“The long song has its origins 2,000 years ago, when our ancestors lived very closely in tune with nature. It’s a musical reflection of what they felt in the landscape – a kind of human mirror to the land and to nature.”

ST CYPRIAN’S in central London is a beautiful Anglo-Catholic church renowned for its choral music. But this weekend (and until 24 October), the church is filled with a different sound: the Urtiin duu or “long song” of Mongolia, a lyrical chant linked to the pastoral life of nomads on their ancestral grasslands. The soundscape isn’t the only addition. The handsome Grade II-listed Gothic church, with its high rafters and gilded rood screen, is currently dominated by a 27-metre long embroidered blue batik, a huge wave of cloth that undulates down the central nave.

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