The musics of the traditionally nomadic Mongol peoples of Inner Asia, who now live predominantly in Mongolia (Mongol Uls) and Inner Mongolia (an autonomous region in northern China) as well as elsewhere in China, in Russia and in diasporic communities in Europe and the USA.
II. Traditional music and dance
IV. 20th-century political influences
CAROLE PEGG
The majority of Mongols live in Mongolia and Inner Mongolia; they are also found in Buryatia and along the Volga river in Russia, and in other areas of China, particularly in the autonomous region of Xinjiang and in Qinghai province (fig.1). The dissemination of Mongols occurred partly because political borders changed and administrative divisions were created that divided and relocated Mongol peoples at various times – under the Mongolian Empire (1206–1368), the Jungar State (1630 to late 1750s), and the Chinese Qing dynasty (1644–1911), as an autonomous state under the Bogd Khan (1912–19) and during the communist Mongolian People's Republic (1921–92) – and partly because of their own migrations. When Stalin successfully negotiated sovereignty for Mongolia at the Yalta conference in 1945, the political division between Mongol groups in Inner Mongolia (part of China) and Mongolia (then the Mongolian People's Republic) was consolidated. However, Mongols still use the metaphor of a human body to symbolize the ‘natural’ unity of their politically-divided peoples referring to Mongolia as ‘Back’ or ‘North’ Mongolia (Ar Mongol) and to Inner Mongolia as ‘Breast’ or ‘South’ Mongolia (Övör Mongol). While they view themselves as united in being ‘Mongol’, Mongols do express different kinds of identity through musical forms, styles and practices.
Within Mongolia, the estimated total population in 2000 is 2.74 million. The majority group, the Khalkhas (1,610,200), live predominantly in central and east Mongolia. Other groups are concentrated in the border areas. Along the Altai mountain range of west Mongolia live Dörbets (55,200), Baits (38,800), Zakchins (22,500), Altai Urianghais (20,400), Torguts and Hoshuts (10,200), Ölöts (8100), Mingats (4000), Western Khalkhas, and non-Mongol groups including Hotons (4000), Tuvan Urianghais and Chantous (Üzbeks). Among the rolling green steppes of east Mongolia are located Buryats (34,700), Darigangas (28,600), Bargas (2000), Üzemchins (2000) and Hamnigans, and amid the snow-capped mountains, forests and lakes of north Mongolia live Darhats (14,300), Hotogoids, Chahars and Buryats. Within the Russian Federation, there are an estimated 453,000 Buryat Mongols and 2,000,000 Kalmyk Mongols. Census statistics (1990) suggest that over 5.5 million Mongols are living in China, of which almost 3.5 million are in Inner Mongolia. Torguts and Hoshuts living in Qinghai, Inner Mongolia and Tibet number 114,000; Daurs and Torguts living in Xinjiang number 135,000.
Repertories, styles, forms and genres of Mongol music are influenced by the ethnicities, life styles and histories of the performers. Traditionally, music is primarily vocal; instrumental music takes a secondary role. As transhumant pastoralists in an often hostile environment, the everyday lives of Mongols are suffused with music linked to ritual, folk-religious, shamanic and Buddhist practices, whether herding, hunting or holding domestic celebrations (nair) and public festivals (e.g. Eriin Gurvan Naadam, Festival of the Three Manly Sports; see §II, 1(vi) below). In all three religious complexes, Mongols use musical practices to communicate with and attempt to influence spirits believed to live in and comprise natural phenomena. Similarly, animals are controlled, herded and hunted using a range of vocal and instrumental sounds.
Traditionally, there were gender-specific practices in vocal and instrumental performance. The most highly valued vocal forms were performed in formal ritual contexts by men. Women were generally prohibited from performing tuul's (epics) and höömii (see Overtone-singing), as well as the most valued urtyn duus (long-songs). In the context of celebrations, the eldest male always performed a technically difficult urtyn duu before the most respected female, who performed a less difficult song. Women were prohibited from playing the Huur (fiddle), limbe (side-blown flute), tsuur (end-blown pipe), topshuur (two-string plucked lute) and yatga (zither). Only the aman huur (jew's harp) appears to have been played in both secular and shamanic contexts by both men and women of all groups.
During the communist period, a ‘new hearth’ (first the ‘club’ and ‘red corner’ and then the theatre) was created for music. Music was secularized, taken out of the round felt tent or monastery and moulded into a ‘national’ form, with socialist content that claimed ideological equality in gender, status and ethnicity. European art forms, including classical music, opera and ballet were introduced, and traditional Mongolian song and dance melodies were adapted to equal-tempered scales, derived from the harmonic series of European art music. In contemporary Mongolia, traditions of various provenances are in the process of intermingling: traditional songs, instruments and dances are being reinjected with ethnicity; religious musics are being practised in ritual contexts; Soviet traditions and Soviet transformations of pre-Soviet traditions continue to be developed; and new rock and ‘world music’ influences are being taken on board.
Mongol music, §2: Traditional instruments
In terms of musical structure, traditional Mongolian songs fall along a continuum. At one end is the ‘extended’ long-song (aizam urtyn duu), which is richly decorated, drawn out and without fixed rhythm; at the other is the strophic, syllabic, rhythmical short-song (bogino duu), which is mostly in simple, duple or quadruple time and occasionally in triple time, and performed without ornamentation. Contexts of performance also differ for these songs. In addition, there are a range of vocal forms not classified by Mongols as ‘song’, but which by virtue of their structure or rhythmic performance may be considered to be musical.
(iv) Tales, legends, praise-songs and ‘words’.
Mongol music, §II, 1: Traditional music and dance, Vocal musics.
Most Mongolian ethnic groups perform a style of urtyn duu (long-song), the themes of which range from the religious, philosophical, ceremonial and didactic to expressions of love for family, nature, birthplace and animals. Urtyn duu is a Khalkha term that came into general use after standardization of music under the communists. Traditionally, each Mongolian group has its own terms often indicating use in a particular context: Khalkha Mongols also use the terms nairyn duu (celebration song), since long-songs are the only form of song permitted in Khalkha celebrations, and aizam duu (extended song). Each group also has its own repertory, forms, styles and methods of ornamentation.
