MONGOLIA

ESCRUPOLO - ONG
 TOPOGRAPHY
• Surrounded by a
unitary sovereign
state in East Asia
• located between
China and Rusia
• Land Area is 1.56m sq.
km (603,909 sq. miles)
• land area is roughly
equivalent to that of
the countries of
western and
central Europe, and it
lies in a
similar latitude range.
• Population is about 3m
• A third of the population lives in the capital
• 40% of the country’s workforce is nomadic,
herding livestock in the extensive pasturelands
• Life expectancy of men 65 years, and women 73
years.
• Religion: Buddhism
• Language: Mongolian
• Capital: Ulaanbaatar (largest city of Mongolia)
 HISTORY
• In the early 13th century, a united Mongolian state of nomadic tribes
was formed by Genghis Khan
• Genghis Khan successors controlled vast empires (China, Russia,
Central Asia, and Middle East)
• In 1961 the northern Mongolia colonized by Qing(Manchu) china.
• 1911/12 Qing rule collapsed and a Bogd Gegeen Khan(head of
state), Living Buddha of the Yellow hat, Proclaimed the
independence but autonomy under china. He was the head of the
state until 1924
• People’s republic was proclaimed in November 1924, Bogd Gegeen
was renamed Ulaanbaatar(Red Hero), the Mongolian Capital.
 Traditional Music

• In the 13th century, The traditional Mongolian Folk music

is influenced by the large variety of tribes, united for the
first time under the rule of Genghis Khan.
• The nomad shepherds use to play string and
wind instruments like other nomads in Central Asia.
• Percussion instruments were only played in connection with
Shamanism and Buddhism.
 Traditional Music
• Mongolians love to sing. often you can hear women singing at ger
camps.
• Songs are directed at animals to soothe them or get them to
perform some desired act, whether to move along, hoist a heavy
load or provide milk.
• There are even songs for wild animals to lure them close enough
for hunters.
• “The Mongolians have been known as "a people of music and
poetry."
• "Haolibao" is a popular Mongolian form of singing to set melodies
with the words improvised without special preparation.
 Musical instruments

during
- Fiddlethe socialist period
(Mongolian Horse in Mongolia and the time after the
head)
-cultural
Lutes revolution in China, instruments
Were
- Jew’sstandardized
harp and modified by shape
-and changed construction of the instrument
Drums
-inKhuunchir
the year 1940’s and 1960.
(two string fiddle similar to Chinese erhu)
- Tovshuur (lute)
- Yatga (similar to Japanese koto)
 “KHEL KHUUR” JEW’S HARP

Made of Steel or Brass

A spring, acting as a vibrator, is fitted
into a horseshoe-shaped metal
holder and is called ,tongue'

Made of bamboo
TSUUR (wind instrument)

It’s melody and sound resembles the

sound of waterfall of the River Jeven
The most popular instrument, also produced the best
sound, is called the “aman tsuur” Made by Altai- Uhriankai tribe
 Limbe

• Frequently used in accompaniment, occasionally as a solo instrument

• Before it was made of Bamboo and wood, now it is made mostly
of plastic
• Length is approximately 64 cm
• 9 holes. One is for blowhole the other two are reserved for tuning
• Played with circular breathing.
Surnai – ever buree(horn)

• Reed instrument
• Folk Oboe made of wood or horn widening towards the end,
with a canonical body.
• Seven finger holes, one thumbhole.
• Short form of the instrument is known as “Haidi”, meaning ‘flute of the sea’.
Lavai – Tsagaan buree (white shells)

• Considered a Lucky Charm

• It is equipped with mouthpiece
made from brass
• Legend of Lamaistic – Buddha
gave this instrument to the
Dragon King as a present.
Bishguur

