“Melodies of the Steppe”
Mongolian music is a reaction to our surroundings and life. Caring for a baby provokes a melody. Seeing white gers spread across the green pasture inspires a proud melody.
Traveling a great distance on horseback, riding sets a pace, the pace delivers rhyme, and here again the song is involuntary.
The sources of songs are endless. Birthdays, weddings, national holidays, winning a horse race or wrestling competition, celebration of the elderly, mare's milk brewing, wool cutting, cashmere combing, and harvest comprise an endless chain of reasons for singing and dancing. Through the ages, music has spread around Mongolia through home teaching and festivals.
Any family or clan event was a good chance for musicians and singers to gather together. Coming from different areas, most often representing different tribes, people had the opportunity to perform, to learn from others and to take home a new melody or song.
In this way, local masters for the whole nation have preserved the ancient patterns from the various corners of Mongolia. Today we introduce you some specific types of traditional Mongolian music:
Labor song. These are melodies sung while working. The hunter's call attracts the animal by imitating the animal’s call in order to select a specific target and to hunt it with deadly precision. Various herder's calls manage the flock by signaling to go to pasture, return home, generate more milk, encourage mating, reuniting a mother and her calf, and so on.
Buuvey song. A buuvey song is a lullaby, or any sweet melody expressing a mother's boundless love for her baby. "Buuvey… buuvey… buuvey…" is repeated while caressing a child to make him or her sleep. The melody may come from the heart of mother and be improvised. However, there are also lullaby songs with legends already composed, learned by the family, and distributed to other families and family members.
"Uukhay" or "guiyngoon" song. These are encouraging and provoking calls, connected with seasonal events.
As warm days arrive, milk flows from the mares and the horse race training reaches its peak, the "guiyngoon" or “songs of little riders” are heard in every direction. It is followed by songs of victorious winners, be it a rider, a wrestler or archery master. Fans chant the "uukhay!" encouraging song, which roughly means "go ahead".
Mongol Hoomii. Mongol hoomii involves producing two simultaneous tones with the human voice. It is a difficult skill requiring a special way of breathing. 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. Hoomii is considered a musical art - not exactly singing, but using one's throat as an instrument.
Depending on the way air is exhaled from the lungs, there are various ways of classifying hoomii, including Bagalzuuryn (laryngeal) hoomii, Tagnainy (palatine) hoomii, Hooloin (guttural) hoomii, Hamryn (nasal) hoomii, and Harhiraa hoomi: under strong pressure in the throat, air is exhaled while a lower tone is kept as the main sound. Professional hoomi performers are found in only a few areas with certain traditions. The Chainman district of Hovd, aimag is one home of hoomii. Tuva, a part of Russia to the north of Mongolia, is also a center of Hoomii musical talent.
Long songs. Another unique traditional singing style is known as Urtiin duu, or “long song”. It's one of the oldest genres of Mongolian musical art, dating to the 13th century. Urtiin duu involves extraordinarily complicated, drawn-out vocal sounds. It is evocative of vast, wide spaces and it demands great skill and talent from the singers in their breathing abilities and guttural singing techniques. “Long songs” relate traditional stories about the beauty of the native land and daily life, to which Mongolians offer blessings. These feelings are formed into majestic, profound songs, such as "The Pleasure Sharing Sun of Universe", "The Old Man and the Bird", "The One and Only Real Love", and "Sunjidmaa, the Beloved".
Epics and legends. This ancient genre, enriched by multiple generations, combines poetry, songs, music and the individuality of each performer to create unique stories. Singers may sing with or without a musical instrument. These sung stories are told from memory and may have thousands of quatrains. Such long stories are usually performed on a long winter night. By combining stories, music, and drama, herders organize a kind of home school. The children, while playing various collective games with bone and wooden toys, listen to the songs and learn about history, life and folklore. "Geser", "Jangar", "Khan Kharakhui", and "Bum Erdene" are classic legend and story songs. Each is a library of folk wisdom and national heritage.
