Press Kit

Namgar is the band endowing the contemporary music culture with the roots music of Buryatia and Mongolia with loving care. The blazing voice of the band’s lead singer Namgar reproduces the immense music heritage that stretches back into the history and ethnos of the nomads almost unchanged, while the masterpiece setting created by the powerful electric guitars make the songs sound clearly contemporary and invigorating, expanding the boundaries of rock music. Namgar band was created in 2001. The band performs traditional Buryatian and Mongilian songs. Namgar Lkhasaranova is the lead singer of the band. She perform salong with her husband Yevgeniy Zolotarev. Namgar sings ancient nomadic songs,long songs, ballades and many other traditional songs. In the Tibet language“Namgar” means «white cloud».Her first album of acoustic Buryat music, Hatar, came out in Moscow in 2003

The second album «Nomad» with mostly traditional songs in ethno-rockarrangements, was released in Moscow in 2009 – both albums were noticed by bothRussian and Western music press and were insrumental in bringing Namgar’s act tothe foreign – both European, North American, and Asian – markets.In 2010 Namgar spent several weeks in Mongolia, studying traditional Mongoliansinging techniques.Her third album, electroacoustic «The Dawn of the Foremothers», was recorded inOctober 2012 in Germany with a team of international musicians : Markus Reuter (Producer,arranged,Percussion, organ, synthesizer, treatments,additional programming)Tobias Reber(Live electronics, drum programming, synthesizer)Alex Anthony Faide( 6- and 12-string electric and acoustic guitars) Enkhjargal Dandarvaanchig( Morin-khoor, throat-singing)In 2013 the Riddu Riddu festival commisioned a piece by Ole Jørn Myklebust. WithNamgar Lhasaranova from Buryatia, Russia (north of Mongolia) and NiillasHolmberg from Sápmi, it was set for a meeting between two of the most uniqueindigenous voices in the world today. Both represent their culture, music andtradition at a very high level, a remarkable collaboration between two voices thatboth contrast and complement each other. Ole Jørn Myklebust made new arrangements to the traditional music from Buryatia, but also wrote new music with lyrics written by a poet from Buryatia; GalinaRadnaeva with help from Namgar and Niillas.
The live-CD «Nordic Namgar» from theRiddu Riddu-concert was released during spring 2014.

Evgeny Zolotarev (chanza) Since 2005 Namgar and her band have been repeatedly performing abroad – inMalaysia, Norway, UK, Germany, Canada, and US (among other US appearances,she performed at Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. andplayed at NYC’s globalFEST in 2010).She played her most US shows in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Princeton (NewJersey) and appeared at APAP in January 2013;Namgar’s band has two permanent cofounding members – Namgar herself(vocals, yataga, percussions) and her husband Eugene Zolotarev (chanza,bass,back vocals).Her current acoustict lineup also includes drummer and percussionist Alexey Baevand guitarist Timur Zolotarev. Depending on presenter’s preferences, a morin khoorplayer can be added to the acoustic lineup.