• Richly ornamented metal trumpet

• Oboe like appearance with double reed
• Also called “Shell trumpet”
Khuuchir
• Nomads used snake skin violin or horsetail violin
• In Chinese they call it “the Mongol instrument” or “Huk’in”.
• It is small sized and tuned in the interval of a fifth.
• has a small, cylindrical, square or cup-like resonator made
of bamboo,
• wood or copper, covered with a snake skin and open at the
bottom.
• Neck inserted in the body of the instrument.
• Four silk strings, first and third are accorded in unison,
second and fourth
are tuned in the upper fifth.
Khun Tovshuur
• Two stringed instruments
• Body and neck are carved from cedar wood.
• Body is covered with leather of wild animals, camels or goats
• Head is formed like a swan
• Originated from a swan.
• Strings are from horsetail hair
• Tuned in the interval of a fourth
Morin khuur
• Two stringed instrument
• Played during celebrations, rituals and many other occasions.
• Body and neck carved from wood
• Accompaniment for dances or songs.
• The end of the neck has a form of the horse head
• It can imitate the sound of a horse herd.
• Sound is similar to violin or a cello.
• Strings are made of dried deer or mountain sheep sinews.
• Because with one stroke of the bow the melody and the drone
strings can be played at the same time, it used to play
polyphonic melodies.
Yoochin

• Dulcimer with 13 double-wire strings

• Struck with two wooden sticks(little wooden hammers)
• Black wooden soundboard richly decoarated with ornaments
Shudraga
• Long-necked spike lute with an oval wooden frame with snake skin
covering.
• Three strings are fixed to a bar
• Struck or pluck with a plectrum made of horn or with fingers.
• Every note is struck several times because the tones does not echo.
 Yatga- Yatuga
• Half-tube zither with a movable bridge.
• Strings are plucked and has a very smooth sound.
• Symbolize the twelve of Palace hierarchy.
• Master yatga has 21 strings.
• Mongolians traditionally play three types of this
• zither, differentiated by their resonators or hollow
• bodies in which the sound is amplified. Designs include
• the master yatga; ikh gariing yatga, the national yatga;
• akhun ikh yatga, and the harp, called the bosoo yatga.
Tuur

• Single-headed shaman drum

• The frame Is oval but
sometimes it’s round.
Tsan (Cymbals)

• There are put knob-like handgrips in the middle

 Shigshuur

• Shamman rattle
• Made from cow horn
• Used to direct and send energy in a specific direction
 Denshig

These are two plainished brass plates, the grips (knobs) of which are connected by means of a
small band. On the occasion of services, a lama bangs the two little plates together, thereby
producing a sound similar to the touch of a small bell but significantly softer and more
melodic.
Damar
• Small used in monasteries
• Both outer surfaces is coated with leather
• The two buttons are hit on the stretched leather by moving back and forth.
• There is a band made from silk with embroidery, that is in the middle of the
coil
 Vocal Music

- Urtyin duu (long song)

- Bogin duu (short song)
- Tuuli (heroic-epic myth)
- Magtaal (praising songs)
- Khoomij (guttural singing)
 Urtyin duu (long song)
• Melismatic and richly ornamented, with a slow tempo, long melodic lines,
wide intervals
Three and noof
categories fixed rhythm.
long songs
• Sung in verses, without a regular refrain and with a full voice in the highest register.
• The breathing is actually free, but the singer has to keep to the strict rules of performance,
1. Extended/uninterrupted
• making melodies/richly
only the absolutely necessary ornamented/
breathing breaks without
containsthe
interrupting long passages
melodic in falsetto
ornaments
2. Shorter/less
• The richer the voiceornamented/without falsetto
is and the longer the singer can hold it, the more intensive is the
3. Shortpaid
attention verses/refrains
by the auditorsand
andmelodic
the more courses full of leaps
this performance and bounds.
is appreciated.
• Express the liberty and vastness of the Mongolian steppe
• Integral part in celebrations held in the round tents.

*The Mongols don’t use time units to express the time it needs for a certain distance, but
they say e.g. that their trip lasted three long songs
Bogin duu (short song)
- strophic
- syllabic
- rhythmically tied
- sung without ornaments.