The long-song uses five equally-spaced pitches, from which further pitches are derived. It occurs in three main musical forms: extended (aizam), general (tügeemel, jir) and abbreviated (besreg). Aizam urtyn duu is performed mainly by Eastern Mongols, including Khalkhas. It is characterized by rich ornamentation and use of falsetto, extreme elongation of both musical phrases and syllables, a melody that continually unfolds rather than repeats, and lack of a regular beat. Its melodic complexity and melismatic skill takes precedence over textual clarity for both performer and audience. Classical Mongolian script pronunciation is often used, and syllables are interpolated to preserve the flow of the melodic line. While initial-line alliteration, typical of Mongolian poetry, is employed, the line is often truncated, so that metrical elements of the written text are not preserved in the song. Performance manner is restrained, with little facial or bodily movement.
In traditional Khalkha celebrations, each long-song should have 64 türleg (‘choruses’), although 4, 8, 16 and 32 are acceptable. The Khalkha phrase ‘16 or 32 aizam duu', refers to a long-song with 16 or 32 türleg. Central Khalkha style is characterized by its wide range, which when it incorporates falsetto may reach almost three octaves, and by a full-throated, declamatory vocal tone from the chest. Intervallic movements are wide – 3rds and 4ths are used in succession – and there is a general absence of conjunct movement. Borjigin Khalkha style has a range as wide as Central Khalkha, and falsetto is used, but intervallic movements are small, and more complex decoration of the melodic line is used. Western Khalkhas, who live in districts bordering west Mongolia, perform aizam urtyn duu but use a more restricted melodic range than Central Khalkhas.
Tügeemel urtyn duu (‘general’ long-song) lies between ‘extended’ and ‘abbreviated’ forms and is used on non-official occasions, such as during herding on the steppes. Besreg urtyn duu (‘abbreviated’ long-song), a shortened or hybrid form with short verses and sometimes choruses, is performed by Western Mongols, including west Mongolian groups and Mongols in Xinjiang. This form also exploys devices such as empty syllables and interjections, but because there is little ornamentation, a less complex musical structure and less elongation of words, the text is more clearly audible. Melodies have a more angular structure.
Long-song styles from pre-socialist Mongolia, which have become rare, include Eastern Khalkha, Hardel and Bayan Baraat.
Performance practices and styles are transmitted orally. For Khalkhas, the song performed by child-riders before a horse race, giingoo (see §(vi) below), is used to display their potential as long-song performers. Basic differences occur between Eastern Mongols, Western Mongols and Inner Mongolian groups. Among Western Mongols such as Baits, Dörbets, Torguts and Mingats, long-songs are without instrumental accompaniment, but verses and choruses are sung by all present in heterophonic layers of melodic improvisations. Among Khalkha groups, a solo vocalist sings verses to the accompaniment of a horse-head fiddle (morin huur; fig.2) and sometimes also a six finger-hole, side-blown flute (limbe), which follow the melody and decorations of the vocal line. Each verse is composed of two, four or more musical phrases or sections (tuhailbar), and after every three verses the assembled celebrants contribute a kind of refrain (türleg), while the singer pauses for breath or clears the throat. Among Üzemchins in Xilingol banner, Inner Mongolia, there is no instrumental accompaniment, but during verses the audience supplies a vocal drone which they call chor (in eastern Mongolia, ‘mouth tsuur’) beneath the solo vocalist's melody, and then all contribute to the melody of the chorus.
The selection of the initial and final long-song is chosen according to group tradition. Borjigin and Central Khalkhas always begin a domestic celebration (nair) or festival (naadam) with Tümen Eh (‘First of Ten Thousand’), and the first three long-songs have to be aizam in form and chosen from a specific corpus of songs. Bait Mongols begin with Bayan Tsagaan Nutag (‘Rich White Homeland’), Hotons with Nariin Baahan Sharga (‘Thin Rather Light-Bay [Horse]’), Dörbets with Nariin Goviin Zeerd (‘Chestnut-Brown of the Narrow Gobi’), and Darhats with Talbain Sharga (‘Four-Square Bay’).
Mongol music, §II, 1: Traditional music and dance, Vocal musics.
Although referred to generally by a Khalkha term, bogino duu, this category includes satirical, dialogue and situational songs, which are improvised in alliterative stanzas. Shog duu (satirical songs) are used to lampoon, criticize or comment on anti-social behaviour, problematical relationships and everyday events on a public level; for instance, the Bait Mongol song Donkoo (or Elkendeg) criticizes drunkenness, arrogance and rootlessness.
Magtaar (situational songs) operate on a more private level. They are used to express opinions about specific places and people and may be addressed to lovers or personal friends. Occasionally, magtaar are used in Dörbet celebrations, accompanied by dance (büjigtei magtaar). Satirical songs are distinguished melodically from situational songs: the former have lighter, less lyrical tunes. Traditionally, west Mongolian satirical songs are performed unaccompanied, or accompanied by a simple rhythmical device; occasionally they are accompanied by the two-string spike fiddle, ikil.
As with long-songs, different ethnic groups have their own short-song melodies and styles. The musical range is generally within one-and-a-half octaves, and no ornamentation is used. Musical simplicity allows the singer to concentrate on rhyming the improvised text and clearly transmitting the meaning. A form of ‘lengthened’ short-song (urtavtar bogino duu) uses a drawn-out melody with some ornamentation in verses in conjunction with a more rhythmical melody in the chorus. In both forms, textual meaning is enhanced during performance by dramatic, sometimes even theatrical, facial and bodily movements.
Hariltsaa duu (dialogue-song) is a performance style that, when used in short-song form, also makes expressive use of the eyes and upper body. Although no costume, masks or make-up are used, these highly dramatised songs are considered to be an early form of Mongolian drama. Hariltsaa duu may be performed by several people or solo.
Mongol music, §II, 1: Traditional music and dance, Vocal musics.
Baatarlag tuul's (heroic epics) are lengthy oral works about brave knights who fight and eventually defeat the forces of evil.
