s.
Soyol Erdene and Bayan Mongol, both recorded albums. Though the music is mostly like easy listening pop with some nice folk elements, there is also some pretty good funky instrumental work too, and both will occasionally stray into jazzier territory.
Jazz can be heard in Mongolian film scores of the 1960s, so there were musicans around who could play jazz, though no albums appear to have been released. In fact, a quintet called The Jazz Train, claim to have released the “first instrumental standard jazz album” played by Mongolian musicians, in 2016. This may be true, but in 2005 trombonist Roswell Rudd recorded the very ‘non-standard’ ‘Blue Mongol’ with an entirely Mongolian band, including vocalist Badma Khanda.
As of 2018, Mongolia’s capital city Ulaanbaatar has a brand new jazz club, Fat Cat, and a number of jazz influenced artists touring internationally. Arga Bileg, playing (in their words) Ethno Jazz. The band are a 9 piece, founded in 2009, using traditional Mongolian instrumentation, while the young singer Enji has already worked with Billy Hart, Martin Zenker and Tony Lakatos. The brilliantly name ‘Giant Steppes of Jazz’ is an occasional festival in Ulaanbaatar.
I am sure there is much more to be said about jazz being played in Mongolia in earlier decades, and if anyone has more information, please do get in touch. I’d be happy to update this very brief survey.
