First, a disclaimer: I am not an expert. I can neither speak nor read Mongolian and I don’t know anybody who does. I’ve never been to Ulaanbaatar, and know it only from establishing shots and Google Earth. All that these notes can be are the observations of a far-distant outsider pleased that Mongolian videos on YouTube tend not to be region-locked.

That said, let’s start with a little bit of background. Present-day Mongolia is a tiny country of only three million people, almost half of whom live in the capital Ulaanbaatar on the green strip between Siberia and the Gobi Desert. It is entirely bordered by Russia and China, and since the decline of the Mongol Khanates in the late medieval period, its territory has been under the political influence of the Qing dynasty (1635–1911) and the Soviet Union (1925–1990) for most of its modern history. For a general overview of Mongolian music in the twentieth century, I’d direct you to this Culture Trip piece. A broader explanation of Mongolian pop since the early-90s transition to a market economy is outside my scope here, but I’ll try to point out some signposts along the way.

I will note that probably the vast majority of Mongolians would not recognize this sketch as giving anything like a full picture of their popular music: it’s leaving out so much, especially so much that is essentially Mongolian rather than in dialogue with international pop. In addition to vast quantities of folk and ballad music, Mongolia has a strong history of thoroughly credible hard rock bands and socially conscious rap crews, which I am largely ignoring here in favor of post-millennial dance, synthpop, and pop-rap. My taste, my rules.

If you’re intrigued by any of the music embedded here, I encourage you to check out everything I link to as well. My complete YouTube playlist of interesting Mongolian pop from 2017 and 2018 is here, sorted by date. If you speak or read Mongolian or you just know more than me about anything and I get something wrong, please let me know. I want to do right by this music.