Silk Road Tour 1 - Hohhot - Abigail Washburn & The Village:

The first stop on the Silk Road Tour was Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia. We got ready to play our first show at a huge hall and collaborated with a Mongolian throat singer and a horse head fiddle player.

Inner Mongolia is a province of China, but has a significant population of ethnic Mongolians. Some are still herders and the practice of throat singing is still alive. The singer and horse head fiddle player seen here told us they grew up in herding families in the countryside, but now they perform in a ge wu tuan 歌舞团, a kind of song and dance troupe.

The beginning of the video was shot early morning at a Buddhist temple in town. Mongolians traditionally practice Tibetan Buddhism. The drumming and dancing is a form of Yang Ge, often practiced by elderly Han Chinese ladies across northern China.

http://abigailwashburn.com

Full Silk Road Tour Playlist:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AbigailWashburn#grid/user/8A4BE13075AAFBDF

Tour Map:
‪http://g.co/maps/dnh73‬

Shot & Edited by Luke Mines

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Abigail Washburn
• Silk Road
• Kai Welch
• The Village
• throat singing
• mongolia
• horse head fiddle
• banjo
• China
• inner mongolia
• hohot
• hohhot
• 呼和浩特
• lama
• temple
• khan

[fredkoning]

@dbarshimon Thank you!

[dbarshimon]

@fredkoning I believe it is a morin khuur, a relative of the chinese Erhu

also can be called a horse head fiddle. Someone correct me if i am wrong as I love those instruments.

[thefieldworker]

Great work. I've been following your career - makes it worthwhile for me as an Asian Studies professor at a liberal arts college.

[WeCanWorkItOut48]

This good-will tour is working both ways.... It is making me want to go to China and Mongolia. The people and places look so interesting, beautiful, fun! Thank you so much for letting us travel along.

[pelahale]

so are you & Bela separated now?

[fredkoning]

what is the english name of the instrument that looks like a cello?