Culture

Morin khuur 馬頭琴

The Morin khuur is a chordophone of Mongolian origin whose name translates as "horse-head fiddle". It is played with a bow and produces a sound which is poetically described as expansive and unrestrained, like a wild horse neighing, or like a breeze in the grasslands. It is the most important musical instrument of the Mongolian people, and the Mongolian nation.

The instrument consists of a wooden-framed sound box to which two strings are attached. It is held nearly upright with the sound box in the musician's lap or between the musician's legs. The strings are made from hairs from horses' tails, strung parallel, and run over a wooden bridge on the body up a long neck to the two tuning pegs in the scroll, which is always carved into the form of a horse's head.

The bow is loosely strung with horse hair coated with larch or cedar wood resin, and is held from underneath with the right hand. The underhand grip enables the hand to tighten the loose hair of the bow, allowing very fine control of the instrument's timbre.

The larger of the two strings has 130 hairs from a horse tail, while the "female" string has 105 hairs from a mare's tail. Traditionally, the strings were tuned a fifth apart, though in modern music they are more often tuned a fourth apart. The strings are stopped either by pinching them in the joints of the index and middle fingers, or by pinching them between the nail of the little finger and the pad of the ring finger.

Traditionally, the frame would have been covered with camel, goat, or sheep skin, in which case a small opening would be left in back, but in modern times, an all-wood sound box is more common.

Origin

One legend about the origin of the Morin khuur is that a shepherd named Khukhuu Namjil received the gift of a magical winged horse; he would mount it at night and fly to meet his lover. A jealous woman had the horse's wings cut off, so that the horse fell from the air and died. The sorrowful shepherd made a horse head fiddle from the now-wingless horse's bones, and used it to play sad songs about his horse.

The Mongolian musical instrument the Morin Khuur /Horse head fiddle/ has been registered in the World Heritage of Art and Cultural Objects list. The UNESCO certificate proving this was presented to the Minister of Education, Culture and Sciences A.Tsanjid on January 27, 2004 by acting UN resident representative Robert Haagen.

The ceremony of UNESCO's Declaration on the Best Heritage of World Folk and Cultural arts was held in Paris on November 7, 2003. During the ceremony the UNESCO Secretary General K.Matsuura applauded the role and contribution of the Morin Khuur to the world's cultural heritage fund and said that this two-string musical instrument is intertwined with 800-year history of the cultural life of the nomadic Mongolian people.

In 2002 the President of Mongolia N.Bagabandi has released a decree aimed at protecting and developing the national musical instrument. The decree instructs the Government of Mongolia to amend state ceremonial rules support the national anthem being played on the Morin Khuur during Tsagaan sar /Mongolian/ in order to symbolize peace, happiness and the majesty of state and citizens.

Back to Culture page

Learn to Cook

Johnson's