New Zealand music lovers were treated to a display of Inner Mongolian grassland grit at the weekend, when the leader of China's Anda Union band defied injury to perform twice in front of hundreds of people at a major international music festival.

Nars, 29, suffered burns to his arm and shoulder late Friday when a wok full of boiling water spilled over him as band members were performing and demonstrating how to make bauriat buuz, traditional mutton dumplings.

The accident shocked onlookers on the first day of the annual three-day WOMAD New Zealand world music festival in New Plymouth.

Members of the audience and first aid workers poured cold water on the injuries before taking Nars to hospital.

He was treated and later discharged with what WOMAD publicist Sally Woodfield described as "superficial burns," before describing him as "a star".

The injuries failed to stop Nars performing with his band in two sets -- one on Saturday and another Sunday -- in front of hundreds of people at the festival.

After his second performance on Sunday, Nars -- with the heavy white bandages showing above the neck of his traditional Mongolian top -- told Xinhua in English, "Mongolian people are very strong."

Anda Union, who performed at WOMAD with the support of China's Ministry of Culture, had the crowd on their feet with a display of traditional Inner Mongolian "throat singing" and instruments such as the morin huur or horse head fiddle.

The 10-strong band brought the grasslands to New Zealand with their morin huur whinnying and neighing, while the audience joined the vocals.

Speaking through an interpreter at the event, Nars said the band's enthusiastic reception renewed his optimism for the survival of his people's traditional music and culture.

"We just want to protect what our ancestors have given us, I want to preserve these traditions," said Nars.

Despite the constant development of China and the world, " people do accept our traditions," he said.

Anda Union's music reflected a culture that was still connected to "nature -- the land, grasslands and mountains and rivers."

"We have created a new way to demonstrate our traditional music more easily. Most of Anda Union's music is music we play in our own way," said Nars.

"We modify it so that people can understand it easily, and then they can understand our traditions and our culture more easily."

Fellow band member Billigbaatar, 37, said the band members had a large student following, learning the traditional music.

"We can't keep it in a museum so we just show it to people," said Billigbaatar, also speaking through an interpreter.

"The people at WOMAD accept our culture, our music, with their hearts. We want to play perfectly to our audience."

Nars said he had been impressed with the New Zealand environment.

"They protect nature here so well. We want to learn something here to protect our natural environment and our grasslands."

The band continued a Chinese tradition of being one of the hits of WOMAD.

Last year, the band, Hanggai, received critical acclaim with their blend of traditional and modern music styles performed with their own distinctive throat singing techniques.

Previous Chinese performers, such as Sa Dingding in 2009 and Guo Yue in 2007, have also stolen the show.

WOMAD New Zealand reportedly drew an audience of up to 35,000 last year to see more than 300 performers.

This year will be the eighth WOMAD New Zealand to be staged at New Plymouth's distinctive Bowl of Brooklands and Brooklands Park.

It also includes films, crafts and food from around the world as well as the WOBAR, an international wine, food and coffee bar, set in the park's Kunming Garden, which was gifted to New Plymouth by its sister city of Kunming, capital of China's Yunnan province, in 2003.

This year's line-up of musicians and performers came from more than 20 countries and regions including Palestine, Japan, Ivory Coast, France, Romania, Ireland, Australia, Burundi and Senegal.