Mongolia’s got Bling!

BY Benj, December 14, 2009

STAFF NOTE:
We heard about Benj Binks a while ago when we saw the trailer for his film Mongolian Bling. When a friend, and former World Up contributor, brought CDs and mixtapes of some buck wild beats mixed with traditional Mongolian styles, like Tuvan Throat singing, from her travels in Mongolia, we had to hear more. We hit up Mr. Binks himself to get a sampling of this burgeoning music scene to you, the faithful WU readers. Benj will be a regular contributor to the blog so look out for his reports as he travels around Mongolia documenting the scene. Here he introduces how he developed a love of hip-hop, wanderlust and how the two with go hand-in-hand in his reports for World Up:

BENJ SAYS:
“I first heard about Mongolian hip-hop 5 years ago when I was working on the Trans-Siberian (Railroad) as a tour guide. I had imagined Mongolia to be a country with wandering nomads, a traditional lifestyle, and horses on the steppe. While I did eventually discover those elements, when I first stepped off the train and into Ulaanbaatar, the capital, I found myself in a bustling, contemporary city.

Hip-hop was everywhere. Kids walked the streets looking the part; graffiti-covered walls, clubs pumping tracks, CD stores with shelves full of local emcees and open-air concerts with crowds 10,000 people strong were all a part of the landscape. It was time to turn my travel photography hobby into a travel documentary, and Mongolian hip-hop was the story I wanted to tell. Mongolian Bling was born.

Not being able to research much from my hometown of Melbourne, Australia, I arrived in Mongolia for the winter of 2006/2007 with only an idea of what I’d find. With two friends in tow, I scavenged to discover as much as possible and document the culture to which I was newly addicted. We returned to Australia with a load of knowledge and footage. I’ve worked on the story for two years and now I’m back with Nacho (who has been refining his camera skills in Madrid), and Steve Bond, Melbourne’s premier audio producer.

This time we are following a smaller group of characters. Big stars, up-and-comers, kids dreaming of fame, and some of the country’s traditional musicians who have fascinating stories that makes the emergence and success of hip hop in Mongolia all the more interesting.”

Stay tuned for more….peep the his trailer first for Mongolian Bling:

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2 Comments »

1. 

   This is rad, my roomate plays that
   Back Tuva Future” album by Ondar all the time and while the throat singing is cool, the beats suck ass. I’d be down with some throat singing heat.

   Comment by Dave Quam — March 9, 2010 @ 10:36 pm

2. 

   This is cool, I’d love to hear some good beats over some throat singing. Odnar’s “Back Tuva Future” has terrible production.

   Comment by Dave Quam — March 9, 2010 @ 10:37 pm

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