Mongolia Web News, Ulaanbaatar. Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito gave a surprise performance during a cultural concert in Ulaanbaatar on Monday. During a concert which celebrated a wide variety of Mongolian music, Crown Prince Naruhito disappeared during the break from his seat in the audience, to reemerge fifteen minutes later...on stage. With the national symphonic orchestra and the national horse fiddle orchestra he performed the Swan by Camille Saint-Saëns in an arrangement for viola and orchestra. The prince received a long ovation of the audience after the last note.

The concert was hosted by the renowned composer N. Jantsannorov of whom several pieces were played. Other performances included the traditional Mongolian throat singing or khuumii.

The concert is part of the Crown Prince  Naruhito's official visit to Mongolia as part of the celebration of 35 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries. The 8 day visit is nearing its end as the crown prince will leave for Japan on Tuesday morning. 

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  A prestigious report on religious freedom praised Mongolia for the degree of religious freedom offered its citizens. 

In its annual report, “Religious Freedom in the World 2007,” the Hudson Institute's Center on Religious Freedom in Washington, D.C. found Mongolia provides more religious freedom than is found in much of the world. 

Overall the report, which will be released later this year, found regimes that respect religious freedoms also offer its citizens more civil liberties, more prosperity and better health care. 

Additionally, the report found religious freedom has become commonplace in most Western, Christian nations. Non-Christian nations noted for religious freedom included Shintoist Japan, Buddhist Thailand and Mongolia, Jewish Israel, and Islamic Mali and Senegal. 

Countries which most repressed religious freedom included communist regimes such as Cuba, China, Vietnam, North Korea, Islamist regimes such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan, and former Soviet republic such as Belarus, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, the latter two of which are predominantly Islamic. 

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 5 pm, July 9th, 2007, National Univeristy of Mongolia, Building No. 5, Room 305

The American Center for Mongolian Studies (ACMS) hosts a special Speaker Series lecture given by Michael Kohn on July 9th. Michael Kohn spent three years working at the Mongol Messenger in the late 1990s, an experience told in his new book Dateline Mongolia. Michael will discuss the book, recalling his experiences from that period and explaining how the early years of Mongolia's democracy will effect its domestic and foreign policy for generations to come. Michael will be on hand to answer questions and sign copies of his book.

Michael Kohn has been a frequent visitor to Mongolia for the past 10 years. He has written about Mongolia for the Associated Press, the New York Times, the BBC and the San Francisco Chronicle. Michael is the author of the Lonely Planet guide to Mongolia, as well as the books, "Lama of the Gobi" and "Dateline Mongolia." Michael has also written guides to Tibet, India Central Asia and Israel.

Dateline Mongolia - An American Journalist in Nomad's Land

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Photograph by Edward Sheriff Curtis

The exhibit, called "Sacred Legacy," contains 60 museum-quality photographs of North American Indians from different tribes and regions. 

The photos were taken by Edward Sherriff Curtis between 1890 and 1930. Curtis understood he was documenting a culture which was quickly vanishing. Through his pictures, it is possible to view the people, the dress, and the day to day lives of more than 80 North American Indian nations. 

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