The Cultural Center is a modest building, with a large room for gatherings (like a mini-auditorium, but all one level and with moveable seats) and an office attached to it. The Director has a computer loaded with all his favorite music and digital photos from a recent trip to the nearby mountains. Computer runs off power from a portable generator outside.
The music is blaring when we arrive. I do a double-take - the only thing missing is a connection to the Internet; I learn that Internet should arrive in the next year or two. The Director, a man in his mid- to late-twenties, is clearly eager for Ulaan Uul to be "plugged in." But rather than go to the big city himself, he is staying and waiting for the electronic/digital world to come to his sleepy town in the Darhad Valley.
We set up the recording equipment at the Cultural Center, and people begin to show up to sing. Malgar and a younger singer then try to convince the rest of us that the Darhad people actually invented hip-hop before the West did! They sing a rousing duet that alternately moves through traditional Darhad tunes and a more rhythmic expression of the same. The younger singer turns his hat sideways with some attitude. I get a kick out of both of them!
When the battery died in Mishig's video camera, everyone hung out while it recharged. I offered a bit of entertainment, and sang an American folk song, a melody from Appalachia ("He's Gone Away"). Afterwards Badmaa translated the meaning, which everyone appreciated since it's about one's love, a theme also common in Darhad lyrics.
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