The natural immediacy of Urna's voice is striking. In her improvisations, the melodies seem to soar endlessly into the vast Mongolian sky. The wide and dynamic range of her voice encompasses the tenderness of a moonlit night as well as the merciless force of a Mongolian sandstorm. Combining charisma with artistic perfection she leads her audience through landscapes never seen before.

   Urna Chahar-Tugchi was born into a family of livestock farmers in the grasslands of the Ordos district in the southwest of Inner Mongolia. Raised among horses and sheep, surrounded by head-high grass and sand dunes, she was imbued with a feeling of the endless expanse of the steppe. She learned hundreds of traditional Mongolian songs from her grandmother and parents. Today she still collects songs and stories, touring the grasslands to find old singers who know the ancient stories about their songs.