Asia, Land of Light and Sound
  • This section introduces reproduced contents of the booklet and CD for exhibition, 'Kim, Soo-Nam & Choi, Sang-il - Asia, Land of Light and Sound (6 to 29 July 2005, Seoul, Republic of Korea)'. Kim, Soo-Nam, documentary photographer representing the Republic of Korea, has started his profession as a photo journalist in Dong-A Ilbo and contributed to introduce the beauty of shamanistic and traditional culture of ethnic minorities by traveling everywhere in Asia. He never let the camera out of his hands till his last day in Chiang Rai in Thailand in 2006, next year of the exhibition. His enormous works still pass down Asia’s value to the world. Choi, Sang-il, who believes that ‘folk songs everywhere contain the unembellished thoughts and sentiments of their people’, has shown various broadcast programs, music albums, and books on folk song and music in Korean and Asia since his join to Munhwa Broadcating Company (MBC). Until now, he continues his contributions including recording diverse intangible cultural heritage and promoting it through excellent broadcast program such as ‘In Search of Our Sounds’. In recent, he received commendation from the president and Award for Professional Achievement in Producing. We express our gratitude to the families of the late Kim, Soo-Nam, and MBC producer Choi, Sang-il for allowing to make these precious collections available online, so that the beauty of living heritages in the Asia-Pacific will be better known to the world.
Miao of China Thai Golden Triangle Indonesia Bali, Indonesia Myanmar Kam (Dong) of China Sri Lanka The Philippines Ladakh, India Japan Okinawa, Japan Southwestern China Ladakh Mongolia Uzbekistan 
  • Although Mongols are racially similar to Koreans, their folk music is vastly different, due to the difference in history and environment. Surprisingly, the Mongols do not have a wide range of folk songs. This may be because nomads do not often get the chance to hold gatherings, except on special occasions such as weddings. The only song that they do sing at events such as weddings is the urtyn duu, which means ‘long song’. The lyrics of urtyn duu sing of vast grasslands, blue skies, horses roaming grasslands, and nostalgia for the hometown and family that they have left behind.

Although the Mongols do not have many songs, they do have an interesting repertoire of sounds to call their livestock, to coax animals, and to herd cattle. These sounds exist in a pre-song stage and symbolize the coexistence of man and beast in the grasslands of Mongolia.

Mongolian music contains many sounds that resemble the wind blowing in the grassland. This can be found in the overtone singing technique of khoomii that produces whistling sounds in the throat and the tsuur flute played with deliberate wind noises. An instrument called huur played by the Tsaatan tribe who raise reindeer by Khuvsgul Lake also produces the sound of wind.
Mongolian music also contains the epic genre. These epics are accompanied by simple two-stringed instruments and usually discuss the greatness of nature as a theme.

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