• Never sung in celebrations

• Sung in form of dialogue
• Lyrical tales about love
• About everyday life and about animals(specially horses)
Tuuli (heroic-epic myth)

• During the old times the highly literary poetry contains fierce fights between
good and evil powers. Mongolian epics are example of this kind of poetry.
• This epics are recited as part of rituals. They believed that the recitation
have magical power and should have favorable influence in natural spirits
as well as the power to expulse evil spirits.
• This epics where generally sung inside the round felt tents of the shepherds
in different periods: during their search fro the winter quarters, before
the hunt or a battle, and against infertility or disease.
Magtaal (praising songs)
Magtaal are sung in honour of the gods of Lamaism and the spirits of na
heralds or particular animals. Epic texts
also contain praise songs for the mountains,
the rivers and nature in general. This is an ancient tradition still
practised up to date by the tribes in the region of
Mongol-Altai in Western Mongolia.
Khoomij (guttural singing)
• Mongols call their overtone singing höömij
• The singer creates a constant pitched fundamental considered as a drone, and at the same time
modulates the selected overtones to create a formantic melody from harmonics.
• Several techniques are known, depending on the vocal source and the place of resonance: kharkhiraa =
lung, khamriin = nose, tövönkhiin = throat and bagalzuuriin = pharynx. Overtone singers form and vary
sound and timbre with their mouth, teeth, tongue, throat, nose and lips. They always form two distinct
tones simultaneously sustaining the fundamental pitch.
• Overtone singing can also be heard from Turkic-speaking tribes in disparate parts of Central Asia. The
Bashkir musicians from the Ural Mountains call their style of overtone singing uzlyau; the Khakass call it
khai, the Altai call it koomoi and the Tuvinians khoomei.
• Up to date, overtone singing is a common feature of Siberian peoples as well as the Kazakhs and
Mongolian tribes. Overtone or throat singing is a special technique in which a single vocalist produces two
distinct tones simultaneously. One tone is a low, sustained fundamental pitch (a kind of drone) and the
second is a series of flutelike harmonics, which resonate high above this drone. Who masters this singing
technique may even make the overtone sound louder then the fundamental pitch, so the drone is not
audible anymore. A different technique often used by overtone singers combines a normal glottal pitch
with the low frequency, pulse-like vibration known as vocal fry. The Turkic tribes in the Altai use to sing
their texts in such a low vocal fry register of about 25-20 Hz).
Dance

• Folk dance
• Religious dance – [Tsam]
 When the Zakhchin and the tribes of Western Mongolia dance their folk

Folk dance dances ("bij" - "bielgee"), they mainly move the upper part of the body.
With their movements they express their identity and gender as well as their
tribal and ethnic affiliation. Besides the gender-specific movements, there
are others that imitate typical activities of their everyday life, such as the
nomadic herdsmen's life, the daily work in the fields or the historical events
of their tribe. This kind of dance is mainly performed during celebrations
inside the ger (round tents), during festivals of the local nobility or during
ceremonies in the monasteries.

Every tribe has its particular forms of expression, e.g.:

- the Dörbed and the Torguts accompany their dances with dance
songs;
- the Buryats dance in a circle, always moving in the direction of the
sun; a solo singer improvises pairs of verses followed by the chorus
singing the refrain;
- the Bayad dance with their knees bent outwards, balancing on them
mugs filled with sour mare-milk (airag).
- the Dörbed balance mugs filled with airag on their heads and hands.
Religious dance – [Tsam]

Old White
Tsoijoo Jamsran
Man
Religious dance – [Tsam]
In the past, the mystery dances were of considerable significance in
Mongolia. They were always accompanied by music. For these ritual
dances the monks wore dance masks made of papier maché. The tsam
symbolised the battle of the gods against the enemies. In animism, the
oldest form of religious belief (e.g. the Bon-religion), one believes that
the whole nature is animated. Human beings and animals are
surrounded by good and evil spirits.
The White Old Man
The Mongols worship an important god of fertility, who is
represented by the mask of an amiable, white-haired and
white-bearded old man with waggish and cunning features.
He is considered as the master of earth and water. His
attributes, such as the white clothes and the wand with the
dragonhead, are reminiscent of shamanism.
He is the main figure in the tsam mask dance, in which he
appears in the role of a clown and dolt.
Artistic music
In Soviet times European arts, such as the classical music, the
opera and the ballet, were introduced to Mongolia. The
traditional vocal and instrumental music was adapted to the
tempered tuning and so the Western tone system gained
ascendancy.