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Music
Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
 is an integral part of Mongolian culture
Culture of Mongolia

Mongolian culture has been heavily influenced by the Mongols Nomads way of life. Other important influences are from Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism, and from China....
. Among the unique contributions of Mongolia
Mongolia

Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and People's Republic of China to the south, east and west....
 to the world's musical culture are the long songs, one of the greatest features of the Mongolian music, overtone singing
Overtone singing

Overtone singing, also known as throat singing, overtone chanting, or harmonic singing, is a type of singing in which the singer manipulates the resonances created as air travels from the lungs, past the vocal folds, and out the lips to produce a melody....
 and morin khuur
Morin khuur

The morin khuur is a Mongolian bowed stringed instrument. The full Classical Mongolian name for the morin khuur is morin-u tolo?ai tai qu?ur meaning fiddle with horse's head....
, the horse-headed fiddle. The music of Mongolia is also rich with varieties related to the various ethnic groups of the country: Oirats, Hotogoid, Tuvans
Tuvans

Tuvans or Tuvinians are a group of Turkic peoples. They are historically known as Uriankhai, from the Mongolian language designation....
, Darhad, Buryats
Buryats

The Buryats or Buriyads, numbering approximately 436,000, are the largest ethnic minority group in Siberia and are mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Buryatia, a Federal subjects of Russia of Russia....
, Tsaatan, Dariganga, Uzemchins, Barga, Kazakhs
Kazakhs

The Kazakhs are a Turkic peoples of the northern parts of Central Asia ....
 and Khalha.

Besides the traditional music, Western
Western culture

File:Clash of Civilizations map.pngWestern culture are terms which are used to refer to cultures of European origin. This terminology originated as a way of describing what was different about the Graeco-Roman culture and its descendants, in contrast to the older neighboring civilizations of the Middle East, which in many ways continued...
 classical music
Classical music

Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to mainstream music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of Western art history Religious music and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times....
 and ballet
Ballet

Ballet is a formalized type of performative dance, the origins of which date lay in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century France courts, and which was further developed in England, Italy, and Russia as a concert dance form....
 flourished during the MPR
MPR

MPR is a three-letter abbreviation with multiple meanings, including:*Mongolian People's Republic*Chadian People?s Revolutionary Movement, a Chadian rebel group that operated in the 1980s...
.






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Mongolian Musician
Music
Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
 is an integral part of Mongolian culture
Culture of Mongolia

Mongolian culture has been heavily influenced by the Mongols Nomads way of life. Other important influences are from Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism, and from China....
. Among the unique contributions of Mongolia
Mongolia

Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and People's Republic of China to the south, east and west....
 to the world's musical culture are the long songs, one of the greatest features of the Mongolian music, overtone singing
Overtone singing

Overtone singing, also known as throat singing, overtone chanting, or harmonic singing, is a type of singing in which the singer manipulates the resonances created as air travels from the lungs, past the vocal folds, and out the lips to produce a melody....
 and morin khuur
Morin khuur

The morin khuur is a Mongolian bowed stringed instrument. The full Classical Mongolian name for the morin khuur is morin-u tolo?ai tai qu?ur meaning fiddle with horse's head....
, the horse-headed fiddle. The music of Mongolia is also rich with varieties related to the various ethnic groups of the country: Oirats, Hotogoid, Tuvans
Tuvans

Tuvans or Tuvinians are a group of Turkic peoples. They are historically known as Uriankhai, from the Mongolian language designation....
, Darhad, Buryats
Buryats

The Buryats or Buriyads, numbering approximately 436,000, are the largest ethnic minority group in Siberia and are mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Buryatia, a Federal subjects of Russia of Russia....
, Tsaatan, Dariganga, Uzemchins, Barga, Kazakhs
Kazakhs

The Kazakhs are a Turkic peoples of the northern parts of Central Asia ....
 and Khalha.

