Kiwi: A Girl-Band Concert On The Black Pearl

Approaching the entrance to a boat-structure in a popular Mongolian amusement park – the first and only Mongolian amusement park – I sound out the boat's name: Har Sovd. My familiarity with Cyrillic letters is increasing. I turn to Sarnai: "What does that mean?"

"Black Pearl," she replies. 

"Like Pirates of the Caribbean?" I can't help laughing. Apparently Pirates of the Caribbean is popular worldwide. 

The concert is supposed to start at 8:00 pm, but its 9:00 and they haven't accepted tickets for boarding the boat yet. Ubugei, my younger cousin, gets a blast out of a local playground, where a mosaic monster has three mouths, each with its own slide. My aunt explains that its called "Monsters Mouth," and comes from an old Mongolian folktale. My uncle chimes in, adding that their folk stories feature hundreds of monsters, most of them with several heads, arms, and other body parts. When foreigners hear about them, they wonder why are they so strange, so scary? But this is what Mongolians grew up hearing about, so they don't seem so strange or scary. My uncle asks if we don't have stories like this in the West. I tell him about the Grimm Brothers and explain that our stories were just as horrifying, only maybe a hundred years ago someone made them gentle-r and now those are the stories we know. 

At 9:30 the concert begins, featuring Mongolian girl-band Kiwi. It's made up of three members, one half-Black, half-Mongolian; one Mongolian but with white features who then dyed her hair blonde, and one Mongolian with dark hair. They wear tight black leggings, heels, and leather jackets. The lead singer – the blonde – wears sunglasses. The crowd is full of girls wearing similar leather jackets. Their songs are upbeat pop, often featuring English words and repetitive phrases. At some point they are joined by men on stilts wearing light-up suits that mimic Daft Punk's. 

An interlude during the center of the performance features a new girl-band known as Cactus, which seemingly dresses and sings almost exactly the same as Kiwi does. Following them is a man with a saxophone playing hotline bling. Don't believe me? Here's a video for proof. I almost burst out laughing. 

Overall, it was a great experience. Kiwi was extremely catchy, the venue was beautiful and exciting, and I had an amazing time, not to mention tickets were a measly $10. "That's actually pretty expensive," my aunt commented.