Mongolian Music

 Music Around the World - Mongolia

Key Facts about Mongolia:

• Located in Central Asia

• National Capital is Ulaanbaatar

• The country is landlocked between Russia and China

• It has long cold winters and short summers

• Country is known for their immense herds of grazing livestock

• Total population is fewer than three million

Music in Mongolia:

Music plays a huge role in the Mongolian culture. It is rich with varieties related to the country’s various ethnicities. Key factors in Mongolian music are the long songs, morin khuur and overtone singing.

Western Classical music and Ballet prospered during the MPR (Mongolian People’s Republic). Western pop, rock genres and the mass songs are favoured amongst modern music in Mongolia.

Instruments: 

• 
  Morin Khuur (Horse-head Fiddle) → A distinct Mongolian instrument seen as a symbol of the country. It has two strings and has a traditional carving of a horse on the upper egg of the pegbox 

• Shants → A three stringed, long-necked, strummed lute (similar to the Chinese Sanxian or Japanese Shamisen)

• Yoochin → A percussion stringed instrument where strings are stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board (A hammered dulcimer)

• Khuuchir → a bowed spike-fiddle

• Yatga → A plucked zither (a type of stringed instruments)

• Everburee → A folk oboe

• Khel Khuur → A Jews harp

• Tobshuur → A plucked lute

• Ikh Khuur → A bass Morin Khuur

• Bishhuur → A pipe similar in sound to a clarinet

The Music:

Overtone singing is a singing technique found in the Central Asian area. It is considered more as a type of instrument and involves different ways of breathing. The most famous throat singers in Mongolia include Khalkhas (Gereltsogt and Sundui). 

Long song is a form of Mongolian music where each syllable of text is extended for a long duration - a four minute song may only consist of ten words. It often uses wide intervals, no fixed rhythm and a slow tempo. Lyrical themes are dependent on context which can usually be philosophical, religious, romance or celebratory. They typically use a Morin Khuur as accompaniment however sometimes a limbe is used (an indigenous flute). 

Pop Music is often divided into Pop, Rock, Hip hop and Alternative with boy bands, girl groups and solo artists. Hip Hop/Rap has increased in popularity over the years since the early 1990s where Mongolian teenagers formed dancing groups with members between three and thirty. 

There has been an established and distinctive “Mongolian pop” genre that is similar to Western soft-pop-orientated folk music. Some of the repeatedly heard lyrical themes are distinctive of Mongolia. It is not considered world music in the West and was previously unavailable outside of Mongolia however thwart is not the case anymore. A typical Mongoliann folk song may include three four-line stanzas and a refrain with their lyrics tending to be alliterative.

Mongolia has a very rich tradition of classical music and ballet. It became popular and prospered in the second half of the 20th century. Mongolian composers developed a rich diversity of national symphony and ballet.

National Dance:

The classic traditional dance is called Bielgee and is performed to the music of Mongolian national music instruments - Morin Khuur and Yochin. It is performed in a circle of people and in a small space. It is a descriptive dance where the dancer is acting several scenes from everyday life of herders (milking cows, cooking, hunting etc).