The Shanghai audience had never heard a sound like the mysterious Khoomei before. The sound involved two musical tones uttered by a singer at the same time, and they echoed inside Shanghai Grand Theatre last Friday. "The singer utters one lower music tone from his larynx, and another higher whistling tone from his oral cavity," renowned singer Dedema said.

"The singing reminds me of the Gobi, desert, camels, and the vast grassland of Inner Mongolia. It brings those faraway sceneries right in front of you," she said.

The special performance marked the opening of a Mongolian Culture Week, which was part of the ongoing Shanghai International Arts Festival.

Khoomei almost became extinct in China but was revived by artists from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region who went to the Republic of Mongolia to learn the traditional singing technique, and brought it back to China.

Dedema is in her 60s. Eight years ago, she had a stroke during a concert in Japan, and has never fully recovered from the resulting hemiplegia. She mounted the stage of Shanghai Grand Theatre, pulling a lame leg, singing her repertoire, songs adapted from Mongolian folk music, and won thundering applause from the audience.

The show involved more than 150 artists from the Song and Dance Troupe of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Mongolian wrestling, horse herding, and tales of nomad life were conveyed through folk ballads of "long tune," or changdiao, accompanied by matouqin, a unique Mongolian string instrument with a horse-shaped head.

In addition, music and dance of other minority groups, including Daur and Ewenki and Russian, were performed.

"The huge production amazed me. It's beautiful," Lina Botero from Columbia said after the show. "I've never heard the way they sing before. It's very different and interesting."

Botero, from the Columbian performance agency, said she wanted to introduce the new musical styles to her home country.

Several more shows added traditional flavor during Mongolian culture week.

"A Night on the Grassland" was held in Shanghai Oriental Art Centre on Sunday. Mongolian tents were erected in the lobby, and performers brought milk tea to the audience. The chorus of singers performs without instrumental accompaniment and has won several international awards, while the "Anda Ensemble" showcased traditional Mongolian music and instruments.

An exhibition of Mongolian artefacts is also being held at the Shanghai Police Museum. It includes cultural relics, rock painting rubbings, and a photo exhibition depicting the Mongolian sceneries and daily life. "We brought more than 70 pieces of national treasured antiques," said Min Rui, deputy director of the Cultural Department of Inner Mongolia. The cultural relics dating as far back as the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) are exhibited in Shanghai for the first time.

Another important part of the exhibition is the rock paintings from Inner Mongolia, which record the history of the nomadic people.

"Most of them are rubbings, and we've brought some original pieces as well," Min said. These paintings tell of a history dating as far back as the Paleolithic Age. "The art fair provides a good platform for international communications to get to know about Inner Mongolia and its people," Min said.

(China Daily October 26, 2006)