The Mongolian heavy metal band “The HU” have been honored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in being selected as an Artist For Peace. Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, will name the Mongolian heavy metal band The HU as UNESCO Artist for Peace at a ceremony at the Organization’s Headquarters. The HU is first ever rock artist to present UNESCO Artist for Peace, like Celine Dione, Herbie Hancock, and Gilberto Gil who’ve previously been acknowledged as Artists for Peace.
The HU are certainly one of the most unique and culturally vibrant metal bands of this generation, and provided the UNESCO’s qualifications regarding the Artist for Peace title, there aren’t many other rock artists that quite fit the bill as well as The HU do. In a statement that follows The HU’s Artist for Peace recognition, the UNESCO outlines why they chose the group: “The HU’s musical style and ideas immediately resonated with UNESCO’s values and work. Founded in 2016 in Ulaanbaatar, The HU, who have thousands of fans around the world, have created a unique musical genre they call “Hunnu Rock.” It fuses rock and heavy metal with styles of traditional Mongolian music, such as the art of Khöömei (throat singing), the tsuur flute and the Morin Khuur (horse-headed fiddle), all of which have been inscribed by UNESCO on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
