Mongolian metal makes it to AHS
By Alana Huppert
Published May 30, 2019
Throughout the years, Aitkin high school students have proven to have different musical tastes. “Wolf Totem,” a song by Mongolian throat-singing heavy metal rock band The Hu, has made its way across the globe and into the halls of Aitkin High School. The College Cultural Geography teacher, Mr. Dustin Richters, was the start of it all.
“Generally it’s a good song if you’re looking for something a little bit heavier,” Richters said. “It’s got a good beat.” Reagan Wilson, a high school junior, noted that the song was, “Interesting. I think it is cool to see different types of music around the world. The music video shows their culture and I think that’s fascinating.” The music video for “Wolf Totem” has generated about 11.5 million views.
“Wolf Totem” incorporates traditional Mongolian instruments with heavy metal bass sounds. The Hu have coined this style of music as “Hunnu rock.” The morin khuur—a two-stringed horsehead fiddle played with a bow—and a tovshuur—another two-stringed instrument, but played with the fingers, were both used in the Wolf Totem music video.
The Hu’s music is deeply rooted in Mongolian nationalism. “The song is about respecting (Mongolia’s) ancient culture, which is generally going back to the days when Genghis Khan ruled most of Asia,” Richters said.
Cultural diffusion is the spread of cultural beliefs and social activities from one group of people to another. There are two examples of cultural diffusion with the song Wolf Totem. “They use their traditional singing methods but adopted metal music from the United States and then in the music video they adopt the Harley Davidson tough guy look,” Richters said. “Instead of riding horses as Genghis did, they are riding motorcycles.”
Mr. Richters didn’t know that the song would become as popular as it did. “I have no idea (why it became so popular),” he said. “I just played the song for two weeks straight and I think it caught on.”
Richters noted that he was proud of Carter Kjelstrom for using “Wolf Totem” as his walk-up song for baseball when he was coming up to bat. “We just listened to it in Richter’s class and it seemed like a pretty good banger so I went with it," Kjelstrom said. "It just sounded pretty mean and intimidating.”
“Wolf Totem” was also played during the school picnic. Students were dancing and head banging to the deep bass in the song.
The Hu has also released another song called “Yuve Yuve Yu,” which has also gained plenty of publicity with almost 17 million views. Check out both of the videos on YouTube below.
Published May 30, 2019
Throughout the years, Aitkin high school students have proven to have different musical tastes. “Wolf Totem,” a song by Mongolian throat-singing heavy metal rock band The Hu, has made its way across the globe and into the halls of Aitkin High School. The College Cultural Geography teacher, Mr. Dustin Richters, was the start of it all.
“Generally it’s a good song if you’re looking for something a little bit heavier,” Richters said. “It’s got a good beat.” Reagan Wilson, a high school junior, noted that the song was, “Interesting. I think it is cool to see different types of music around the world. The music video shows their culture and I think that’s fascinating.” The music video for “Wolf Totem” has generated about 11.5 million views.
“Wolf Totem” incorporates traditional Mongolian instruments with heavy metal bass sounds. The Hu have coined this style of music as “Hunnu rock.” The morin khuur—a two-stringed horsehead fiddle played with a bow—and a tovshuur—another two-stringed instrument, but played with the fingers, were both used in the Wolf Totem music video.
The Hu’s music is deeply rooted in Mongolian nationalism. “The song is about respecting (Mongolia’s) ancient culture, which is generally going back to the days when Genghis Khan ruled most of Asia,” Richters said.
Cultural diffusion is the spread of cultural beliefs and social activities from one group of people to another. There are two examples of cultural diffusion with the song Wolf Totem. “They use their traditional singing methods but adopted metal music from the United States and then in the music video they adopt the Harley Davidson tough guy look,” Richters said. “Instead of riding horses as Genghis did, they are riding motorcycles.”
Mr. Richters didn’t know that the song would become as popular as it did. “I have no idea (why it became so popular),” he said. “I just played the song for two weeks straight and I think it caught on.”
Richters noted that he was proud of Carter Kjelstrom for using “Wolf Totem” as his walk-up song for baseball when he was coming up to bat. “We just listened to it in Richter’s class and it seemed like a pretty good banger so I went with it," Kjelstrom said. "It just sounded pretty mean and intimidating.”
“Wolf Totem” was also played during the school picnic. Students were dancing and head banging to the deep bass in the song.
The Hu has also released another song called “Yuve Yuve Yu,” which has also gained plenty of publicity with almost 17 million views. Check out both of the videos on YouTube below.
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