Possibly one of the most unique bands to appear this year; The Hu is a folk metal band that hails all the way from Mongolia. The band, which formed in 2016, calls their style of music, “hunnu rock”, Hunnu being an ancient Mongol/Turic empire.

In the spring of 2019, The Hu’s “Wolf Totem” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hard Rock Digital Song Sales, which made the band the first ever Mongolian musical act to top a Billboard chart. Not only have they toured worldwide, they have worked on a vast number of projects with respected global artists and creators. Their music has been featured in the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order video game, released a remix of their hit single featuring Papa Roach, and even released a Simlish version of their song “The Legend of Mother Swan” for The Sims 4 video game.

In November 2019, the band was awarded the highest state award for Mongolia, the Order of Genghis Khan. In 2020, they were selected as one of the 53 artists to participate in Metallica’s 30th anniversary album, “Metallica Blacklist”.

Fuji Rock is their first appearance in Japan, and they sure landed big by playing at the festival’s most notable Green Stage. The loyal fans in the pit chanted “Hu…Hu!” as the band rocked up on stage, all wearing leather.

Band members used traditional Mongolian instruments, such as the shant, a three-stringed long-necked lute similar to that of the Japanese shamisen. Other instrument appearances included the khuuchir fiddle, and a pickalow and wooden flute by the lead singer.

Midway through their set, band members rallied the crowd in Japanese in their deep musky voices while the crowd went wild for their badass performance.

The 11am set in the breezy sunshine had reminiscence of not only folk music, but of country and even celtic, proving that there is unity among traditional music that marries well with the newer genre of metal.

The “Hu Heads” kept chanting the band’s name in between sets as their deep sounds and voices kept enchanting the opening day at the festival. The set ended with a song starting with bird sounds that transported the crowd into the wild Mongolian fields, and the The Hu ended on a high note.