KARAOKE!

On one recent Friday evening, I was invited to join one of my classes and another of their teachers for “class bonding” via Karaoke! Karaoke is immensely popular. There are clubs all over Ulaanbaatar, but I’d managed to avoid them thus far. Don’t get me wrong, I was happy to hang out with the students, but not so enthusiastic about the singing. Thankfully, we weren’t performing in front of a crowded bar, but in our own little room, with a tv set and two microphones. Some people had brought snacks, and almost 20 of us crowded in, hip bone to hip bone on the wraparound couches. We stayed for 3 and a half hours! It was a sweaty good time, and an excellent introduction to one big Asian pastime. We sang mostly in Mongolian, but also in English and occasionally in Russian. As long as the words aren’t 50 syllables and the tempo isn’t too fast, I can follow along just fine in Mongolian, although mostly I don’t know what I'm singing about! In English, Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys, the Pussycat Dolls and Westlife (an American? band I’d never heard of in America, but who have some popular hits here) were favorites, and I disappointed the students with my limited familiarity with these giant representatives of American culture. However, our knowledge of English songs overlapped in Norah Jones, and Avril Lavigne. The students love to sing. Singing is a important part of Mongolian culture in so many ways (for example last semester when students made lists of the qualities of good leaders one group said a leader needs to be a good musician).

In related musical anecdotes, it’s been surprising for me to realize how much our American media and popular culture is spread and analyzed abroad. Last week, I was discussing with students an article about the boom of drive-through windows and other conveniences for a growing percentage of commuters in the US. There are no international fast food chains in Mongolia, and no drive-through windows at all, so it occurred to me to check that they understood the concept. After a moment, one student said, “oh yeah. I know what a drive-through window is. I saw one in a 50 Cent video!”(50 Cent = a commercially successful, American rapper). Who knew that rap videos were educating folks all over the world?