WE WANT YOU TO KNOW MORE ABOUT MONGOLIA

"MORIN KHUUR" HORSEHEAD FIDDLE
The horsehead fiddle, one of the most singular representatives of Mongolian culture, is highly admired. We have numerous recordings, notes, studies and research on the horsehead fiddle. Scholars have studied the origin and analyzed the legends, such as that of the Khokhoo Namjil.
This says that, in a remote area in Altai, a young man was serving in the army. He met a beautiful young lady, and shortly after leaving the army, he started a happy life with his loved one.
However, he was impelled to leave her and go to leave with his parents, because he had not seen them for a very long time. His wife gave him a magic horse, which could bring him to her in an instant. Sadly, someone who hated the horse killed it. Khokhoo Namjil grieved a lot and carved a representation of his horse's head, adding strings made from the horse's mane.
There are numerous versions of this legend. The horsehead fiddle comes in various designs and shapes. People called the fiddle after whichever animal head it was carved into: swan, alligator, dragon and tiger. The horsehead fiddle is tuned to a fifth and fourth. The fifth is called the tsakhar or off-pitch harmony. The strings are made from the tail of a strong horse. The leather covering the wooden trapezoid sound box must be well tanned to resist humidity. There are many beautiful tunes dedicated to the horsehead fiddle.
Khalkh Mongolians usually play melodies that imitate the gair of a horse, such as Walk of the Jonon Khar, Walk of a Joroo Mori, Nutsgen Tsavdir, Mogoi Kheer, Dogolon tsagaan and Hartsaga Zeerd. There are also melodies that imitated the sounds of a sheep, a lamb, a calf and a crow beside a blue lake.
The horsehead fiddle often accompanies the traditional long song, named for its length of trilled notes. Almost every family possesses a horsehead fiddle, which is kept in position of honour.
For a horsehead fiddle, the main raw materials are spruce, cedar or larch. The neck is made of bird tree, which is hard but easy to carve. The sound box is covered by goatskin or young camel skin and the wood is traditionally painted green. Nowadays, luthiers often use cedar and spouse tree. The latter is a soft wood which gives a gine tremolo.
The fiddle strings are traditionally of the strong hair from a horse's tail; luthiers often use a mare's tail, which is reputed to stretch the least in humidity and produces a better sound. The head is carved into a horse's head while the lower section may be carved as a Khan-Garid (garuda).
Depending on the luthier, a dragon and Khan-Garid are carved in the same place. Mongolians call this Zebad. The 12 oriental zodiac animals are carved on the neck and attached to the bow in ebony, imported from China, which makes the bow stiffer.
In 2002, Presient N.Bagabandi issued a decree for the protecting and promotion of the horsehead fiddle as the national instrument. The decree instructed the government to amend state ceremonial rules so that national anthem has to be played at all official ceremonies on the morin khuur. This now happens at Tsagaan Sar to symbolise peace, happiness and the majesty of the state and its citizens.
It also calls for morin khuur performances to be broadcast nationwide on television and radio.
(to be continued)