Meanwhile... in Mongolia, there is excitement about young opera singers

And in San Rafael, Colombia, workers are searching out and defusing land mines in an effort to make good on the government’s promise to demine the country by 2021, while in Ethiopia’s Harenna Forest, about 600 families practice a tradition of beekeeping dating back at least to the 4th century. 

|
David Gray/Reuters/File
Opera House in Ordos, Mongolia

In Mongolia, there is excitement about young opera singers. In 2017, Mongolian baritone Ariunbaatar Ganbaatar won the prestigious BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition. Two years earlier, Mongolian baritone Amartuvshin Enkhbat was a finalist in the same competition, while Mongolian tenor Batjargal Bayarsaikhan won the Grand Prix at the K. Bazarsadaev Fifth International Vocalist Contest in 2015.

What lies behind the country’s prowess in opera? Guardian reporter Kate Molleson traveled to Mongolia to find out. Her conclusion: The Soviets brought it with them when Mongolia became the first satellite state of the Soviet Union in 1921.

But Mongolians had something to contribute, notes Ms. Molleson. Mongolians have a centuries-old tradition of throat singing, a challenging form of overtone singing that requires great vocal stamina and – perhaps – has inspired young opera singers. 

In San Rafael, Colombia, workers are searching out and defusing land mines in an effort to make good on the government’s promise to demine the country by 2021.

During the country’s three decades of civil strife, an estimated 52 million square meters of land were laced with land mines. Since 2014, The HALO Trust, a British demining charity, has employed hundreds to find and defuse Colombia’s mines, including 56 former combatants. Employing the often unemployed or underemployed former fighters serves an additional purpose, Chris Ince, HALO’s program manager in Colombia, told NBC. “[Demining] is a very effective way of reintegrating people into the local communities from where they originally came,” said Mr. Ince. 

In Ethiopia’s Harenna Forest, about 600 families practice a tradition of beekeeping dating back at least to the 4th century. 

These beekeepers carve beehives out of wood, smoke them over beeswax and moss for two days to make them appealing to bees, and then place them high in tree canopies where the bees can live safely, away from creatures that might disturb them. 

Harvesting the honey at such great heights is dangerous, but most of the families have been doing it for generations, reports the BBC.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Meanwhile... in Mongolia, there is excitement about young opera singers
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/The-Home-Forum/2018/0208/Meanwhile-in-Mongolia-there-is-excitement-about-young-opera-singers
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe