From the silent land to Samadhi 0 - 1 - 0 We started from zero. We thought we reached our destiny. We go to back to where we started. Look inside to find our strength. Look outside to break boundaries. NaraBara companions return as the nomads of life, riding through the chaos to find love, beliefs and selves.
Composition by Yider
Produced by Yider
Lyrics by Yider (all tracks), Erdenbayar (track 7), Sound Magician (track 8)
Arranged by Yider (all tracks), Asr (track 4), Suoty (track 4), Han Han (track 7)
Original Melody: Mongolian Long Tune (track 4)
Vocals: Yider
Morin khuur: Yider (tracks 1, 2, & 7)
Guembri: Yider (tracks 1 & 2)
Tsuur: Yider (track 10)
Electric Guitar: Erdenbayar (track 2), Suoty (track 4)
Acoustic Guitar: Suoty (track 4)
Keyboards: Asr (all tracks), Han Han (track 7)
Synthesizers: Asr (track 3)
Percussion: Yider
Bass and Double Bass: ErDàn
Drums: Zhitong Xu
Featured Vocals: AOriqileng (track 4), Sound Magician (track 8)
Backing Vocals: AOriqileng, Banarisu, Sound Magician, Asr, Yider
Vocal Recording Studio (Tuning): B•X•T Music Studio
Vocal Recording Engineer: Xiaochen Xu
Instruments Recording Studio: Changsha Shengtai Music GROOVE ROOM
Studio Engineer: Jingxuan Shawn (track 1), Yongsheng Qiu (all other tracks)
Recording Assistant: Shengwen Sun
Instruments Recording Engineer: Hsiangchu Yu
Mixing Engineer: Yiding
Mastering Studio: Metropolis Studio (UK)
Mastering Engineer: John Davis(UK)
CAT #: NCR003
Record Label: Nomad City Records
Producer: Yider
Copywriter&Planner: JahJahWang
Designer: Tengis
Illustrator: Dai
Artist Agents: Zhibei Tang and Leilei
Label Advisor: Lanlan Wu
International Marketing Management: Curtis Brown, Ke Qin, Jing Xu, and Weston Shuken
The album Hamt Zamin Hümüs (“Companions”) is an open sound field sown by NaraBara. If the notes touch your heart, please join this collective journey toward the sun.
Yider, a Mongol musician, created the NaraBara project with keyboardist Asr, his long-time friend, and collaborator. The two traveled to Hohhot and spent three months "in retreat," focusing on the songwriting process and polishing the general framework of the songs. Their fusion concept soon attracted three experienced musicians - drummer Zhitong Xu, and guitarist Suoty – who had previously dedicated themselves to music scenes both domestic and abroad. With the addition of these members, four became one. A group with interlinked hearts that brings blazing collisions of improvised ideas and energetic performances. "NaraBara," meaning "the contour of the sun" in Mongul, has been the band's guide since its inception, while Hamt Zamin Hümüs marks their first attempt at reaching there.
Breaking musical boundaries set in place by standard genres, Hamt Zamin Hümüs is an organic dialogue between Mongolian folk tunes and the contemporary musical language. It first greets you with “Üg Hürhgüi Gazar” (“The Silent Land”), a genuine, poetic narrative song that mimics an ever-running brook, freely flowing in lyrical and long melodic lines. With compound meters of jazz as a foundation, the album’s rhythm is enriched by syncopated variations that at times serve the melody with a soothingly graceful pace, and at times inject bouncing passion into it which captures the lightness and elasticity of the band's playing style. Drummer Zhitong Xu and bassist ErDàn's deep understanding of their instruments shows the true magic of "rhythm:" that their agile distribution of beats doesn't compromise the speed or precision of the music. Surrounded by the pulse and tension of the drums, you find Asr painting his exquisitely colorful and hazily romantic chords as if his harmonization were stars he picked from the sky; gifts presenting themselves to have a conversation with the rhythm. While everything is united in a sense of wholeness, the free-form nature of the songs teases the listener's comfort zone by slightly adjusting the rhythmic patterns in the arrangement and by altering the texture paved by the synth. The songs grow their own spirit from within in order to support and elevate the thoughtful narrative running throughout the album.
Hamt Zamin Hümüs showcases the band member's appreciation for the cross-cultural sounds of world music. Morin khuur, the Mongolian instrument that shares a great kinship with the band members who studied it professionally, shaped the melodic texture of the album along with other traditional string instruments collected from around the world including the guembri, ngoni, and kora. An air of simplicity spreads from the vibration of the instruments and emits an incomparable cloud of warmth. How the percussion instruments in various shapes – calabash drum, talking drum, muyu, duyuglar, and xapchyk – add quiet rustles and cheerful rattles to the album, like elves whispering charms to a flower; they make the blossoming of Hamt Zamin Hümüs even more whimsical and witty. The pair of songs, “Hörhön Saral” (“Ponies”) & “MaMo,” continue the intricate blending of world music. Listening to a performance by a Malian musician, Yider was surprised to hear a similar distance and sorrow that he recognized from Mongolian folk songs. The band was thus inspired to embark on a musical journey across the grasslands to connect with the wandering spirit of Mali from afar, guided by the lingering guitar rhythm of the Suoty and the clopping hoof beats of the duyuglar. As NaraBara moves fluidly between traditional and contemporary, acoustic and electronic, they continue to listen to the frequency of their companions.
Yider wrote all the lyrics in Hamt Zamin Hümüs in Mongul. This purposeful choice of language was made to pass down the folk songwriting heritage that originated in his hometown of Hulunbuir.
The band creates a call and response with the spirit of Mongol people: “sing and chant, for nature; learn, from all beings.” As the people of the Sun, NaraBara pays tribute to the Mother of all beings by asking the lake and the mountain for direction (“Asuu”, “Ask”) and allowing themselves to be “intoxicated by the scenery of this moment” (“Üg Hürhgüi Gazar”, “The Silent Land”). They desire to capture the delights before them (“Üher”, “The Cows”) and to listen to the wisdom of elders in order to emulate the sounds of traditional folk songs (Hörhön Saral, “Ponies”). After crossing the mountains, they arrive at the divine state of “Samadhi”. Among the stunning scenery, they look back at the first note played in “The Silent Land” and find themselves in good company. So companions finish the cycle of this spiritual journey and arrive at their destination peacefully.
Looking inward, the band members reflect on the driving forces within them. Looking outward, they fuse with the modern world to break through the barriers of conventional musical standards. The five members of NaraBara become ponies of the grassland. Racing through the wilderness, they let the music lead their way. The contour of the sun is radiating – both its light and warmth are waiting for you.
Author | 香菇
Translation | Wang Zhuxin、Tea、Curt Brown