Interview with Inner Mongolian Folk Rock and World Music Band Ajinai

 

Ajinai was formed in Beijing in 2009 and features musicians from various parts of China. The group is devoted to bringing traditional Mongolian music into the 21st Century. Ajinai’s roots are firmly rooted in the Mongolian grasslands, but their youth and experience lends a unique and contemporary twist to the traditional music.

The group’s music is propelled by the morin khuur, the horse-head fiddle, which is the most important Mongolian musical instrument and a symbol of its people; and khoomei, the throat-singing. Both khoomei and the morin khuur mimic the sounds of nature.

The band members have experience in the rock scene of China’s bustling capital, Beijing, lending a modern element to the music.

Ajinai has performed at major venues, events and festivals across China, as well as other parts of Asia, Europe and North America.

Ajinai’s founder, Hugejiletu, discusses the band’s upcoming concert at WOMEX and other details with World Music Central’s Angel Romero.

Can you give our readers a brief history on how the band was formed?

Back in 2009 I contacted some friends in order to form a band that ultimately became Ajinai. At that time the music we played was mostly folk based. Later on my idea of what the music should be like gradually changed, and as new musicians came into the band, who shared my idea of mixing in other musical styles, it has formed the music which is characteristic for Ajinai today.

What do you consider as the essential elements of your music?

For us as a band the most essential part of our music is the fact that we have freedom in our music. That we’re not confined to one specific musical style, not meaning that we will be all over the place musically, just in the sense that the four of us know where we want to take our music but all have the freedom to come with their own ideas. Other important aspects for us are our lyrics, that we through our music have the possibility to appeal to people to please take care of nature and each other.

Who can you cite as your main musical influences?

We probably all have very different musical influences. We’re four people in our band with different musical backgrounds and preferences, so we’re bound to have gotten our influences from different musicians. But this is what makes the music that we play together even more interesting and fun for ourselves, especially when we practice, because we all have our own elements to add to the music.

Tell us about your first recordings and your musical evolution.

On our first recording, the music was very traditional, and based on my idea of what I wanted the music to sound like. I would write down the music that each musician had to play, I would find the musicians needed, and they would go in and record. The difference with our music now is that we make the music together as a band. The music is born in the practice room and it is constant evolution.

Can you share some information about the program you’ll present at WOMEX?

The musical program that we intend to bring to WOMEX will be our new music and the majority will be our own compositions. We still very much enjoy breathing new life into the traditional folk songs and melodies, but we enjoy even more the process of creating our own. We hold on the traditional elements, such as instruments and singing style, but our lyrics are more influenced in how we experience the world we live in today and the music comes from a collaboration.

 

How’s the current Mongolian traditional and roots music scene in China?

There are more and more new bands coming out playing Mongolian traditional music in China now, and there are also more festivals and venues where to perform. Which means it might be getting easier to find places to play but at the same time competition is also getting harder.

What musical instruments do you use?

In Ajinai we of course have drums, electric guitar and bass. Apart from that we have some traditional Mongolian instruments. We have the horse-head fiddle, which is a two stringed instrument that you play, sort of like a cello. We also have the tobuxiur which is also a two stringed instrument played like a banjo. And we play some traditional Mongolian flutes and the jew’s harp

If you could gather any musicians or musical groups to collaborate with, whom
would that be?

To be honest we would love to collaborate with most musicians that would be willing to collaborate with us. We normally jump at the chance to jam with other artists, as it in most cases also brings us a lot of new inspiration. If we have to name someone specific though, then from China we would love to collaborate with Song Yuzhe. And from Denmark we would love another chance to collaborate with a Greenlandic singer-songwriter we have met there, Rasmus Lyberth and an amazing pianist by the name Kristoffer Jul Reenberg.

Do you have any upcoming projects to share with us?

At the moment we’re preparing to go to Spain to participate in WOMEX. After our return we will be having the release show of our new cd Synthesis on November 7th at DDC in Beijing followed by a national tour.

Ajinai Member Profiles:

 

 

Hugjiltu is a young artist from the ZaLute prairie in Inner Mongolia and founding member of Ajinai. Deeply influenced by his father, who was a much respected musician in Inner Mongolia, Hugjiltu learned Sihu story-telling and later on moved on to learning the horse head fiddle and Khoomei throat singing. Between 2005-2009 Hugjiltu was a member, composer and co-founder of the well-known Inner Mongolian folk rock band Hanggai. He was also a member of the band Dawanggang. Hugjiltu is well known as a solo artist and has toured extensively as such, but his love and passion lies with Ajinai and the music that they create together as a band.

 

 

Qiu Weiming has been the bass player of Ajinai since 2011. He comes from Zibo in Shandong province and moved to Beijing in 2008 in order to pursue his dream of making music. His extensive experience in music comes from numerous musical projects and collaborations. His other band Lure is just about to release a new album in 2014. And he has toured the US and Europe together with the band Zen. Weiming is well known within the Chinese music community for his skill on the bass.

 

 

Buren Bayar joined Ajinai as the drummer in 2013. He is a young musician from the rich and beautiful grassland of Xilingol, Inner Mongolia. In 2004 he arrived to Beijing to study drums and percussion at the renowned MIDI school of music. Before joining Ajinai he used to play hardcore and has also worked as a pop music producer. Besides his dedication as the drummer of Ajinai, Buren Bayar also works as a photographer and a director of music videos, he has amongst others directed the official music videos for the band Hanggai.

 

 

Li Zhiwei joined the band as their guitarist in late 2013. He originates from Korla, the capital of Bayin’guoleng the Mongol autonomous prefecture in Xinjiang Province. He first came to Beijing in 2003 to pursue his passion for music. In the course of the years has played and recorded with a number of bands playing everything from rock, reggae to britpop. From 2008 to 2011 he worked as a music producer and had the opportunity to collaborate with many talented artists.

 

 

Aoergula is the most recent addition to Ajinai, joining in April 2014. He comes from a musical background, with his mother, a music teacher and his father who was a highly respected master of the long song singing style. Aoergula started studying long song singing from his father as a child. Later he also studied Khoomei. Before moving to Japan, Aoergula used to have is own band by the name 3797, which played new metal. In Japan he also pursued his love of music but mostly just for the joy of singing. After returning to China he has been working as a songwriter. He is a longtime friend of the members of Ajinai and when they were in search of a new singer for the band he was very happy to step in.

More information at: http://site.douban.com/a-ji-nai/ and http://ethnocloud.com/ajinai