Last night I discovered that my good friend Naturre G. of Tengger Cavalry was gone.
A few years back I found Mongolian Throat Singing hip hop, and I loved it. It was strangely hypnotic and fun, even if my music of choice has always been metal. A few months later a friend of mine gave me an article from a finance magazine he read that strangely had an article about Heavy Metal around the world. Of course there were bits about Baby Metal and various Norwegian bands.
But then a few paragraphs down was an segment about Mongolian Folk Metal band Tengger Cavarly. I immediately went to itunes and found their music. And fell in love. It was brutal, but melodic, taking the care to include traditional Mongolian instruments and melodies. All over brutal throat singing lyrics. I followed them of social media, listened to their albums non-stop and lamented the fact that I would probably never see them live.
Then the next week, I saw an ad, they were playing my hometown in two weeks at the Come and Get it Live. I bought tickets.
It was a great show, I dragged some friends with me, and it was even a blast. A few months later I got a message on facebook from Naturre. He saw that I had come to the show in Austin, and wanted to know if he could crash with me while he looked for a place to live. After checking with my wife, we said yes.
Naturre was a fantastic guest, he played guitar with my 4 year old daughter, he brought gifts, he was friendly and unimposing. He was fantastically talented and creative. He was also very open about his struggle with depression over the years, and how hard he fought against it to stay alive. It was one of the reasons he moved to Austin, to get away from a culture he felt was poisoning him. He felt like he could make new friends and be healthier here.
Naturre campaigned for everyone to get help with depression, and to speak to people about suicidal thoughts. But even as he did those things, he fought against those demons himself. He struggled with trying to continually find success in the face of bands with more resources and online trolls. He struggled to make ends meet in a world where racism was a constant and daily reality thrown in his face.
He created a label to help other small Nomadic Metal bands come to the US and get bigger recognition, he volunteered his music for the Madness Heart Radio podcast. He offered to mix our Cover Artists self recorded album. Whatever tools and resources Naturre had at his disposal were at the disposal of his friends. He even wrote a blurb for my poetry chapbook, all out of kindness and love.
Naturre was involved in video game soundtracks including Doom Eternal & Civilization Beyond Earth , and movie soundtracks like All the Wild Horses. He had solo projects, he played Carnegie Hall twice. His talent, intelligence and dedication to people towered above most. And I will miss him intensely.