WEBZINE ACC

# A Wind Blowing in the Mongolian Desert

On August 11, I visited the ACC Theater to cover the “ACC Pop-up” program. The “ACC Pop-up - Meeting Asian Poetry Together,” held from August 4 to 12, is a program that introduces six Asian poets from five countries to teenagers on summer vacation, introducing the poets’ historical contexts, culture, and poetic worlds through recitals, music, theater, and video. The poet I met in the ACC that day was Damdinsuren Uriankhai, one of the foremost poets of Mongolia.

Under the vertical sky
in my Mongolia
what I can do is -
Only but to move My Mongolia
takes down what was erected and,
from the “past” to
“things to be passed,”
moves without even a single day of rest.

- From Damdinsuren Uriankhai, “My Mongolia” -

I heard an unfamiliar melody carried through the air when I stepped into the ACC Theater Atelier. At once fresh and dreamy, this space-filling music filled me with a sense of curiosity for the time that was to come. A whispering voice joined the low ringing sounds, making way for high and clear notes. A single voice produced these different sounds.

ACC Pop-up Meeting Asian Poetry Together

Khöömii, the traditional throat singing technique of Mongolia, was included on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009. As “throat singing,” khöömii is notable for its unique feature of laying overtone singing over a base note. It is a technique that produces more than two different pitches using only a single person’s vocal organs, creating harmony with more than two notes built upon that base note.

Informed by the howls of animals and the sounds of nature, this singing technique cannot be found anywhere else on Earth, save for Mongolia. Likewise, Damdinsuren Uriankhai—the son of Mongolia, born and raised—and his poetry also capture the unique nature, culture, and identity of today’s Mongolia.

Born in 1940, Damdinsuren Uriankhai studied economics in Moscow, Russia, before returning to his home and serving as a government official. In 1977, he began his higher education at the Gorky Institute of World Literature and, with that, his works on poetry, novel, theater, and essays. His works cover both the traditional poetic trend of nomadic emotionality and modernist influences and are said to have constructed a unique world of contemporary Mongolian soul. Uriankhai was the first winner of the Asian Literature Award, awarded at the first Asian Literature Festival in 2017.

In addition to Damdinsuren Uriankhai’s contemporary Mongolian poetry, “ACC Pop-up - Meeting Asian Poetry Together” broadened its in-depth engagement with Asian poetry with the works of Edo-era Japanese poet Matsuo Basho (1644–1694), the works of Goryeo-era intellectual Jeong Mong-ju (1337–1392), the Joseon-era works of Yi Bang-won (1367–1422), the Filipino reformer José Rizal (1861–1896), and Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), who won the Nobel Prize in Literature with “Gitanjali” in 1913.

# Stepping closer to traditional music, mini-gayageum “TINGGO”

The third program of “ACC Pop-up” is “Within Asian Music: Learning Mini-gayageum ‘TINGGO.’” The Ryun Company, the developer of the mini-gayageum “TINGGO,” developed the instrument to popularize the traditional musical instruments of Korea. Many people in Korea learn Western string instruments as a hobby, if not as a profession, but it is quite rare to find those who learn Korean string instruments, and learning them is said to be quite difficult.

I, for one, learned violin in an after-school program during my middle school years, and I do not remember any after-school programs that covered traditional instruments. I remember learning instruments that are quite simple to learn, like sogo, janggu, and danso. Of course, I would be lying if I were to claim that I was a flawless danso player. I have seen many piano academies and even went to one for a short time; I could not find any place to learn traditional instruments.

In such a context, Ryun Company’s mini-gayageum “TINGGO” was launched to broaden access to traditional instruments. The company has also worked to develop educational curricula for the instrument so that instructions can be implemented in the school setting. Just as we have memories of learning the piano in our youth, if we learn the joys of the mini-gayageum from elementary school, there would be people who come back to learn the gayageum when they grow older, just as people return to their hobby of playing the piano when they are older.

ACC Pop-up Meeting Asian Poetry Together

A full-length gayageum reaches up to 150 cm, but “TINGGO” is half that size and has the additional benefit of using Western musical notations for easier access. This “ACC Pop-up - Within Asian Music: Learning Mini-gayageum ‘TINGGO’” requires preregistration until August 19, so anyone who missed the opportunity must wait for the next opportunity from the “ACC Pop-up.”

A “Pop-up” is something that appears and disappears in the blink of an eye.
The same goes for pop-ups on the Internet and pop-up stores for advertisements. They sometimes appear out of nowhere to give us joy when we are not willing or expecting them. They disappear just as quickly or sometimes settle into a more permanent spot among us. But a surprise encounter is always the starting point of any pop-up.

Art and cultural education programs that appear to us as a part of the “ACC Pop-up” may be fleeting experiences that we do not retain, but they can also be things that bring us joy and root themselves more firmly among us. I look forward to the continuation of the “ACC Pop-up” program and its offerings of diverse and fun tidbits of art and culture.