INTRODUCTION TO MONGOLIAN ART, FOLK TRADITION AND MUSIC
I
have extracted the relevant sections regarding Music from this article on the
web:
Among
oriental nations Mongolia is famous for its rich folklore tradition.
Heterogeneous genres of folklore such as ancient myths, proverbs, sayings, good
wishes, blessings, tales. Epics which depict the happiness. yearning and wisdom
of the people have been inherited by our people and passed down orally, from
generation to generation, since time immemorial. Even in the primitive stage of
development during the struggle with nature and the domestication of wild
animals, labour songs, and verses and melodies on livestock breeding emerged
and came down to our day, evolving in accordance with our cultural development.
It is a history of thousands of years of herdsmen's long, drawn-out songs,
verses and melodies related to herding horses, fencing sheep and other national
peculiarities, melodious and eloquent verses, proverbs, tales and epics integrated
into present day life. While Mongolian folklore was passed down by word of
mouth in pre-literate times, the parallel development of oral and written
traditions of folklore has entered a new stage in this period of national
script, as is evident from contemporary stories, epics, proverbs, and
benedictions.
Epics
are a classic genre of Mongolian folklore. They are rooted in epic songs, which
depict the velour of courageous heroes of the 1Oth century, and in the 12th and
13th centuries they flourished and large epic songs and long verse epics were
created. In this, Mongolia was distinguished among Asian countries, and the
epics "Geseriada" and "Jangar" ranking with supreme world
poetry such as the "Illiad" and "Odyssey" of Greece, and
the "Mahabharata" and "Ramayana" of India, were created. In
the development of epics the ideology of the emperor Genghis Khan's state had
great impact and played an important part in revealing the powerful and heroic
events and aspirations of the steppe nobles.
The
inheritance of the Mongolian people's epic has become more and more enriched,
and epics such as "Bum Erdene", "Khan Kharankhui",
"Daini Khurel" and "Dsul Aldarkhan" which depict the
prosperity of the people, were created and handed down to the people of
present-day Mongolia by contemporary reciters of epic songs like Jilkher and
Parchin. Their successor, epic-teller B. Avirmed, has
recited epic literature in our day and for this merit he was awarded the 1991
State Prize of Mongolia.
The
Mongolian folk song is one of the most ancient forms of musical and poetic art
of the Mongols. History books recorded their wolf-like melodical singing in the
time of the Hsiung-nu, Mongolian folk songs could be classified according to
function as songs of everyday life, ceremony and dancing. As for their genre
they are divided into lyric melodies, narrative songs for performing art,
response songs, tragic melodies, humorous and festive songs. There are two
basic forms: short songs and long songs. Short songs are more popular and have
short tunes, sharp rhythm, originality and vivacity, and are connected with
daily life and activities, and combined with beautiful decorations. But the
Mongolian long song is of the classic genre, in philosophical style, evocative
of vast, wide spaces. It also demands great skill and talent from the singers
in their breathing abilities and guttural singing techniques. There are in Mongolia
a number of already-established schools of Mongolian long song in certain local
regions. According to its scale and composition, Mongolian long song could be
classified into 'lesser long songs', 'long songs' and 'majestic long songs'.
Mongol
khoomi is a musical art to be delivered with the help of a guttural voice and
specific way of breathing. It can be regarded as musical art - not exactly
singing but using one's throat as an instrument. Professional khoomi performers
are only found in certain areas with a certain tradition and geographical
location. The Chandmani district of Kobdo aimag (province) is the home of
khoomi. A number of well-known khoomi performers of Mongolia were born there.
One
tone comes out as a whistle·like sound, the result of locked breath in the
chest being forced out through the throat in a specific way, while a lower tone
sounds as a base. The style of khoomi can be distinguished, according to the
direction of the air breathed out, from deep in the lungs. For example:
-Harhireaa
khoomi: under strong pressure of the throat, the air is breathed out while a
lower tone is kept as the main sound.
-Bagalzuuryn
(laryngeal) khoomi: locked breath is exhaled while being pressed close to the
larynx.
-Tagnainy
(palatine) khoomi the locked breath is exhaled while being pressed close to the
palate.
-Hooloin
(guttural) khoomi: the locked breath is exhaled past the end of the tongue.
-Hamryn
(nasal) khoomi: the locked breath is let out through the nose.
In
fact, khoomi is an art of not only single but double throat singing, in which
both upper whistle and lower tone are included. Rendering of a song vocally,
combined with lower sounds and whistle, produces polyphonic singing.
Khoomi
is the specific and classic genre of Mongolian traditional music.
MONGOLIAN
FOLK INSTRUMENTS
Since
their origin, Mongolian folk instruments have long been developed, evaluated,
improved and enriched through historical links with musical instruments of
other nations in Asia. Mongolian folk instruments can be divided into eight
groups according to the material of which they are made such as metal, bamboo,
stone, clay, etc.
They
also could be classified as wind instruments - bishguur, limbe, buree and so
on; stringed instruments -khuur, khuuchir, biwa and tobshuur, python- skin
instruments, and drums of different sizes and shapes.
Five
of the folk instruments - morin khuur, shudraga, limbs, khuuchir and yoching -
are usually considered to comprise the classic quintet. The morin khuur, a
two-stringed lute with a wooden sound box and scroll carved in the form of a
horse's head, is the instrument that comes closest to expressing the deep
feelings of the Mongolian heart. The shudraga is a three-stringed lute with a
circular wooden sound-box covered with skin. Khuuchir is a two-stringed spike
fiddle with a skin-covered body, and yoching is a board zither.
Return to main Mongolian Music page