Tengger (Mongolian: ᠲᠩᠷᠢ, lit. "sky"; simplified Chinese: 腾格尔; traditional Chinese: 騰格爾; pinyin: Ténggé'ěr; born 15 January 1960), also known as Tenger or Tengri, is a Chinese singer, songwriter and composer of Mongol ethnicity. He is from Inner Mongolia, China.

Tengger
Born (1960-01-15) 15 January 1960 (age 64)
Otog Banner, Inner Mongolia, China
Other names
  • Tenger
  • Tengri
Alma materTianjin Conservatory of Music
Occupations
  • Singer-songwriter
  • actor
Spouse
(m. 1987; div. 1995)
PartnerZhū Lā (Chinese: 珠拉)
Children
  • daughter: 嘎吉尔, 2004–2010
  • son: 班迪, 2007 (age 16–17)
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese騰格爾
Simplified Chinese腾格尔
Literal meaningsky
Mongolian name
Mongolian CyrillicТэнгэр
Mongolian scriptᠲᠩᠷᠢ
Musical career
Genres
Instrument(s)
Years active1979–present

He is one of the most representative Mongol male singers as his most famous works, including songs Mongol and Tiantang (Heaven),[1] reflect the Mongolian culture, while he uses other elements later in his career, making his music a combination of various kinds of Chinese pop music.

Personal life edit

Early life and education edit

Tengger was born in Otog Banner, Inner Mongolia in the Sainbayar family.[2] Both of his parents were folk singers so he and his four other siblings all aspired to follow suit.[3] Because of an incident in junior high school, he became uninterested in academics.[4] In 1975, while uncertain about his future, he applied and was admitted to Art School of Inner Mongolia.[4] There he briefly studied dance before switching to learning instruments.[4] After graduating, he served as a teacher and conductor.[4] In 1980, he joined College of Music in Tianjin, where he got formal training as a musician.[4]

Family edit

Tengger met Hasi Gaowa in 1987 and they married in 1988.[3] Because of conflicts over how Tengger spent his money, after seven years, they divorced in 1995.[3] In 1997, he met Zhu La and they married in 2003.[3] They had a daughter in 2004 who died after just six years because of a congenital disease in 2010.[3]

Career edit

Early Days (1986-2007) edit

Tengger came to prominence in 1986, when he performed his original song Mongol in a singing competition.[5]

In 1992, Tengger became the first mainland artist to perform in Taiwan since 1949 as he held a solo concert in Taipei. During that 2-hour concert, Tengger performed 18 of his songs, and that number has been the highest of all his concerts. His songs with Mongolian style became so popular among his fans in Taiwan that he was still recognized by the fans 14 years later when he came for another concert in 2006.[6]

Tengger built up a band Wild Wolf in 1993 with five of his friends who also came from Inner Mongolia.[7]

Though having taken part in a band, Tengger kept writing new songs himself and later came up with a new personal album Chuzou (Running Away) in 1997.[8] Among the songs in this album, Tiantang (Heaven) turned out to be a stand-out single, winning many awards in China and across the Globe.[9]

Entering the 21st century, Tengger took part in numerous concerts and shows with his Mongolian style songs and symbolical voice. On September 14, 2001, Tengger went to the United States for his concert, in which he performed Tiantang to mourn the victims of the September 11 attacks.[5] In 2002, he went back to Otog Banner, Inner Mongolia with Wild Wolf to hold a concert, which was their first in their hometown.[10] In 2004, they went to Hong Kong, where they performed many of Tengger's popular original songs.[11]

However, things went different in 2007, when his daughter was diagnosed with an incurable severe congenital disease. He soon left the public eye for some time to help his family.[4]

The Low (2007-2013) edit

Tengger was in deep sorrow after the incident, and such sadness reached peak in 2010 when his daughter eventually did not pull through.[4] Yet he did not give up his music completely during such hard time. In January 2010, he came up with a new album Yunzhongdeyueliang (The Moon in the Clouds), which included a remake edition of Tiantang, with Wild Wolf.

Revival (2013-Present) edit

After staying away from the public for a long time, Tengger made a comeback in 2013, with a brand-new original song Taohuayuan (Land of Peach Blossoms). In his new song, his style changed from the original traditional Mongolian music to modern pop.

