The wind sweeps across the grassland, carrying the deep, resonant hum of throat singing and the melodic strain of a horse-head fiddle. Under a vast blue sky, a crowd of herders gathers around a makeshift stage — a patch of oasis dotted with grazing sheep in the Gobi Desert.

This is the stage for Qinbugele, 42, and his band, Deji, part of the Ulan Muqir troupe in Subei Mongolian autonomous county, Gansu province. They have taken a five-hour bus ride from the county seat to perform in Mazongshan town, located in the northernmost part of Subei.