Review – Hanggai [China]

Chinese act Hanggai hit centre stage on the Centre Stage – an eclectic mix of Mongolian throat-singing-based folk, punk rock, funk, metal, and at one point, something that almost sounded klezmer.

The joyful septet equally seemed to relish their traditional roots and their modern innovations, layering emotive Mongolian flute and fiddle over rock riffs on bass and on a drum kit.

“We love you all!”, they cheered, and later “Happy day to everyone!”.

Lead singer Ilchi, the former frontman of Beijing punk group T9, danced and pumped his fist with all the energy of those assembled in the crowd, and was a ball of pure showmanship. At one point, he was pacing, pumping a fist that had a beer in it, and when he realised the beer was about to spray out of the top of the bottle, he just covered the top with his thumb and sprayed it over his own stage and speakers.

If you’re keen for the kind of band you start singing along with, and then realise you don’t speak Chinese – this is your group. And if you just want to see an overweight Asian dude in sunglasses dancing like a horse, well – these guys should still definitely be in your top three.