Besides the traditional music, Western
Western culture

File:Clash of Civilizations map.pngWestern culture are terms which are used to refer to cultures of European origin. This terminology originated as a way of describing what was different about the Graeco-Roman culture and its descendants, in contrast to the older neighboring civilizations of the Middle East, which in many ways continued...
 classical music
Classical music

Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to mainstream music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of Western art history Religious music and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times....
 and ballet
Ballet

Ballet is a formalized type of performative dance, the origins of which date lay in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century France courts, and which was further developed in England, Italy, and Russia as a concert dance form....
 flourished during the MPR
MPR

MPR is a three-letter abbreviation with multiple meanings, including:*Mongolian People's Republic*Chadian People?s Revolutionary Movement, a Chadian rebel group that operated in the 1980s...
. Among the most popular forms of modern music in Mongolia are Western pop
Pop music

Pop music is a music genre that features a noticeable rhythmic element, melodies and hook , a mainstream style and a conventional structure.The term "pop music" was first used in 1926 in the sense of "having popular appeal" , but since the 1950s it has been used in the sense of a musical genre, originally characterized as a lighter alternat...
 and rock
Rock music

Rock music is a loosely defined genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the mid 1950's. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rhythm and blues, country music and other influences....
 genres and the mass songs, which are written by modern authors in a form of folk songs.

The Mongolians are renowned for their love for music and singing. Any celebrations by the Mongolians always turn into a celebration of singing.

Long song


This genre is called "Long song" (Urtyn duu) because each syllable of text is extended for a long duration. A four-minute song may only consist of ten words. Lyrical themes vary depending on context; they can be philosophical, religious, romance, or celebratory, and often use horse
Horse

The horse is a hoofed mammal, a subspecies of one of seven extant species of the family Equidae. The horse has evolution of the horse over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, odd-toed ungulate animal of today....
s as a symbol or theme repeated throughout the song. Eastern Mongols typically use a morin khuur
Morin khuur

The morin khuur is a Mongolian bowed stringed instrument. The full Classical Mongolian name for the morin khuur is morin-u tolo?ai tai qu?ur meaning fiddle with horse's head....
 (horse-head fiddle) as accompaniment, sometimes with a type of indigenous flute
Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike other woodwind instruments, a flute is a reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air against an edge....
 named limbe. Oirat groups of the Western Mongols typically sing long songs unaccompanied or accompanied with the ikel.

Horse-head fiddle

The horse-head fiddle, or morin khuur, is a distinctively Mongolian instrument and is seen as a symbol of the country. The instrument
Musical instrument

A musical instrument is an object constructed or used for the purpose of making music. In principle, anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument....
 is two-stringed and is bowed like a cello
Cello

The violoncello is a bowed string instrument. A person who plays a cello is called a cellist. The cello is used as a solo instrument, in chamber music, and as a member of the string section of an orchestra....
. There is some controversy regarding the traditional carving of a horse on the upper end of the pegbox. Some scholars believe that this is proof that the instrument was originally a shamanistic instrument, as the staffs of shamans have a horse similarly carved on top; the horse is a much-revered animal in Mongolia.

Throat singing

Perhaps the best-known musical form of the Mongols is the throat singing tradition known as hoomii, extant among all or most Mongols though best known internationally from Tuva. Sung differently than traditional vocals. In Mongolia, the most-famous throat-singers include Khalkhas like Gereltsogt
Gereltsogt

Gereltsogt is a noted Khalkhan practitioner of Kh??mi, or Mongolian throat-singer. His brother Ganbold is also a renowned kh??miich. Gereltsogt is married to Oyuna....
 and Sundui, while the Tuvan group Huun-Huur-Tu
Huun-Huur-Tu

Huun-Huur-Tu is a music group from Tuva, a Russia republic situated on the Mongolia border.One of the distinctive elements of their music is throat singing, in which singers sing both the note and the note's overtone, thus controlling two tunes simultaneously....
 has an international following. This unique type of singing involves the production of two distinctively audible pitches at the same time, including a low pedal note, or drone, derived from the fundamental frequency
Fundamental frequency

The fundamental tone, often referred to simply as the fundamental and abbreviated f0 or F0, is the lowest frequency in a harmonic series ....
 of the vocal cord vibrations, and higher melodic notes that result when the singer's mouth acts as a filter, selecting one note at a time from among the drone's natural overtone series pitches.

