I read Jack Weatherford’s book Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World some years ago and learned that, despite popular legend, Genghis was practically an Enlightenment liberal. (Weatherford has since written a couple more books on the same revisionist theme, though I haven’t read either.) Not being a scholar, my impression was that, while certainly interesting, it seemed too neatly counterintuitive — sort of like a book-length exposition of one of those “Everything you thought you knew about X is wrong!” articles you see all the time. But from what little I read of the critical reception, which seemed generally positive, it seemed there might have been substance to the thesis after all. If anyone took ferocious exception to Weatherford’s work, I’m unaware of it.
Anyway, now it appears that modern-day Mongolians, rather than wanting to sack and pillage Europe, just want to rock. I suppose this merging of cultures represents commodification of indigenous music, Coca-Cola colonialism, etc., but I do like the songs: