Mongolia's Musical Entrepreneurs Led Way Out of Crisis | 2018
Wednesday, February 14, 2018 at 10:44AM
Publisher: UNDP Mongolia Communications Office/Press Institute of Mongolia
Managing Editor: David South
Editorial Advisors: Ts. Enkhbat, Mustafa Eric, David South
Author and Researcher: Peter Marsh, Indiana University
Copy Editor: N. Oyuntungalag
Production Editor: B. Bayarma
Published: 1999
ISBN 99929-5-018-8
It was the late 1990s. Mongolia was still recovering from "one of the biggest peacetime economic collapses ever" (Mongolia's Economic Reforms: Background, Content and Prospects, Richard Pomfret, University of Adelaide, 1994). But it was the country's young musicians who were showing the way out of the crisis, setting an example for entrepreneurship in the new, free-market economy that emerged in the country after 1990.
As UNDP Communications Officer N. Oyuntungalag wrote in the Blue Sky Bulletin (BSkyB) newsletter, "A thriving pop and rock scene has emerged over the last four years. .. The energy of these musicians and singers has not gone unnoticed by the burgeoning advertising market. Pop bands are promoting many things, from face creams to beer. ... [but] there has been little serious writing on the business of popular music."
As the book's author, American ethnomusicologist Peter Marsh, said in an interview with UNDP's Blue Sky Bulletin newsletter, "we thought our book would provide important ideas about the direction and nature of the nation's development.
"My impression about Mongolian pop-rock is that it is a lively, diverse and at times innovative Mongolian art form that closely reflects many of the hopes, fears and aspirations of its primary audience, Mongolian youth."
The book still stands as an unusual and innovative contribution to thinking around the role played by youth in development and business and in crisis recovery.
Other publications by Peter K. Marsh:
Interviews with Peter K. Marsh:
A small sample of books citing the UNDP-funded Mongolian rock and pop book by ethnomusicologist Dr. Peter Marsh.
Mongoluls.net published an excerpt from the book, "Mongolia Sings its Own Song", from 2002-2007.
Cited in Norovbanzad's Legacy: Contemporary Concert Long Song in Mongolia by Gabrielle Giron (Florida State University Library, 2007).
More on the development of contemporary Mongolian music and its rising global profile:
The unexpected rise of the Hu: the Mongolian heavy metal band resurrecting rock
With more YouTube views than Stormzy, this metal band is a surprising smash hit – and they’ve only just begun. by Eleanor Peake
More music writing by David South:
“You Can’t Have A Bird If You Want To Be The Biggest Band In The World”: Oasis Has Arrogance, A Pile Of Attitude And The Best Album Of 1994
ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5311-1052.
© David South Consulting 2018
1999, B. Bayarma, Mongolia, Mongolian Rock and Pop, N. Oyuntungalag, Peter Marsh, UNDP Mongolia Communications Office, Youth, book, business, entrepreneurship, free-market economy in 21st century, Agenda 21, Asian Financial Crisis, Crisis Response Media, David South Consulting, David South International, Digital, Emerging Markets, Geopolitics, Health and Human Development, Human Development Innovator, ICT4D, International Development, Knowledge Sharing, Media, Mongolia, Mongolian Rock & Pop, Oyuntungalag, Shock Therapy, UNDP Mongolia, United Nations, Youth