Pop music

Largely unknown outside of Mongolia, there is a thriving popular music scene centred in the city of Ulaanbaatar
Ulaanbaatar

Ulan Bator, or Ulaanbaatar , is the Capital and largest city of Mongolia. The city is an independent municipality not part of any aimags of Mongolia, and its population as of 2008 is just over 1 million....
. Actually, this is a mixture of various kinds of popular music
Popular music

Popular music is music that is accessible to the mainstream and disseminated by one or more of the mass media. It belongs to any of a number of musical genres, and stands in contrast to classical music, which historically was the music of the elite and upper strata of society, and traditional music which was disseminated orally....
. It is often subdivided into pop, Rock
Rock music

Rock music is a loosely defined genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the mid 1950's. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rhythm and blues, country music and other influences....
, hip hop
Hip hop music

Hip hop music is a music genre typically consisting of a rhythmic vocal style called rapping which is accompanied with backing beats. Hip hop music is part of hip hop culture, which began in the Bronx, in New York City in the 1970s, predominantly among African Americans and Latino Americans....
 and alternative (consisting of alternative rock
Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s. Alternative rock consists of various subgenres that have emerged from the independent music scene since the 1980s, such as Grunge music, Britpop, gothic rock, and indie pop....
 and heavy metal
Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in England and the United States. With roots in blues-rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified Distortion , extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall...
). The pop scene includes boy band
Boy band

A boy band, written in some countries boys band or boy's band, is a type of pop music band featuring several young male singers. The members are generally expected to perform as dancers as well, often executing highly choreographed sequences to their own music....
s like Camerton and Nomin talst, girl group
Girl group

A girl group is a popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally Harmony together.Girl groups emerged in the late 1950s as groups of young singers teamed up with behind-the-scenes songwriters and music producers to create hit singles, often featuring glossy production values and backing by top studio musicians....
s like Kiwi
Kiwi (band)

Kiwi is a girl group from Mongolia. The three members, although all are Mongolian, are styled as "asian", "blonde", and "brown", mimicking the look of a multi-ethnic ensemble....
, Emotion and Lipstick and solo artists like Serchmaa, Delgermoron and the renowned Ariunaa , the alternative scene bands like Nisvanis, Hurd
Hurd (band)

Hurd is a Mongolian heavy metal band. Their songs are often reminiscent of traditional Music of Mongolia, sometimes using pentatonic scales and traditional melody styles....
 and Night train, the Lemons, the rock scene rock-n-roll like the Pilots, folk rock
Folk rock

Folk rock is a musical genre, combining elements of folk music and Rock and roll.In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and Canada around the mid-1960s....
 like Altan Urag and hard rock
Hard rock

Hard rock is a sub-genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock and psychedelic rock and is considerably harder than conventional rock music....
 bands like Haranga
Haranga

Kharanga or Haranga is a hard rock/grunge band from Ulan Bator, Mongolia, established in 1989 as the first Mongolian hard rock group.. It has been performing in Mongolia since the early 1990s....
, and there are also some techno
Techno

Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan, United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988....
 bands like Khar Sarnai. A few of the younger Mongolian popular artists are becoming increasingly well established internationally, mostly notably, the young female singer Nominjin
Nominjin

Nominjin is a Mongolian rhythm and blues singer. She launched her career in 2003 at age 14 after studying under vocal coach Roger Love. Raised by her Mongols biological mother and United States stepfather, she has lived in Russia, Mongolia, India, and the Caribbean due to her parents' work; as a result, she speaks fluent English language and...
 (singing in 8 languages in a variety of genres) and Amarkhuu Borkhuu, a star of the Russian pop music.

Hip hop/Rap has gained considerable popularity in Mongolia. From early 1990s, Mongolian teenagers and youngsters formed dancing groups with anywhere between three to thirty members that started to compete in national tournaments. This was the beginning of the Mongolian hip hop movement. For some reason single rappers had never “made it” into the Mongolian hip hop scene.