Epic traditions among the Oirats of north-west Mongolia, Buryat Mongols and Volga Kalmyks were noted by Vladimirtsov (1923). The Buryat Mongolian academician Rintchen, citing Janggar, Khan Harangui and Högshin Luu Khan, proposed that Khalkha melodic tales (üliger) from central Mongolia should be included within the category ‘epic’; this remains a subject of debate. The Geser epic (see Tibetan music, §III, 4) was widespread in both oral and written forms among Khalkha Mongols, Buryats, Oirats, Inner Mongols, Kalmyks and Monguors. Similarly, Janggar, the main epic cycle of Kalmyk Mongols, is also found among Baits, Dörbets, Torguts and Altai Urianghais of west Mongolia; Khalkhas of central Mongolia; Torguts, Ölöts, Hoshuts and Chahars of Xinjiang, China, and Höh Nuur Mongols in Qinghai province, China. Manuscript versions of Khan Harangui have been collected and published from Khalkhas in central Mongolia, from Kizil in Tuva, from Okin in Buryatia and in Western Mongol tod script. As with the Geser and Janggar epic cycles, Khan Harangui passed to and from written and oral traditions.
Altai Urianghais, Torguts, Baits and Dörbets all have their own corpus of epics with distinctive form and content. The oral epic tradition is believed by west Mongolian bards (tuul'chs) to have been maintained unbroken over many centuries. Performance skills have been transmitted primarily by males within families (see Baataryn Avirmed).
All west Mongolian epics follow the same underlying structure: after many trials of strength and courage, the hero eliminates evil and takes home a devout wife. Descriptive and conceptual motifs provide the opportunity to root the epic among a particular group in a particular place.
Among Altai Urianghais and Baits, a low-pitched, declamatory style of voice-production, häälah (hailah), is used for epic performance. (Zakchins use a singing voice, duulah.) The sound is related to höömii (see Overtone-singing) in that harmonics are produced, but these are not used to create a melody.
West Mongolian heroic epics are accompanied by the two-string plucked lute topshuur and occasionally, as among Zakchins, by the two-string spike fiddle ikil. Buryat Mongols and Mongols from Inner Mongolia use the spike fiddle huur, although Buryat Janggar bards once used the yatga (zither). The much shorter, story-like Khalkha ülger is recited without musical accompaniment.
Mongol music, §II, 1: Traditional music and dance, Vocal musics.
In southern regions of Mongolia and in Inner Mongolia, the dörvön chihtei huur (‘four-eared fiddle’) is used to accompany musical tales or legends (üliger; fig.3). These tales are highly dramatised, with a single performer expressing different characters by means of changes in vocal and instrumental timbre and using pace to express the tale's action.
A form of musical narrative in alliterative verse, the ülger (üliger) has some of the characteristics of epic. Indeed, among Buryats, Khalkhas and Mongols of Inner Mongolia, the term ülger is used to mean ‘epic’, which causes some confusion. Poppe (1979) saw the relationship between epic and ülger in a derogatory way. The üliger was, he said, ‘a semi-poetic, semi-narrative work … the result of a certain degeneration of the Khalkha Mongolian heroic epic’. The qugur-un üliger (‘tale accompanied by fiddle’, literally ‘tale of the fiddle’) includes motifs and performance-techniques common to epic performance and may have been a way of prolonging the life of the epic–ülger in a communist environment. One of the best known Inner Mongolian performers, Muu-ökin, was said to be able to perform ülger that lasted for months, to improvise in length and details, and to vary melody and pace according to the narrative. Another performer, Pajai, was also skilled in improvisation, in performance often replacing several verses with new ones.
Bengsen-ü üliger (‘tales of literary origin’) are performed in south-east provinces of Mongolia among Jaruud, Üzemchin and Ar Horchin Mongols and by groups in Inner Mongolia. Accompanied by the dörvön chihtei huur, texts inspired by classical Chinese novels are transformed into a Mongolian art form by the use of improvised ‘connected verse’ (holboo shüleg). These sections of improvised lines in alliterative parallelism (tolgoi holboh) have various functions: to ornament the tale (chimeg holboo) by describing the hero and his actions, to summarize its contents (ülgeriin tovchoo) or to add a different theme (chölööt sedevt holboo), such as a wrestling match or spirit-distilling session.
Musical performances of myths or legends (domog) take a variety of forms: the myth of the origin of the horse-head fiddle, Cuckoo Namjil, is sung to accompaniment by the morin huur; Western Mongols perform melodies related to their own histories on the ikil; instrumental melodies are frequently related to animal legends (see p. Narantsogt); and Bait, Dörbet, Torgut and Ölöt Mongols use the biy-dance (see §3 below) to express the adventures of their legendary heroes.
Magtaal (praise-songs), formerly connected with Shamanism, hunting practices and a substantial element in epic performance, are improvised in contemporary Mongol music as a ‘snapshot’ of the immediate context. The ‘word’ (üg) is also a traditional improvisation on a theme. The subject, who may be a person, beast or object, comments rhythmically upon the fate that has overtaken it.
Mongol music, §II, 1: Traditional music and dance, Vocal musics.
Incantations (shivshleg üg), well-wishing words (beleg demberliin ügs), wish-prayers (yerööl) and curses (haraal) are part of the vocal repertories of Mongolian Folk Religion, Shamanism and Buddhism, but performed rhythmically and in verse, they may also be considered a genre of musical poetry (högjimt yaruu nairag).
Shivshleg üg, which address natural phenomena as if human, are believed to be an ancient form of folk benediction.
Beleg demberliin ügs and yerööl are widespread among Khalkha, Dörbet, Bait, Ölöt and Üzemchin Mongols. Performance of both must be melodic (uyangalag), using improvised words in equal rhythm (jigd hemeer) and in verse. Beleg demberliin ügs are performed by lay people and consist of only a few lines. They express wishes relating to rituals and labour and must be performed when encountering people engaged in those activities. Yerööls are performed by specialists at annual and life-cycle celebrations, such as births, felt-making, construction of a new ger, weddings, departure for hunting or travelling, and selection of foals. They are associated with anointing the newborn (both human and animal), as well as clothes, tools, tents and weapons, and they vary in length from two to 30 or 40 lines. Rooted in ritual occasions for specific ethnic groups and families, the contents of a yerööl are improvised and include descriptions of the process and actions preceding the ritual, the ritual itself, justifications for the rituals and teachings. Among Khalkhas, the beginning and end of wish-prayers share features with aizam long-songs: both begin by uttering the sound ‘Zee’ and end with a türleg (‘chorus’) to which all contribute, thus ensuring that it becomes a communal, rather than individual wish.
