To book ANDA UNION to appear at your event contact:

e: JOHN BARROW
m: +44(0)7968 13 17 37

Click here for ANDA UNION WEBSITE.
Click here for information about ANDA UNION'S FILM, "From The Steppes To The City".

External references

• Anda Union at Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland
• People Are Talking: UMS Presents AnDa Union at the Michigan Theater
• BBC Radio 3 session (Feb 15 2013)

ANDA UNION
Miscellaneous Information

Line-up / band names - instruments played and vocals
Nars – morin huur, tobshuur, hoomei, ikil, guitar
Urgen - morin huur, hoomei
Chinggeltu – bass morin huur
Saikhannakhaa - morin huur, tobshuur, hoomei
Uni - morin hur, tobshuur, hoomei
Urgen - drums
Chinggel - moadin chor
Biligbaatar – urtyn duu
Tsetsegmaa – urtyn duu

Instruments Played
morin huur (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morin_khuur)
tobshuur (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topshur)
ikil or igil (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igil)
bass morin huur
moadin chor (Mongolian flute)
guitar
drums

[The morin huur, also known as horsehead fiddle, is a traditional Mongolian bowed stringed instrument. It is one of the most important musical instruments of the Mongol people, and is considered a symbol of the Mongolian nation. The morin huur is one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity identified by UNESCO.]

Vocals
urtyn duu or in English, long song (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_song)
hoomei or throat singing

ANDA UNION
Biographies

Nars
Nars grew up in a village 2 hours from Ar Horchin a town 880km northeast of the capital Hohhot. His family were traditionally herders. He grew up with living with his grandparents and spent summers on the grasslands living in a yurt. His grandfather is a musician, who plays many instruments including the accordion, morin huur, and other 3 stringed fiddles, and became his teacher and mentor from an early age. He went to primary school with Urgen who lived in a village nearby. At age 12, he boarded at music college in the city of Chifeng where he shared a room with Chinggel, and met Monkhjayaa and Uni. After graduating, all five of them went to Hohhot and joined the Inner Mongolia Music and Dance Troupe where they met Saikhannakhaa, Otgonbayar and Bataar. In 2001, they banded together to start Anda Union. Today, Nars also runs a music school teaching morin huur, tobshuur and hoomei to young people, a visit to his house is greeted with over 20 students practicing the Morin Hor. His parents have now moved to Hohhot to help him run the school and they all live together in a house filled with students, beds and instruments

Urgen
Urgen grew up in a village two hours from Ar Horchin, close to Nars. They are childhood friends. He lived with his parents and two brothers in a traditional herders’ lifestyle. As a little boy, his job was to take the sheep into the fields to graze. When he was 10, his older brother, Bagana, who was a musician, was killed by a drunk driver.  Urgen was already a budding musician but this tragic loss spurred Urgen on to become a top performer, striving to fulfil his brother’s dream. He went to school in Ar Horchin with Nars where he met Uni, then went onto Chifeng Music College and onto Hohhot to join the Inner Mongolia Music and Dance Troupe. He is married to Toya, who is a children’s TV presenter for Mongol TV, and they have a baby girl. They live in a flat in Hohhot in the same complex as Monkhjayaa.

Uni
Uni grew up around Ar Horchin and met Nars and Urgen at comprehensive school. He learned music from a young age. His father was a councillor in the local communist government. He studied music at Chifeng Music College with Nars, Urgen, Chinggel and Monkhjayaa. He went to Hohhot to work with Inner Mongolia Music and Dance Troupe and was a founder of Anda Union. He lives in Hohhot with his wife who is a dancer.

Chinggel
Chinggel grew up in Ongniud Qi, in the same region as Monkhjayaa. His family are herders. He went to Music College in Chifeng where he studied morin huur, but now plays mainly flute. He is one of only 4 musicians in Inner Mongolia who can play the moadin chor. Today, his passion for the moadin chor has led him to start making these reed flutes as well as Mongolian metal flutes. He loves to drive his large Yamaha motorbike through the streets of Hohhot. He has an older sister who is a dancer.

Saikhannakhaa
Saikhannakhaa is from Tongliao and spent holidays on the grasslands with her grandparents, close to Tongliao in eastern Inner Mongolia. She learned music from a young age from her paternal grandparents. She won a prize as the most talented female morin huur player and was invited to join the Inner Mongolia Song and Dance Troupe where she became the first professional female musician. Today she runs a very successful Mongolian bar in Hohhot with her mother, father and uncle. She has a younger brother who is also a musician. Her father once managed the art school and is a painter. Her mother trained as a dancer and actress. She has recently married a dancer from the Inner Mongolia Music and Dance Troupe.

Hadanbaatar
Hadanbaatar is the drummer of the band. He grew up near Ordos City in the grasslands, his parents were nomadic herders. The Ordos people are a large ethnic group within the Mongol population. The mausoleum of Genghis Khan is close to Ordos City. He joined the Inner Mongolia Music and Dance Troupe where he met the rest of Anda Union. He lives in Hohhot with his wife who is a singer. He has recently started a small business with a friend making traditional hand made Mongolian drums

Tsetsegmaa
Tsetsegmaa is a long-song singer and tours with Anda Union. A Buriat, she grew up near Hulun Buir in the northwest of Inner Mongolia near the border of Russia and Outer Mongolia. Hulun Buir is one of the remotest areas of the region and home to both Ewenke and Buriat people. She works within the Inner Mongolia Music and Dance Troupe as a solo long-song singer. She has won many prizes and awards for her astounding voice. She has written a number of very beautiful Buriat songs which she perfoms with Anda Union. She is based in Hohhot and has one sister.

Biligbaatar
Biligbaatar is a long-song singer and tours regularly with Anda Union. He grew up in Hexigten. His mother, younger brother, brother’s wife and daughter, all live in the grasslands and herd the family livestock. Billigbatar is an expert horseman. He learnt long-song from his mother when he was a child, his talent was honed in the beauty of the grasslands and he is a long-song gold medallist. He is based in Hohhot with his wife who is also a singer.