Early bands include Har Tas and MC Boys. These groups represented the beginning of rap in Mongolia. Their songs mostly stressed on social issues, philosophy and rebellious ideas. A later generation consisted of bands like Dain Ba Enkh
Dain Ba Enkh

Dain Ba Enkh - Mongolian language for "War and Peace" - is a Mongolian people hip hop group, established in 1997....
, 2 Huu, Erkh-Choloo, Lumino
Lumino (band)

Lumino is a Hip-Hop band from Mongolia founded in 1998. Their music is dance-friendly and often melodic, with frequent contributions by external vocalists....
, Mon-Ta-Rap, Ice Top and URMC. They continued with similar messages as their predecessors, but also came to include “soft” touches in their songs, which faced with strong resistance from hard core rap fans but welcomed by the general public.

Popular folk music

There is also a long established and distinctive "Mongolian pop" genre that occupies the same place on the musical spectrum as Japanese Enka
Enka

refers to two styles of Japanese music. The first is speeches set to music which were sung and spread by political activists during the Meiji period and the Taisho period as a means to avoid crackdowns by the government on speeches of political dissent....
 music or Western soft-pop-oriented folk music
Folk music

Folk music can have a number of different meanings, including:* Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous with the term "Traditional music", also often including World Music and Roots music; the term "Traditional music" was given its more specific meaning to distinguish it from the other definition...
 or country music
Country music

Country music is a blend of popular American music forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. It has roots in Traditional music, Celtic music, gospel music, and old-time music and evolved rapidly in the 1920s....
. Classic singers from the late 20th and early 21st centuries include Vandan and Dulamsüren, Batsükh, Tömörkhuyag and Egschiglen
Egschiglen

Egschiglen are a Mongolian Folk music band, formed in Ulan Bator in 1991. In English Egschiglen means "Beautiful Melody", and they are one of very few traditional Mongolian bands to have become popular in the rest of the World....
. Some of the repeatedly heard lyrical themes are very distinctive for Mongolia: heartfelt tributes to the songwriter's mother, for example, or paeans to great horses. This type of music is not considered world music
World music

The term world music includes Traditional music of any culture that are created and played by indigenous musicians or that are "closely informed or guided by indigenous music of the regions of their origin," including Western World music ....
 in the west and was long generally unavailable outside Mongolia, but can now be downloaded from various Mongolian websites. It may be filed under the designation ????o??? ?yy (schlagers).

Classical music

Mongolia features a rich tradition of classical music
Classical music

Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to mainstream music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of Western art history Religious music and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times....
 and ballet
Ballet

Ballet is a formalized type of performative dance, the origins of which date lay in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century France courts, and which was further developed in England, Italy, and Russia as a concert dance form....
. The classical music owes its prosperity in the 2nd half of the 20th century to a patronage of then Socialist government that favoured Western and Russian/Soviet classical arts to Western pop culture. In addition, the Mongolian composers
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
 developed a rich diversity of national symphony and ballet.

List of Mongolian composers
G. Altanhuyag, (???
Meritorious Artist

Meritorious Artist , also translated as Merited Artist, Deserved Artist or Distinguished Artist or Honorary Artist) is an honorary title in the Soviet Union, Union republics, and Autonomous republics, also in some other Eastern bloc states , as well as in a number of post-Soviet states, modelled after the title of the...
)
Symphonies Opera
Opera

Opera is an Performing arts in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work which combines a text and a musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition....
 Mother Hoelun (????? ?? ?????) Song The beauty of the Mongolian woman (?????? ??????? ?????????)

L. Mördorj, (???
Meritorious Artist

Meritorious Artist , also translated as Merited Artist, Deserved Artist or Distinguished Artist or Honorary Artist) is an honorary title in the Soviet Union, Union republics, and Autonomous republics, also in some other Eastern bloc states , as well as in a number of post-Soviet states, modelled after the title of the...
)
National anthem Music for film The golden yurt (????? ?????) Symphony The birds in spring (?????? ??????) Torghut
Torghut

The Torghut are one of the four major sub-tribes of the Oirat people. They formed Oirat alliance with other 3 main tribes. Their name is also variously romanized as Torgut, Torghuud, Torguud, or Turgut....
 dance (??????? ?????) won awards at the World Festival of Youth and Students
World Festival of Youth and Students

