I returned to Mongolia 15 years ago after an absence of 13 years, save for the occasional 2-week leave from work, and that time I spent a semester and a half at a local university drinking endless cups of brown, watery 150 Tugrik instant MaCcoffee at the café strangely, or perhaps egotistically, named "In my memory", writing the first and so far the only book that got us into trouble with the local intelligence who apparently had little else to do than to pore through the ramblings of teenagers to catch the tell-tale signs of drug dealery. But I digress. When you visit a country for a short period, be it home or not, you hardly have time to immerse yourself in the spirit of the country and the city and feel the nitty gritty and dirty shiny of it all. So after 13 years, it took me a while to readjust and finally understand what the hometown of my childhood had become. The most striking, ubiquitous, and inescapable feature was and still, unfortunately, is the traffic. In 2008,...
Nisvanis was formed by a few SUIS (University of Performing Arts, or literally translating University of Arts & Culture) students in the late 1990's. Modeled after Nirvana, they were the first (and perhaps the only) band to bring in grunge rock to Mongolia, along with the jarring guitar solos and Cobain haircuts. While obviously modeled after Nirvana, their music and lyrics were original, powerful and raw.
Their debut single "Huchilturugch" (Хүчилтөрөгч) meaning "Oxygen", was a popular hit amongst the youth who were into metal and rock at the time. I had a tape of their early recording sessions, which were raw, underproduced but extremely good. They had a song called "Esreg Utgaaraa", which was one of my favourite songs: fused with a pseudo-traditional chorus backing vocals and the singer's deep growly voice, the song was probably not the most radio-friendly song, but was definitely their most experimental.
A year after I had left Mongolia, they released their album "O2" or Oxygen. I was, however, disappointed with the result. The raw power and jarring guitar of their demo tapes and live performances were watered down, you could hardly hear the guitar, bass was too loud, the drums were muffled and didn't seem so grungy anymore. To further dampen the effect, their LP was sponsored by "Stella Artois" beer, which required them to include a sponsorship message in their album by way of a song. A song called "Stella Artois", consisting of 3 lines ("Stella, Stella Artois! My Favourite Beer, Our Favourite Beer!") over a repetitive tune reminiscent of the Peter Gunn theme. Not very grungy.
Since then, they had released 2 more albums. I haven't heard the entire albums but judging from what little I had seen on youtube, they headed in a nu-metal "Korn"-esque direction.
I do look forward to seeing them perform again in Mongolia, although I am not sure how active they are as a band nowadays. Enkhamgalan, the lead singer, has done some solo projects (he is a prolific song-writer who has penned a number of hits for various pop-singers) including a popular song for a recent movie soundtrack.
Anyways, here be "Gerelt Ireedui Namaig Duudna" a song from their first album:
