[Photo by Nan Zi/China Daily]

Two and a half years later, they started collaborating on Hanggai's album Horse of Colors, which was released in May.

"I love traditional folk music. I see a direct connection between Mongolian culture and American-Indian culture. They were telling stories to their people and they were telling the stories about grasslands, mountains, animals and rivers," the 67-year-old producer says in Beijing, where he is working with the band on an album that will be released next year.

Speaking of Horse of Colors, Ilchi, 36, says: "The horse is an important part of Mongolian culture. It seems like just a horse but it's more than a horse－it's a horse with stories."

The album features traditional throat-singing (a single vocalist produces two distinct pitches simultaneously), folk instruments and Mongolian lyrics.

It includes the band's original songs, such as Samsara, and renditions of traditional Mongolian folk songs.