E.Ganbolor: We dreamed of living together as Camerton did
Sweetymotion is a Pop/R&B girl band with three members; Bogi, Sarnai and Sundre. The band originally formed under the name ‘Emotion’ and quickly became the most successful Mongolian female group of all time along with former group member Solongo. The band has been working with successful music producer, Chinbaa, who was a member of “Niciton,” the best-selling rock band in Mongolia. In 2003, the girls left for the United States to further pursue their dream of collaborating with the great musicians of America and becoming a successful international recording group. They came back to Mongolia in 2008 and started performing under the new name of ‘Sweetymotion.’ The band’s 15th anniversary is occurring this year.
-‘Sweetymotion’ is going to put on a concert to mark the 15th Anniversary of the band. Could you tell us more about this?
-Our 15th Anniversary celebration and concert will take place in November. The concert is a very important event for the three of us. It has been 15 years since three little girls started singing, so we wanted to share our celebration with our fans and listeners. Actually, many events are occurring this year. We performed a concert dedicated to our mothers in May. Chinbaa’s concert is also taking place. All of these are activities dedicated to our 15thyear anniversary. Our concert will take place at the Buyant-Ukhaa complex on November 17. People expect a lot from us since we came back from the USA. We are trying hard not to live up to everyone’s expectations. The ‘On’n Off’ music production is working with us on this concert. We want this concert to be unparalleled. Our fans will have seen nothing like this before in Mongolia.
-The band recently performed at the 15th anniversary concert of the band ‘Nomin Talst.’ Was the song you sang together also for the 15th anniversary of your band?
-Of course. We met the ‘Nomin Talst’ band on January 1 at the New Year party of rock and pop bands. They were also talking about doing a concert for their 15th anniversary. Then Hayanaa (singer of ‘Nomin Talst’) suggested that we sing a song together for our collective anniversaries. But we were not sure of who would write the song, especially the lyrics. After a while, Hayanaa came to us saying he had an idea. He had written a verse and suggested we write a verse. Then the chorus was written by poet J.Munkhbat and we finally had a song for our celebration. I don’t know how people received it when we first performed it at Nomin Talst’s concert. However, we are satisfied with our work.
-Will the former band members Solongo and Serchmaa perform in the concert?
-We haven’t asked them yet, but we will send them invitations and ask them to perform. Singer Solongo was with us for half of the 15 years. That’s why we are hoping she will celebrate this with us. Serchmaa was with us for the first two years as well. We will of course ask her to perform with us. We hope neither of them are busy.
-Will artists from the USA participate in the concert?
-There won’t be any foreign artist in this concert. We will cooperate with the talented and skilled artists of Mongolia. Mongolian artists and musicians will perform in Chinbaa’s concert too. Foreign musicians performed at our two previous concerts.
-Can you recall how it was 15 years ago?
-We just met Chinbaa this time 15 years ago. It was October to be exact. Chinbaa and Sarnai had just met at a concert and we all made friends after this. At that time Chinbaa told us, “You should make write and sing beautiful songs. The music world is a very large.” Chinbaa was in the ‘Niciton’ rock band. We were only in secondary school. When we first listened to what Chinbaa was talking about, it felt like we could fulfill our distant dreams. We then made our first song ‘The first rain comes at night’.
-The bands used to live together at that time, didn’t they?
-Yes. We participated in one television program just after we formed as a band. We answered the host’s question: “What are your dreams?” And we replied: “We want to live together just like the band Camerton.” Soon after that, our mothers decided that Serchmaa, Sunderee, Sarnai, Chinbaa and I could live together at Sarnai’s. Later we lived together at Chinbaa’s sister in the States.
-What is your dream now?
-We are of course dreaming different things now. We want to sing together for as many years as we can. It would be so nice if we could still be singing when we are 50 or 60. We are dreaming of singing on stage for a long time – just like Tina Turner.
-When was the first time you felt proud of yourselves after you started singing?
-The first such feeling came to us at the closing concert of ‘Niciton.’ We used to sing backup vocals for Niciton back then. While we were walking home after the concert, some young people sang our song, imitating us when they saw us. We were delighted that people recognized and knew us. That was a very exciting feeling. Later we became familiar with people on concerts like the singer Ariunaa.
We also felt very happy when our song ‘Sanakhui’ (To miss) was aired on the FM radio. We were overwhelmed with joy that everyone was shouting and cheering.
-How do you reward yourselves when you are successful?
-We usually celebrate together after we have released a song or done a concert successfully. But it’s a very small celebration. Sarnai likes to cook for us. We have her meals and a champagne and talk. We start new works in this way too. Actually the three of us try to get together like this even during the hard work. Otherwise, we feel we might forget to care about each other and become distant.
-There must be times when you are misunderstood by each other?
-Yes, of course. There were many things we couldn’t understand about each other when we first formed. But we have never intensely quarreled or got angry at each other. There were times we got offended by one another and we didn’t talk to each other, but now we can almost understand each other with our eyes. We always talk to each other when there are difficult times.
-Before you left for the USA, there were many competitions among singers and bands. The band which won awards from the Pentatonic Festival was really a hit back then?
-It is a pity that such wonderful festivals are no longer organized. Before we left, there were many music festivals and competitions like the Pentatonic and Golden Microphone. We were so excited back then and couldn’t wait to participate. We won the award for best debut album of the Pentatonic Festival before we went to the USA.
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