Mongolian Bling

Today was the start of the American Center for Mongolian Studies' (ACMS)Second Annual Conference sponsored by the Luce Foundation. The topic this year is "Cultural Practices in Post-Soviet Mongolia" and the ACMS has invited several educated speakers to discuss their work regarding the arts, language and religion in relation to identity shifts following the 1990 revolution. Today featured a keynote address by University of Cambridge scholar Dr. Carole Pegg and a panel discussion on the arts such as khoomii, or traditional throat singing, and ballet. The evening followed up with the first public screening of the documentary film, "Mongolian Bling" at the Khaan Bank Theater.

I had actually met the Australian writer, director and producer of the film, Benj Binks, a week ago at the Ozomatli concert.  When I asked him what he was doing in-country he said he was producing a documentary film on the Mongolian hip-hop culture.  Having heard the NPR story (although in retrospect of this film, while NPR called it a feature it should really be called a brief) and having heard a lot of the music in my time spent in Mongolia I was thoroughly intrigued by his project.  He mentioned he was screening it at a conference the following week and when we connected over the upcoming ACMS event I went into a state of anticipation that was only relieved tonight.

Binks said that idea for the film started to manifest in 2007 when he came to Mongolia with a few friends and limited understanding of the Mongolian hip hop scene.  He filmed 120 hours in three months time and discovered a network of characters all worthy of attention, thus, Binks and his team continued to shoot the film over the past three years.

"Mongolian Bling" chronicles the uprising of hip hop since the early 90s and the collapse of socialism. It follows three primary hip hop artists, Quiza, Gee and Gennie, (as Binks put it, a commercial, an underground, and an upcoming rapper) to illustrate the story.  They tell how hip hop has enabled them to express their opinions about the government, its corrupt policies and neglect to the Mongolian people.  It's also served as a tool to reach youth whereby they can promote their Mongolian heritage and history to a group that may be becoming an apathetic generation.  Moreover, the film introduces a slew of aspiring and/or inspired artists, many still in secondary school, who wrote about societal issues like alcoholism in addition to the government.

The artists words and messages were passionate and powerful and I think the film has the definite potential to put modern Mongolian culture on the global radar.  But I think what really made the film great was its investigation into the unique juxtaposition of Mongolian hip hop and traditional culture, noting distinct parallels between the two.  For instance, a shaman interviewed in the film said how shamanism has made hip hop possible and inspired a lot of its characters.  He noted the similarities between shaman dances and rappers' movements, which are sharp and quick like an imitation of the animals, and an ability for both shamans and rappers to say a lot of words on just one breath. 

Despite a few technical difficulties the screening was impressive and very well received by the audience.  Binks said he expects the formal screening to occur at the end of the year.