Curses are associated with Shamanism and occur in epics.
Mongol music, §II, 1: Traditional music and dance, Vocal musics.
In pre-communist Mongolia, festivals comprising three sports – horse-racing, wrestling and archery – were linked to the celebration of male prowess and to religious beliefs. Giingoo, tsol and uuhai are musical sounds traditionally intended to communicate with these spirits. Although secularized during the communist period, they are being reinterpreted in contemporary practice.
Giingoo is a ritual song performed by child jockeys as they parade in a circle ‘in the path of the sun’ prior to a race. The melodies are reminiscent of long-song melodies, and the words are unintelligible to both performers and audience.
Prior to wrestling, the contestant's trainer delivers a tsol (praise-recitation) in a high-pitched rhythmical manner, in alliterative verse, each section of which ends in a melodically descending phrase. This identifies the wrestler in terms of residence and skill and issues a challenge to a specific opponent. Long-songs are performed by male elders during the wrestling, and wrestlers perform the Garuda dance (see §3 below).
Rhythmical ritual vocal sounds, called uuhai by Khalkhas and bara by Buryats, are essential to archery competitions. In Mongolia, the words are not comprehensible but sound like melodic calls. Buryat archery songs evoke the lightening speed of the arrow and urge it to reach its mark. An invocation prior to shooting, called by Khalkhas ‘summoning uuhai’, is performed by umpires who beckon and invite both the arrow and good luck. The invocation is accompanied by circular beckoning gestures made with arms reaching towards the sky. This is followed by an uuhai of joy when the arrow finds its mark, traditionally intended to awaken the local deity, who will then provide rain and fertility. The final ‘roll call’ or ‘scoring uuhai’ occurs at the end of the match.
Mongol music, §2: Traditional instruments
In pre-revolutionary Mongolia, Mongol herders played composite chordophones or aerophones, as did other Inner and Central Asian nomads. Membranophones and idiophones were played in shamanist, Buddhist, court and military contexts.
The composition and repertories of instrumentaria, as well as organology, sounds and functions of instruments vary according to ethnic group traditions. Characteristic of Western Mongols are the two-string spike box fiddle (Ikil), three-string lute (Shudraga, shanz), two-string lute (Topshuur) and end-blown pipe with three finger-holes (Tsuur). Central and Western Khalkhas employ the two-string spike box fiddle with horse-head ornamentation (morin huur; see Huur). Other Eastern Mongol groups play the horse-head fiddle (morin huur), two- and four-string spike tube fiddles (Huuchir, dörvön chihtei huur) and side-blown flute with six finger-holes (Limbe). Topshuur and ikil are used to accompany heroic epics; morin huur and limbe to accompany long-songs; shudraga and ikil to accompany the biy-dance.
In pre-communist Mongolia, particular instruments were played in urban contexts. In the capital city, Urga (now Ulaanbaatar), were found the dulcimer (yoochin), three-string lute (shudraga), side-blown flute (limbe) and horse-head fiddle (morin huur); in the west Mongolian towns Uliastai and Hovd, yoochin and limbe. The half-tube zither or yatga continued to be played in Mongolian orchestras, imperial palaces and monasteries in ‘Outer’ and ‘Inner’ Mongolia until the end of the Qing dynasty in 1911. In contemporary Mongolia (formerly ‘Outer’ Mongolia), these instruments are typically played in small theatrical folk groups and ensemble orchestras.
Membranophones and aerophones played in a percussive manner and other percussive devices have been used to communicate with spirits since ancient times. The 13th-century epic-chronicle ‘The Secret History of the Mongols’ (Cleaves, 1982) refers to Chinggis Khan's use of the kettledrum prior to battle, and the 17th-century chronicle Altan Tobci (‘Golden Summary’) mentions the sounding of trumpets in the same context. Mongol shamans and shamanesses use a range of vocal and instrumental percussive sounds to communicate with spirits (see §III, 2 below).
Mongol music, §2: Traditional instruments
The biy-dance, called by Khalkhas biyelgee, uses predominantly the upper-half of the body and is performed by Western Mongols. Traditionally, it was performed solo by males and females in domestic celebrations, during celebrations of the local nobility or lamas, and in free time outside the tent. It is accompanied by the ikil, topshuur or shudraga or by song (duut biy). Accompanying tatlaga (fiddle tunes) bear the same names as the dances.
Dancers express their identities by the order and styles of performance, as well as by the contents of the dance. Baits always begin with Elkendeg, a respectful dance that ritualizes gestures of invitation; Hovog Torguts by a cheerful, swaying biy named after their former homeland Hovog (‘Hovog Sair’). When Baits dance, they use deep, dropping movements of shoulders and chest with legs braced to support the body. Cups of fermented mare's milk are sometimes balanced on the knees to ensure against movement. Dörbets dance with small shimmering movements of the shoulders and arms, sometimes balancing cups on their heads to encourage composure. Although a style may vary within a Mongol group, these variants constitute decorations (chimeglel) within a style, occurring because of subgroup affiliation, family tradition and individual improvisations, rather than different styles.
Undesnii biy (‘national biy’) express group features and histories. Oirat groups, who crossed the Altai from present-day Xinjiang after the fall of the Jungar State during the 18th century, perform Dörvön Oird (The Four Oirat) and a dance symbolizing their migratory crossing of the River Eev. Biy-dances also celebrate mythical ancestors or heroes peculiar to a group. Zakchins, for instance, perform Janggar, the hero of an epic cycle, as a biy-dance.
Mörgüül biy incorporate ritual movements, including gestures of respect, beckoning good fortune into the home and making offerings to the goddess of the fire. Tsatsal biy (‘Milk-aspersion’ biy), which is mimetic of offerings made to elders, ancestors and the eight directions, is one of the most respected biy-dances performed by all Mongol groups.
The Secret History refers to a round, stamping dance performed around a ‘Branching Tree’ during feasting. The Buryat Mongol yoohor, which is performed circling in the ‘path of the sun’ (i.e. clockwise), is the only known contemporary Mongolian circle dance. It is accompanied by sung couplets, improvised by individuals and repeated in chorus by all dancers. The dance is widespread in western Buryatia, but in eastern Buryatia was prohibited by Buddhism and is only performed there during weddings. It is also performed by Buryat Mongols in north-west Mongolia.
