<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>When I conducted fieldwork among the Darhad of northern Mongolia my informants repeatedly asserted that after a good singer’s performance even the most badly intoxicated lad stands still and keeps silent. In this article, I make three points in order to explain why this claim was made. In the first one, I show that the main concern about singing performance at social gatherings is not about revealing the singer’s inner emotional realm but rather about crafting a collective feeling that has the ability to make people temporarily shed their otherness and converge. The problem with drunkards lies in the fact that they are unable to participate and even noisily impede this rite of convergence. The main reason is that they are not sufficiently detached from their own inner realm. I then put the concept of noise in context, arguing that it forms the repulsive pole of a Mongolian sonic continuum. In my last point, I stress the fact that according to Mongolian linguistic ideology, noise brings misfortune to the entire community. That is why good singers must win their battle against drunkards.</p></abstract>

When I conducted fieldwork among the Darhad of northern Mongolia my informants repeatedly asserted that after a good singer’s performance even the most badly intoxicated lad stands still and keeps silent. In this article, I make three points in order to explain why this claim was made. In the first one, I show that the main concern about singing performance at social gatherings is not about revealing the singer’s inner emotional realm but rather about crafting a collective feeling that has the ability to make people temporarily shed their otherness and converge. The problem with drunkards lies in the fact that they are unable to participate and even noisily impede this rite of convergence. The main reason is that they are not sufficiently detached from their own inner realm. I then put the concept of noise in context, arguing that it forms the repulsive pole of a Mongolian sonic continuum. In my last point, I stress the fact that according to Mongolian linguistic ideology, noise brings misfortune to the entire community. That is why good singers must win their battle against drunkards.

Drunkards and Singers: A Mongolian Battle of Sounds

FNRS Postdoctoral researcher, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 44, av. Jeanne 1050 Bruxelles

Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Drunkards and Singers: A Mongolian Battle of Sounds"}

When I conducted fieldwork among the Darhad of northern Mongolia my informants repeatedly asserted that after a good singer’s performance even the most badly...

Drunkards and Singers: A Mongolian Battle of Sounds

Published Online: Dec 30, 2016

Page range: 65 - 80

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jef-2016-0011

Keywords
Mongolia, songs, linguistic ideology, alcohol, otherness

© 2016 Laurent Legrain, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Drunkards and Singers: A Mongolian Battle of Sounds

Published Online: Dec 30, 2016

Page range: 65 - 80

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jef-2016-0011

KeywordsMongolia, songs, linguistic ideology, alcohol, otherness

© 2016 Laurent Legrain, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Mongolia, songs, linguistic ideology, alcohol, otherness