Luzbel 1
Nelson Luzbel
Professor Chamberlain
2 pm class
29 November 2013
Drama Paper For my drama performance I chose to attend the AnDa Union musical at the Curtis M Phillips Center. The group consists of Mongolians who reflect their roots and tradition through their musical styles. The word Anda refers to a blood brother or sister, which for Mongolians holds more importance than a birth sibling since you choose the other person that is to become your “Anda”. The AnDa Union who perform the musical together are actually a brotherhood of Andas themselves. Throughout the show they played songs that tell a traditional story. The first song they performed was called Galloping Horses. The rhythm to this song is very fast paced and exciting, as for it is a resemblance of a group of horses galloping. I personally found this part of the performance to be very attention grabbing. This song is said to be the most well-known piece of music composed through the morin khuur. The morin khuur is a traditional Mongolian bowed stringed instrument, it is one of the most important music instruments to the Mongol people. Galloping Horses was written by the master Chi Bulag who created the musical piece after he had watched a fierce horse race. In the race, the winning horse staggered over the finish line, tumbled to the ground and died of exhaustion. Through the actual performance you can feel the suspense and imagine the race that Bulag based the musical piece on. Another song performed in the play that I found to be very interesting was Heemor which translated to English mean The Wind Horse. The performance was very entertaining in the manner that it changed up throughout the duration. The song tells a very interesting story and the musical piece is wonderful in representing it. The wind horse is a moral story for the human soul in the shamanistic tradition of Central Asia which has been integrated into Mongolian and Tibetan Buddhism. Shamanistic is a religion in which mediation between the visible and spirit worlds are effected by shamans. Heemor is a symbol of the idea of overall wellness or good fortune. Throughout the performance, as the wind horse rises it is a sign of good and as it falls it displays a sign of hardship. Heemor can be seen as a messenger of prayer, the prayers are received by Tengar, the sky god. The magnificent work of music was composed by Yalalt who currently resides in inner Mongolia. Yalalt’s work was inspired by heemor. In conclusion the AnDa Union was an outstanding performance. AnDa Union brings together musical intruments and vocal styles to make a fantastic collaboration. The songs played and the stories told are very inspiring and legendary. The group does a great job of presenting themselves as a family trying to keep the essence of their traditional music alive.