Source: Mongol-resorts.com
Traveling a great distance on horseback, riding sets a pace, the pace delivers rhyme, and here again the song is involuntary.
The sources of songs are endless. Birthdays, weddings, national holidays, winning a horse race or wrestling competition, celebration of the elderly, mare's milk brewing, wool cutting, cashmere combing, and harvest comprise an endless chain of reasons for singing and dancing. Through the ages, music has spread around Mongolia through home teaching and festivals.
Any family or clan event was a good chance for musicians and singers to gather together. Coming from different areas, most often representing different tribes, people had the opportunity to perform, to learn from others and to take home a new melody or song.
In this way, local masters for the whole nation have preserved the ancient patterns from the various corners of Mongolia. Today we introduce you some specific types of traditional Mongolian music:
Labor song. These are melodies sung while working. The hunter's call attracts the animal by imitating the animal’s call in order to select a specific target and to hunt it with deadly precision. Various herder's calls manage the flock by signaling to go to pasture, return home, generate more milk, encourage mating, reuniting a mother and her calf, and so on.
Buuvey song. A buuvey song is a lullaby, or any sweet melody expressing a mother's boundless love for her baby. "Buuvey… buuvey… buuvey…" is repeated while caressing a child to make him or her sleep. The melody may come from the heart of mother and be improvised. However, there are also lullaby songs with legends already composed, learned by the family, and distributed to other families and family members.
"Uukhay" or "guiyngoon" song. These are encouraging and provoking calls, connected with seasonal events.
As warm days arrive, milk flows from the mares and the horse race training reaches its peak, the "guiyngoon" or “songs of little riders” are heard in every direction. It is followed by songs of victorious winners, be it a rider, a wrestler or archery master. Fans chant the "uukhay!" encouraging song, which roughly means "go ahead".
Mongol Hoomii. Mongol hoomii involves producing two simultaneous tones with the human voice. It is a difficult skill requiring a special way of breathing. 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. Hoomii is considered a musical art - not exactly singing, but using one's throat as an instrument.
Depending on the way air is exhaled from the lungs, there are various ways of classifying hoomii, including Bagalzuuryn (laryngeal) hoomii, Tagnainy (palatine) hoomii, Hooloin (guttural) hoomii, Hamryn (nasal) hoomii, and Harhiraa hoomi: under strong pressure in the throat, air is exhaled while a lower tone is kept as the main sound. Professional hoomi performers are found in only a few areas with certain traditions. The Chainman district of Hovd, aimag is one home of hoomii. Tuva, a part of Russia to the north of Mongolia, is also a center of Hoomii musical talent.
Long songs. Another unique traditional singing style is known as Urtiin duu, or “long song”. It's one of the oldest genres of Mongolian musical art, dating to the 13th century. Urtiin duu involves extraordinarily complicated, drawn-out vocal sounds. It is evocative of vast, wide spaces and it demands great skill and talent from the singers in their breathing abilities and guttural singing techniques. “Long songs” relate traditional stories about the beauty of the native land and daily life, to which Mongolians offer blessings. These feelings are formed into majestic, profound songs, such as "The Pleasure Sharing Sun of Universe", "The Old Man and the Bird", "The One and Only Real Love", and "Sunjidmaa, the Beloved".
Epics and legends. This ancient genre, enriched by multiple generations, combines poetry, songs, music and the individuality of each performer to create unique stories. Singers may sing with or without a musical instrument. These sung stories are told from memory and may have thousands of quatrains. Such long stories are usually performed on a long winter night. By combining stories, music, and drama, herders organize a kind of home school. The children, while playing various collective games with bone and wooden toys, listen to the songs and learn about history, life and folklore. "Geser", "Jangar", "Khan Kharakhui", and "Bum Erdene" are classic legend and story songs. Each is a library of folk wisdom and national heritage.
Source: Mongol-resorts.com
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