Members of Ih Tsetsn pose near their studio in Beijing, 2014.
Photo by Josh Eli Cogan, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution
Originally from the prairie of Inner Mongolia, the seven-member group Ih Tsetsn is based in Beijing, once capital of the Mongol-ruled Yuan Dynasty and now increasingly a center of Mongolian music in China. The name Ih Tsetsn means “broad, inclusive, and wise” in the Mongolian language. Ih Tsetsn performs khoomei throat-singing and long song, two genres that have been inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. They have studied not only Mongolian music but various other genres as well. As a result, Ih Tsetsn is able to perform traditional music in a more contemporary ensemble form.