The Garuda dance, performed by all Mongol groups before and after each round of wrestling, is said to be imitating two birds – the legendary Khan Garuda of the Buddhist pantheon and the hawk as it swoops to take its prey. The dance also incorporates lion-like poses. While preparing to wrestle, the wrestler dances bird-like from one side of his trainer to the other, pausing only to thrust out his chest and rump. Although styles vary, all dances contain the same three basic elements: slapping the thighs and ground, running, and flapping the arms. When Mongols touch the earth, they believe they may share some of its protective power. Wrestling costumes (jacket, pants, curly-toed boots and traditional hat) denote a dancer's ethnicity by their styles and the relationship between the wrestler and nature by their colours.
A hunter lures marmots by performing tarvaga höörüüleh, a dance that imitates the trotting movements of a wolf or dog. Wearing a mask, a hat with ears or a fox's head, the dancer makes circular movements with a white yak's brush to beckon the marmots.
Mongols believe that the truculent spirits of nature and gods of the universe must be placated with libations and offerings and charmed with music, dance and song. The classification of long-song is linked to ritual landscapes that comprise 13 of each natural phenomenon, for instance, 13 snow-capped Altai mountains with 13 valleys and 13 rivers. The 13 horses who live there have 13 divisions and subdivisions of colour; these horse colours form the basis of long-song classification.
Mongolian myths describe how different forms of song, music and instruments originate from the spirits of nature or from gods located in the upper or lower worlds. The construction of instruments from parts of nature (plants, trees and animals) is traditionally surrounded by ritual. Music is used to imitate the sounds and rhythms of wind, water, animals and birds, and Mongols map the contours of their landscapes in melody and dance movements. Certain sounds are believed to influence the weather and the body: whistling is thought to call up the god of the wind; listening to höömii is believed to have beneficial effects; and epic performance is thought to influence health and fertility in both animals and humans.
The most usual context for epic performance in pre-socialist west Mongolia was in the homes of herders, and its prime function was ritual and magical. More rarely, bards performed for princes and were sometimes retained. The bard was believed to be supernaturally inspired, his instrument capable of exorcizing evil spirits, and the content of the epic able to ward off bad spirits and cure animals and humans of infertility and illness. Non-structural narrative differences relate to the ritual properties of the epic; for instance, the discovery by the epic hero ‘Black Wrestler Dovon’ of a grain of corn fallen from heaven that transforms into a son ensures its use as a cure for infertility. The unusual vocal tone-colour, häälah, which differs radically from the normal speaking and singing voice, serves to create an imaginary arena set apart from everyday experience, in which the actions of the epic hero may take place and cures may be accomplished.
Epic heroes, like other armed heroes on horseback, became the focus of religious cults. Geser Khan was viewed by Mongols as a protective deity and worshipped in temples of Geser still in evidence in Ulaanbaatar today (see Inner Asia, §3(i)).
In Ordos, Inner Mongolia, Mongol elders sound a tsagaan büree (white conch-shell trumpet) daily at an altar standing outside their homes surmounted by wind-horse flags and the stallion-tailed standard of Chinggis Khan. The player faces the direction of the mausoleum of Chinggis Khan at Ezen Horoo, where his body, saddle and other ritual objects are believed to reside.
Traditionally, male and female Mongolian shamans had equal powers. Each uses his or her own melodies for spirit invocation (duudlaga) and for renditions of the spirits' words (tamlaga), which advise on concerns including illness, hunting tactics and divination. A shaman may enter a semi-dissociated state known as yavgan böölöh (walking shamanizing), during which the practitioner embodies the spirits who speak through the song; or unaatai böölöh (mounted shamanizing), a deeper dissociation during which the journey to the spirit world and encounters with spirits are enacted.
The female shaman, a number of whom survived the communist regime in Mongolia (1924–92), may call the ongod (spirits) with the rhythms and percussive sounds of the aman huur (jew's harp), tayag (staff), hets (skin-covered frame drum) and holbogo (small percussive iron pins attached to the drum, drumstick and costume) or with unaccompanied song and other vocal sounds (e.g. blowing, snorting, grunting, yawning, rolling and clicking the tongue). Her choices are influenced by the traditions of her group. Among Buryats, the jew's harp is used to call ‘white’ spirits to cure the sick (fig.4); a staff bedecked with metal cones is thrust back and forth while singing to call ‘black’ spirits. When the spirit approaches, the shaman makes the sound of the wind by blowing, and then beats the drum while spinning and perhaps jumping.
Among Darhats, the female shaman plays the aman huur during the vocationary period of illness and only when clearly ‘chosen’ is presented with a horse-headed staff (morin tolgoitoi tayag) or a staff with two or three fork-like branches. During the communist period, some Darhat shamans used this instrument instead of their drums, which had been confiscated by the authorities. The Darhat shaman uses three styles: a rhythmic ‘direct stroke’ (shuud tsohilt), which expresses the journey along the road; a ‘tongue stroke’ (helnii tsohilt), which creates different pitches by moving the tongue back and forth and is used to imitate the cries of animals and to communicate with animal spirits; and a ‘spirit stroke’ (ongodyn tsohilt), which imitates the trotting of an animal and is used when the spirit is believed to have left the shaman's body and to be returning to its home in mountains or rivers. Tsaatan shamans use the jew's harp while shamanizing away from home, since it is easier to carry than a frame drum.
See also Inner Asia, §3(ii).
The form of Buddhism that expanded from Tibet into Mongolia during the 13th and 16th centuries was a blend of Mahayana Buddhism and Tantrism. Performance traditions and repertories in Mongolian monasteries drew on different Tibetan traditions and adapted them to their own needs. These traditions varied according to the four religious orders – Nyingmapa (Tibetan rnying ma pa), Kargyudpa (Tibetan bka' brgyud pa), Saskyapa (Tibetan sa skya pa) and Gelugpa (Tibetan dge lugs pa) – and their subdivisions, as well as between monasteries within the same tradition. During the 13th century Saskyapa and Kargyudpa monks were active in the Mongol court. The lineages and traditions of the Gelugpa school (called by Mongols Shar Malgaitai or ‘Yellow Hat’) gained supremacy when Zanabazar (1635–1723) became the first incarnate Bogd Gegeen of Urga, Öndör Gegeen. However, according to monks who have been recently rehabilitated after the communist period, other schools, collectively referred to as Ulaan Malgaitai or ‘Red Hat’, managed to retain some influence until the communist period.
