THE HU + KING NUN – The Roundhouse, London.

Being brought up in the South of Italy, two things always fascinated me, listening to imported music I did not understand the lyrics of and local folk music. So said, being also a metal fan, it was only a matter of time before I stumbled into The Hu.

The Hu are a hard rock/metal band from Mongolia founded by Galaa, Jaya, Temka, and Enkush. I first heard them in 2018, when ‘Yuve Yuve Yu’ appeared under my ‘YouTube suggestions’. Having listened, for years, to Ego Fall, Tengger Cavalry, Altan Urag and Nine Treasure, I decided to give it a go. Since then, I had the pleasure of seeing them live at the Download Festival in 2019, and at their first London show at the Electric Ballroom.

To those who may be very new to the band, a little background note. Formed in 2016, The Hu blend heavy rock/metal guitars with traditional Mongolian guttural singing (throat singing) and instruments like the Morin Khuur – a two strings horsehead fiddle that has the beauty of making sounds similar to a wild horse neighing or a prairie breeze – the Tovshuur (Mongolian guitar), the Tumur Khuur (jaw harp) and the Tsuur (flute). Their music and lyrics are strongly connected to their land, culture, and Mother Nature.

Now, back to the gig. Being a fan, I could not let this opportunity go. So I embraced the cold, drove all the way, and there I was, at the London Roundhouse, seeing them on their final tour sprint presenting the latest album ‘Rumble of Thunder’. Outside the venue, there was a long queue of fans in leather kilts, jackets and trousers, and people who had never seen them live before but were curious about their stuff. Inside, the venue crowded up relatively fast, and, from the gallery, the UK-based Mongolian community was showing their support with flags coming down the front balcony.

Considering the band sings only in Mongolian, I was touched by the many people there who, like me, did not know the language but were equally fascinated by their music. As the venue was filling, the audience was warming up chancing ‘Hu! Hu! Hu!’.

Before The Hu hit the stage, it was time for the supporting band, King Nun. King Nun, defined as an alt-indie band from South West London, have their sound rooted in British punk rock (think of Ramones or the Clash). Despite their young appearance, they did not shy from delivering a ‘rebellious’ stage show with 12 fast-paced songs cramped in 30min. Their sound was heavy and raw, with distorted guitars, furious drums, and angry singing, all well-packaged and positively received by the audience.

The band played songs from the debut album ‘Mass’ and the EP ‘I have Love’. The set ended with a cover of ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ and singer Theo Polyzoides jumping on the high speakers, setting panic among security; you could tell he was ready to jump and surf the crowd … but that didn’t happen (disappointingly). He managed to recompose himself and jumped back on the stage instead.

As King Nun left the stage, the crowd was well warmed up and started chanting again ‘Hu!, Hu!, Hu!’, in the same way you would call a great king. A few min later, a grand entrance from The Hu – multiplied as they have extra drums and guitars joining live – proudly holding up a totem and opening the set with ‘Shihi Hutu’ (from ‘Rumble of Thunder’). Generally, bands open their show with fast-paced songs, not The Hu. They decided to warm up their audience with something slower, giving a more fairytale epic start.

‘Shoog Shoog’ followed, with jumps and chanting from the crowd. The singing in Mongolian did not stop the audience from tagging along with the chorus. Unite in music, is just what I like to witness.

From the second song, you could tell the band was truly enjoying their last tour show, with an excited Galaa who enjoyed showing off his great skills with the Morin Khuur and head-tail spinning – I may be biased, but he is one of the sexiest Morin Khuur players I have ever seen.

‘‘Shoog Shoog’ smoothly transited into ‘The Gereg’, the first song of the evening where you could hear the jaw harp. Again, hands waving, chanting, cheering and screaming from the crowd. At this point, Galaa talked to the crowd, in Mongolian, and everyone fired up and chanted yet again ‘Hu! Hu! Hu!’, and with hands to the air, the band started ‘Huhchu Zairan’, another slightly slow tune, which was followed by the announcement of ‘The Great Chinggis Khaan’ – the two songs sit well together as they seem to have similar chorus harmonies. After the majestic and rampant ending of ‘Chinggis Khaan’, the lights went down for a few seconds to turn on again with a ‘Thank you soooo muuuch’ from singer Jaya.

Once again, hands in the air, clapping and the start of ‘Triangle’, a bouncing folk song that had the audience dancing around. This is the kind of song you could easily play at a party and have everyone stepping in – a bit like Metallica’s version of Whiskey in The Jar. Truth be told, after having taken pics, I spent the rest of the gig dancing my heart out all the way (a few personal things were going on at that time, so that cheered me up for a short while).

A little break and Jaya announced the next song, ‘Shireg Shireg’. The audience was still hyped by ‘Triangle’, it took a while to calm down and start clapping along to the new song.

I liked Jaya’s interaction with the audience, especially in those moments when he was not singing or playing, making sure everyone was joining in and having a good time.

The songs that followed were the most crowd-pleasing ones, starting with ‘Bii Biyelgee’ and ‘Tatar Warrior’ – it all felt as if they were getting people ready for war.

The night was crowned by ‘Yuve Yuve Yu’ and ‘Wolf Totem’ – the crowd went crazy at this point, chanting, jumping, cheering more than ever, and surf crowding. These two tunes are also my two favourites; listening live to the neighing of both Morin gave me goosebumps. We were getting close to the end, and ’Back Thunder’ followed, which had a very energetic ending (including flashy lighting).

The band closed the set with ‘This Is Mongol’, a homage to their culture, with Jaya shouting ‘come on London, Hurai eeyaoh!’ inciting the crowd to join in – I think at this point there was a bit of a mosh pit in the middle but it was hard to judge from where I was standing.

The Hu dominated the crowd for 90 minutes straight and, of course, the show ended with more ‘Hu! Hu! Hu!’ chanting and Galaa shouting ‘We Are The Hu’. They invited their manager (or so I think) on the stage to thank him, hugged and took a quick photo with the audience.

Applauses and cheers accompanied the band off the stage, however, an encore was called! A couple of minutes later the band came back on stage with Jaya asking ‘do you want more songs?’; they went on and played Metallica cover ‘Sad But True’ – I was hoping for one more song, but curfew hour kicked in at that point.

The Hu truly is magical, I left the gig with a fulfilled heart, energised, their music gave me strength and the right encouragement to keep going ahead. Thank you, Hu!

Set List:
• Shihi Hutu
• Shoog shoog
• The Gereg
• Huhchu Zairan
• The Great Chinggis Khaan
• Triangle
• Shireg Shireg
• Bii Biyelgee
• Tatar Warrior
• Yuve Yuve Yu
• Wolf Totem
• Black Thunder
• This Is Mongol

Encore:
• Sad but True