"Gereg" - Egschiglen

Egschiglen
Gereg

Songs

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  • artist:Egschiglen
  • region:Mongolia
  • release year:2007
  • style(s):Asian, Classical
  • country:Mongolia
  • formats:CD (Compact Disc)
  • record posted by:alba KULTUR
  • label:Heaven & Earth
  • publisher:Heaven & Earth

Gereg, the silver ID plate from the times of Genghis Khan, gave the title to Egschiglen’s fifth CD. If the Gereg was the passport of the nomads, their ID, their sign of identification, this album is a musical identification of Mongolia, a poetic passport of Egschiglen. The rectangular gereg from the 13th century, whose Mongolian square writing developed a unified notation for the first time for the many different languages of the Mongolian world empire, works as a symbol for the artistic work of the ensemble.

It is remarkable and innovative how the musicians of Egschiglen adapt the traditional ‘signs of identity’ of their culture. They have decided against a purely museal or folkloristic reproduction of the traditional music and adapt the ‘creative quarry’ of Mongolian sounds, rhythms and rituals with the greatest virtuosity from the perspective of the 21st century: their Gereg contains everything from the past like new writing on a palimpsest. The past becomes contemporary, the regional becomes universal – with this passport we reach every corner of the globe.

The album Gereg has been selected by songlines magazines as one of the "Top of the world" albums for the April/May edition 2008.