See also Inner Asia, §3(iii).
Each monastery had its own manuscripts of song texts and notations (yan-yig), which were closely guarded. There have been few European published sources on the forms that notation took or on any Mongolian Buddhist performance traditions (see Pozdneev, 1887; van Oost, 1915; Pegg, 2001). Four manuscripts entitled Gür Duuny Bichig, containing song texts used in Nomun Khan monasteries in the early 18th century and the 19th, have recently been collected in Mongolia. The second and fourth manuscripts also contain notations (see Notation, §II, 7, fig.11), developed and composed by successive incarnations of the Nomun Khan, that link the performance of songs in these monasteries with the tuning of the ten-string, half-tube zither, yatga. Some of the songs share titles with contemporary long-songs, for instance, Tümen Eh (‘First of 10,000’) and Huuryn Magnai (‘Foremost of Fiddles’).
Pozdneev (1887) identified 24 liturgical instruments used in monasteries, including aerophones, idiophones, chordophones and membranophones. The only instrument indispensable to liturgical performance is said by Mongols to be the honh, a small embossed bronze bell held in the left hand, together with the dorje (‘diamond’, ‘lightening’ or ‘thunderbolt’), held in the right. A range of cymbals (large-bossed, small-bossed, miniature) and drums are used, including the double-headed, portable frame drum hengereg and the double-headed hourglass drum with suspended pellet-strikers, damar. The thigh-bone trumpet, gangdan büree, normally played in pairs, is used for invocation of fierce deities and to signal entry of masked lama-dancers in the ritual dance-drama, tsam. The bishgüür (double-reed aerophone) is said by Ordos Mongols to have been created by gods to yield the sound of an Indian bird. In all schools, long metal bass trumpets, büree, are used primarily in Tantric ceremonies of the higher class. A pair that was on display in the Tantric temple museum of Choijin Lam in Ulaanbaatar during the communist period was played at the reinstatement of Danzan Ravjaa's monastery at Hamryn Hiid, East Gobi, in 1993. The white, end-blown, conch-shell trumpet dun or tsagaan büree is played in pairs in Buddhist contexts.
When the Buddhist masked dance-drama, tsam (Tibetan 'chams), reached Mongolia, possibly in the early 18th century, it assimilated elements from the indigenous shamanic and folk-religious complexes as well as developing distinctive Mongolian characteristics. Until the communist period it was held annually, in the first month of summer. A manual for performances at Mergen Monastery, Inner Mongolia, was written in 1750 by Mergen Diyanci lama, but the first evidence of performance is at Erdene Juu in 1787. In 1811 it was introduced to Ih or Da Hüree (Large Monastery), a former name of the capital, Ulaanbaatar. The masks, clothes and style of this tsam were initially based on the dance-book ('chams yig) of the fifth Dalai Lama Agvanluvsanjamts (Tibetan ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho). Intricate dances were performed by lamas, masked and dressed to depict a variety of Tantric and local deities, evil spirits, monsters and animals.
The most powerful tsam, Erlig-yin cim, invoked the Mongolian ‘Lord of the Underworld’, the shamanic Erlig Khan. The central figure of the Gelugpa tsam, Yama, Lord of Death, portrayed by an ox's head with a fierce countenance, became the Mongolian Choijil, also identified with Erlig Khan. Black-faced, six-armed Mahakala, worshipped in Mongolia since the days of Khubilai Khan, was popular as a manifestation of the two-armed Gurgon, Lord of the Tent, favoured by the Saskya order. The war god Jamsaran appeared rarely in Tibetan ritual dances, but because of his status as protector of the Bogd Gegeens and therefore the nation, he was an important figure in Mongolian tsam. In the annual Khalkha tsam held in Ih Hüree, Erlig Khan was accompanied by the ‘Lords of the Four Mountains’, situated in the direction of the four cardinal points from the city. The Tsagaan Övgön (White Old Man) character appeared in most Mongolian tsam. One of the folk pantheon of gods, he was transformed into a joker figure when incorporated into Buddhism. Similarly, Kashin Khan appeared in most Mongolian tsam, but his representation and actions varied.
Each monastery had its own versions of tsam, with narratives, characterizations, dance movements and instrumentaria influenced by the beliefs, traditions and ethnicity of the resident order. Many local gods and spirits of the earth and sky were represented. The tsam at Hamryn Hiid monastery, for instance, featured a demoness called Mam, with black face and pendulous breasts.
Monks participated in the tsam according to age, grade and level of mystical knowledge, for characterization involved embodiment of a god and his attributes. Dance steps and musical accompaniments were complex, carefully choreographed and required lengthy and careful rehearsals.
Non-Buddhist musical genres were used in monastery contexts and by lamas outside of monasteries in order to attract ordinary herders to Buddhism. This was particularly the case with the ‘Red Hats’, whose path to Enlightenment allowed more work with the community than that of the ‘Yellow Hats’. The ‘Red Hat’, Danzan Ravjaa (1803–56), the fifth reincarnation of the Noyon Khutuktu of the Gobi, staged musical dramas accompanied by an orchestra in a theatre in his monastery. In Saran Höhöönii Namtar (‘Biography of the Moon Cuckoo’), put on during the 1830s, he used dialogue-songs with melodies from long-songs, for example Övgön Shuvuu Hoyor (‘Old Man and Bird’) and Galuu Hün Hoyor (‘The Goose and the Man’). Performances were also given in the prince's palace, where the actors were predominantly lamas, and monasteries paid for transport, assistants and so on.
In west Mongolia, lamas invited epic bards to perform in monasteries, and the monks themselves even performed and taught novices. The Dörbet bard Namilan (b 1910) learnt the epics Geser and Khan Harangui from his lama teacher in Tögsbuyant Monastery, and the bard Parchin learnt the epic Bum Erdene from a performance by Sesren in the Bait monastery in present-day Uvs province. Epic heroes took on Buddhist characteristics, in particular Geser, who in Tibet eventually became equated with the Buddhist protective deity Vaiśravana but in Mongolia continued to be worshipped as Geser.
