Musical Globe

The people of Chinese Inner Mongolia make a very particular kind of music, derived from the Mongol tribes that Ghengis Kahn unified. AnDa Union is the contemporary band responsible for creating a global following for these traditional sounds that could have been so easily lost to the world. This film takes us into the lives of the many people who make up the band and the way they discover forgotten music and adapt it into their own style. They are all highly-trained musicians, moving fluently from hoomai, the guttural throat song, to the clear long notes of urtinduu, long-song. It also shows how the rituals of everyday life in the capital, Hohhot, have had to adapt to the modern Chinese way and how, by maintaining their unique and haunting music, the people keep in touch with their ancient traditions. The film takes us from city life into the heart of the grasslands and mountains where the band members are reunited with their families, discover old friends and experience the traditional nomad lifestyle that originally inspired the music.