Since then Tengger have been trying new styles and cooperating with other singers. In 2017, he covered Yinxingdechibang (Invisible Wings), originally sang by female Taiwan singer Angela Chang, in a music show.[12]

In 2018, he participated in I am Singer, a music show in Hunan TV, where he ranked 4th among 14 participants.[13][14] In the final showdown, he performed Sad Dream Behind the Curtain, an old Cantonese song that could date back to 1975.[15]

In April 2021, Tengger cooperated with Mongolian writer Bao'erji Yuanye to publish a new song Xiamabaicaoyuan, in which he expressed his love and devotion to his hometown in Mongolian Grassland.[12][16]

Achievements edit

  • A Mongolian Tale, the movie that Tengger starred in received the following awards: "Best Director, Best Artistic Contribution, Tengger's Music, Montreal World Film Festival; Best Director, Shanghai Film Critics Awards".[17]
  • 1991: Golden Phoenix Award.[18]
  • 19th Montreal International Film Festival: Best Music Award.[18]
  • China's First Golden Bell Award: Bronze Award for Vocal Works.[18]

Discography edit

Albums edit

  • 八千里路雲和月 (1990)
  • 蒙古 (1991)
  • Surpass and New Heaven (2002)
  • 梦 (2010)

Filmography edit

Movie

  • A Mongolian Tale (1995) as Bayinbulag
  • Scheme With Me (2012) as Stone Buddha
  • All You Need Is Love (2015)
  • For a Few Bullets (2016) as Mongolian representative-agent
  • Pegasus (2019) as KTV Boss (Geer Teng)
  • The Winners (2020) as Yan Jin's father
  • Super Family (2022)

TV Show

  • Day Day Up (2008)
  • Challenge League (2017)
  • Singer 2018 (2018) as Contestant/himself/performer
  • The Inn: Season 2 (2018)
  • Master in the House (2019)
  • Sound Waves Partners (2019)
  • Dance Smash (2019)
  • Liu Tang De Ge Sheng 2 (2020)
  • 2060 (2021)

References edit

  1. ^ "腾格尔代表作". Apple Music (in Chinese (China)). Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  2. ^ "腾格尔 Tengger". www.chinanews.com.cn. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e "His daughter died of illness at the age of 6, and the second marriage missed Haskowa. Does Tengger regret it?".
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "因喝酒家财散尽、婚姻破裂,50岁又遇丧女之痛,腾格尔如今还好吗!!". www.sohu.com. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  5. ^ a b "Tengger - sin80". www.sin80.com. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  6. ^ "腾格尔台北开唱 席慕蓉为其写专栏(图)". www.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  7. ^ "苍狼乐队_腾格尔 全碟试听下载,腾格尔 专辑 苍狼乐队LRC滚动歌词,铃声". 一听音乐网. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  8. ^ "网易云音乐". 网易云音乐. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  9. ^ ""新千年全球华语音乐榜中榜"在京颁奖". www.chinanews.com.cn. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  10. ^ "腾格尔和苍狼乐队将首次在家乡马场举行演唱会". www.chinanews.com.cn. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  11. ^ "腾格尔与苍狼乐队将赴港办演唱会 演绎大漠风情". www.chinanews.com.cn. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  12. ^ a b "腾格尔:写再多的歌,也无法超越《天堂》-新华网". www.xinhuanet.com. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  13. ^ "腾格尔补位《歌手》 "裙装"亮相宝刀不老". www.sohu.com. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  14. ^ 网易 (13 April 2018). "《歌手》结石姐夺冠,拿下歌王!大比分领先华晨宇、汪峰和腾格尔". www.163.com. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  15. ^ "歌手2018金典之夜歌单 歌手演唱歌曲排名". www.sohu.com. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  16. ^ "知名歌手腾格尔"重回草原" 推金曲《下马拜草原》-中新网". www.chinanews.com.cn. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  17. ^ Xie, Fei. "A Mongolian Tale". bobcat.library.nyu.edu. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  18. ^ a b c laitimes (23 April 2022). "Divorced for 27 years, Tengger and Haskova's lives are too different". laitimes. Retrieved 5 May 2022.