After the victory of the Soviet-inspired communist revolution in Mongolia in 1924, music was increasingly used by the new regime as an ideological tool with which to fashion a ‘socialist national identity’. Implementation of the formula ‘national in form, socialist in content’ involved the elimination of diversity and the neutralization (saarmagjih) of distinctive musical traditions. In Inner Mongolia, Mongol music was changed during the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966–76).
In the Mongolian People's Republic of the 1920s and 30s, soldiers trained to play ‘national’ instruments disseminated ‘cultural enlightenment’ to scattered nomadic groups. Anything representing past traditions or difference, or symbolizing ethnic or group identities, was forbidden and destroyed. Although the forms of many traditional genres were retained, such as long-songs or praise-songs, contents were stripped of religious or ethnic references and replaced by approved lyrics such as praise of secularized nature, the motherland, industrial workers, patriotic heroes and the Party.
Epics survived in bowdlerised form by being mobilized as examples of creative ‘national’ genius (see Baataryn Avirmed). They were classified as ‘ancient literature’ because they are rich in poetical devices such as vowel harmony, formal parallelism and line-initial alliteration. The latter is the oldest technical device in Mongolian literature, used, for example, in the 13th-century Secret History of the Mongols. Epic studies concentrated on textual analysis rather than context. The identification of a common ‘oral literary language’ in heroic epics from different groups of Western Mongols was convenient for a regime intent on eradicating difference.
As in other communist countries, traditional music was ‘folklorized’ and Western art forms introduced. The Russian musicologist Boris Feodorovich Smirnov organized the first folk ensemble orchestras in which European and Mongolian national instruments played together, travelling to newly-built regional theatres to train musicians. Under Smirnov's influence, tuning systems were standardized; for instance, of the 12 traditional tuning systems for the huur, only tungalog hög (‘bright’ or ‘clear’ tuning) was allowed (see Huur, §1(i), Table 1). European notation had to be learnt, instruments were ‘modernized’ and holding positions changed.
Because the half-tube zither or Yatga was associated with the aristocracy and with Buddhist practices, it was initially disapproved of by the new revolutionary regime; it fell into disuse until reintroduced during the 1950s as a ‘national’ instrument to be played in folk ensemble orchestras. In both the Mongolian People's Republic and in Inner Mongolia, instruments were modified to be able to play alongside European instruments. Under Chinese communism in Inner Mongolia, contexts of performance also had to change. Jamusu, a court musician in the orchestra of Prince De, for example, won prizes in competitions after the 1949 revolution and from 1960 to 1964 taught at the Inner Mongolia Art School.
Most Buddhist instruments and tsam masks were destroyed; some were hidden by herders until the 1990s when, with the introduction of democracy, they felt able to acknowledge their existence (fig.5).
Magsarjavyn Dugarjav (1893–1946) used the new European scale system in his revolutionary song compositions, for example Ulaan Tug (‘The Red Flag’, 1921) and Mongol Internatsional (‘Mongol International’, 1923), and became known as the ‘father’ of the new music. In 1942 Belegiin Damdinsüren (1919–92), together with B.F. Smirnov, composed the first Mongolian opera, Uchirtai Gurvan Tolgoi (‘Among Three Mountains of Sorrow’), and in 1947 initiated chamber music as a genre with his composition for solo violin Hentiin öndör uuland (‘In the Tall Mountains of Hentii’). Damdinsüren twice received the state prize of the Mongolian People's Republic (Bugd Nairamdah Mongol Ard Uls (BNMAU)-yn Töriin Shagnal): in 1949 for his musical drama Iim Negen Haan Baijee (‘Such a Khan there was’) and in 1951, together with Luvsnjambyn Mördörj, for joint composition of the national anthem of the Mongolian People's Republic (BNMAU-yn Töriin Duulal). Mördörj also received the award in 1946 for having used the new European tonal system in his musical setting in 1944 of Sengee's poem Eh Oron (‘Motherland’).
Sembiin Gonchigsumla (1915–91), composer of opera, ballet, symphonic and film music, was awarded the state prize in 1961 for the ballet Ganhuyag (‘Steel Armour’). Jamiyangiin Chuluun (1928–96), whose ballet Uran Has (‘Artisan Has’, 1973) founded the Mongolian School of Ballet, received the state prize in 1966, the People's Artist of the Mongolian People's Republic award (BNMAU-yn Ardyn Jüjigchin Tsol) in 1971 and the Order of Sükhbaatar (Sühbaataryn Odon) in 1988 for his contribution to the development of classical music and ballet. Davyn Luvsansharav (b 1926) was honoured with the state prize in 1963 for his composition of the song Herlen (‘Herlen’).
Recent recipients of state prizes include Byambasürengiin Sharav (b 1952), who received it in 1992 for his choral work Zambuu Tiviin Naran (‘Sun of Zambuu Tiv’, 1981), Symphony no.2 (1987) and orchestral prelude Sersen Tal (‘Awoken Steppe’, 1984); Tsogzolyn Natsagdorj (b 1951) in 1993 for his opera Üülen Zaya (‘Cloudy Fate’, 1988) and Symphony no.4 Hödöögiin Saihan (‘Beauties of the Countryside’, 1990); and Natsagiin Jantsannorov (b 1949), who combines traditional arts such as the long-song, overtone-singing and the horse-head fiddle with European instruments in his orchestral compositions, for example Mongol Ayalguu (‘Mongolian Melody’, 1993).