The World Festival of Youth and Students is an international event, organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth , a left-wing youth organization, jointly with the International Union of Students since 1947....
 in 1947 Dance Eerenceg (???????? ?????) won awards at the World Festival of Youth and Students
World Festival of Youth and Students

The World Festival of Youth and Students is an international event, organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth , a left-wing youth organization, jointly with the International Union of Students since 1947....
 in 1947 Music for film Wish I had a horse (??????? ? ????????) Opera Namjil nicknamed cuckoo
Cuckoo

The cuckoos are a family, Cuculidae, of near passerine birds. The order Cuculiformes, in addition to the cuckoos, also includes the turacos ....
 (????? ??????) Music for film Oh, these girls! (??? ???????? ??) Symphony My motherland (????? ?? ????) Song Steppe in four seasons (?????? ?????? ???)

B. Sharav
Cantata
Cantata

A cantata is a vocal music music composition with an musical instrument accompaniment and often containing more than one movement ....
 The sun over the wonderful Jambudvipa
Jambudvipa

Jambudvipa is the name of the dvipa of the terrestrial world as envisioned in the cosmologies of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism where ordinary human beings live....
 (????? ??????????? ???) Symphony Melody of the soul (????????? ?????) Opera Genghis Khan (?????? ???? ?????)

J. Chuluun
Ballet The skillful master Has (???? ???) Variation of two folk melodies (????? ???? ????? ??????)
B. Damdinsuren
National anthem Symphony In the upland of Hentei (??????? ????? ??????) Opera The three tragic hills (??????? ?????? ??????) Opera The road to happiness (???????? ??? ?????)
B. Smirnov
Opera The three tragic hills (??????? ?????? ??????) Song The lovely city Ulaanbaatar (??????? ?????? ???????????)

N. Jantsannorov, (?????? ???????)
Music for film Queen Manduhai the Wise (???????? ????? ?????) Music for film Under the power of the eternal Heavens (???? ????????? ????? ???) Symphonette Symphony The white stupa
Stupa

A stupa is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, once thought to be places of Buddhist worship, typically the remains of a Buddha or saint....
 (?????? ???????) Symphony The eight bay horses (?????? ?????)
Ts. Namsraijav
Symphony The mountains Gobi Gurvan Saihan (???? ?????? ??????) Symphony Celebrity of magnificience (?????? ??????) Song The country in the heart (?????? ????? ?????)

E. Choidog
Symphony The beautiful country of Mongolia (???????? ?????? ????) Dance The black ambler (????? ???) Song Mother of mine (????? ???)

S. Gonchigsumlaa
Buryat
Buryats

The Buryats or Buriyads, numbering approximately 436,000, are the largest ethnic minority group in Siberia and are mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Buryatia, a Federal subjects of Russia of Russia....
 dance (?????? ?????) Symphonies

See also


  • Culture of Mongolia
    Culture of Mongolia

    Mongolian culture has been heavily influenced by the Mongols Nomads way of life. Other important influences are from Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism, and from China....
  • Architecture of Mongolia
    Architecture of Mongolia

    The traditional Mongolian dwelling is known as yurt . According to Mongolian artist and art critic N. Chultem, yurts and tents were the basis for the development of traditional Mongolian architecture....
  • Music of Inner Mongolia
    Music of Inner Mongolia

    Inner Mongolia is a province of China, with traditions related to music of Tuva and music of Mongolia. Musically, it is known for the Han Chinese shanxi opera tradition....
  • Music of Buryatia
    Music of Buryatia

    Buryatia is a part of the russia. One of the country's main instruments is a two-stringed horse-head fiddle called a morin khuur. This is a similar instrument to that found across the region....
  • Music of Kalmykia
    Music of Kalmykia

    Kalmykia is a national republic within the Russian Federation. The music of Kalmyks has its roots in the musical culture of Oirats, slightly influenced by Turkic, Caucasian and Russian music and instrumentation....
  • Music of Tuva
    Music of Tuva

    Tuva is a part of Russia, inhabited by a Turkic people related to the nearby Mongolians. Tuvans are known abroad for Khoomei#Tuva, a kind of Overtone singing....