Although the communist regime tried to guard against influences from the world outside the communist block, pop and rock music influences began to creep in during the late 1960s. Two state bands were formed: Soyol Erdene (Precious Culture) in 1967 and Bayan Mongol (Rich Mongolia) in the late 1970s. Both played a genre known as estrad (from the Fr. estrade, meaning ‘stage’), found in all countries of the former Soviet Union. Translated into English as ‘variety’, it consisted of a mixture of popular and traditional songs. Song lyrics that glorified the homeland and praised parents were arranged in regular rhythm for brass, electric organ, bass and drums to produce middle-of-the-road sounds. The bands were affiliated with the state-sponsored Philharmonia, which acted as manager, booking agent and censor and played in the auditoria of ‘houses of culture’. Uhnaa, founder of Soyol Erdene, spent six years training in the conservatory in Bulgaria. He is a gavyat (state-merited artist), ‘Conductor of Variety’ and director of the Mongolian PO. Soyol Erdene became influenced by different kinds of music as it changed personnel. Initially drawing on the Beatles and Queen, the band became more rock-influenced in the late 1970s under the leadership of Zundar’, then jazz orientated under G. Jargalsaihan in the early 80s; it metamorphosed into a pop-rock group during the early 1990s.
In post-communist Mongolia, musics of various provenances are being performed. On the one hand, diverse traditional vocal styles are being promoted (by a long-song association inaugurated in 1991), the validity of reducing Mongolian tonality to the European scale system is being questioned, and instruments confiscated during the hardline revolutionary years are being played and taught again. On the other hand, the Soviet-constructed traditional music continues to develop, as professional ‘traditional’ musicians make recordings for global consumption and are invited to perform in the West, and as traditional instruments are used in orchestral compositions. Gavyat Tsendiin Batchuluun (b 1952), for instance, created in 1989 the Morin Huuryn Chuulga (Horse-Head Fiddle Ensemble), which plays classical music and ‘national’ compositions.
The revival of religious practices such as the Buddhist tsam and shaman music has been complicated by their performance by professional actors and dancers in secular contexts. Rock groups are no longer sponsored by the state and in name connect with their historical heroes and belief systems (e.g. Chinggis Khan). Female pop singers are beginning to contest traditional gender roles and relations. For instance, in 1996 Oyunaa promoted her own concert in Ulaanbaatar to raise money for the vicitms of spring fires and floods; Saara had a hit record with the feminist song Chi Heregüi (‘I Don't Need You’); and Soyol Erdene's vocalist Ariunaa declared, ‘I am the Mongolian Madonna’.
Finally, there are disjunctures, tensions, flows and accommodations taking place between local and global soundscapes as Mongols participate musically on the world stage. Overtone-singing, for instance, has become a sonic icon of the exotic and spiritual ‘other’ for Westerners: while some Mongols continue to use it in traditional ways, others are shifting their ideoscapes to accommodate Western expectations.
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B. Rintchen: Saran Höhöö (Mongol jüjgiin hüreelengiin tüühees) [Saran Höhöö (About the history of Mongolian drama)] (Ulaanbaatar, 1992)
R. Chimed: ‘Hüree tsam buyu bagt büjig’ [Monastery tsam or masked dance-drama], Önöödör, xxiv (Ulaanbaatar, 1993)
L. Erdenechimeg and T. Shagdarsüren: Chin Süzegt Nomyn Han hiidiin gür duuny bichig [Gür song notation from Chinsuzegt Nomun Khan monastery] (Ulaanbaatar, 1995)
Ulanji: ‘Qingdai Lamajiao yinyue’ [The music of Qing dynasty Lama Buddhism], Zhongguo yinyuexue, i (1997), 49–56
B. Krasin: ‘24 Melodii s mongol'skim tekstom sobrannïye v severnoy Mongolii'v 1910–14 gg.’ [24 melodies with Mongol texts, collected in northern Mongolia in 1910–14], Prilozheniye k Zhivoy Starine, i (1914), 20ff
S. Lhamsüren: Duuny tüüver [Collection of songs] (Ulaanbaatar, 1957)
D. Luvsansharav: Duuny tüüver [Collection of songs] (Ulaanbaatar, 1960)
D.S. Dugarov: Buryatskiye narodnye pesni [Buryat folksongs], i (Ulan-Ude, 1964)
J. Dorjdagva: Urtyn duu [Long-song] (Ulaanbaatar, 1970)
Wu Rung-gui and Haganchilagu: Mongol daguu tabin jüil [50 types of Mongol song] (Taiwan, 1972)
Rincindorji, Dongrubjam Su, Deng Sou Pa, eds.: Monggol arad-un minggan daguu [1000 Mongolian folksongs] (Huhhot, 1979–84)
Buyandelger and Rabdan, eds.: Monggol arad-un daguu-yin cobural: Hülün buir aimag-un i [Series of Mongol folksongs: Hulunbuir League i] (Huhhot, 1980)
Sodubagatur, Galluu, Ren i Guang and Shang Rui, eds.: Bayannuur-un arad-un daguu nugud [Folksongs of Bayannuur] (Huhhot, 1982)
Ü. Sugara, ed.: Pajai-yin jokiyal-un tegübüri [Collection of the works of Pajai] (Huhhot, 1983)
Bayar, Guo Yong Ming, Dong Qing and Zhao Xing, eds.: Ordos arad-un daguu [Ordos folksongs] (Huhhot, 1984)
Öljiisang and Bai. Sainbayar, eds.: Arad-un daguu-nugud [Folksongs] (Huhhot, 1984)
H. Numa and G. Dondub, eds.: Buriyad Monggol arad-un daguu [Buryat Mongol folksongs] (Hailar, 1984)
Ü. Naranbatu, D. Rincin and Secingowa, eds.: Monggol arad-un daguu tabun jagui, i–ii [500 Mongolian folksongs] (Huhhot, 1984)
Secingowa, Urgun and Öljiisang, eds.: Horcin arad-un daguu [Horchin folksongs] (Hailar, 1987)
D. Tserendulam, ed.: Urianghai ardyn duunuud [Urianghai folksongs] (Hovd, 1991)
Mongol nepzene [Mongolian folk music], Hungaroton Unesco Cooperation LPX 18013 and 18014 (1967) [2 discs]
Chants mongols et bouriates, Vogue LDM 30138 (1973) [incl. disc notes]
Estradyn ‘Bayan Mongol’ chuulga, perf. The ‘Bayan Mongol’ Variety group, Melodiya C90 15959 and 15960 (1981)
Mongolie: musique et chants de l'Altaï, coll. A. Desjacques, ORSTOM SELAF Ceto 811 (1986)
Mongolie: Chamanes et lamas, coll. A. Desjacques, Ocora C 560059 (1994)
Vocal and Instrumental Music of Mongolia, Topic Records TSCD909 (1994) [reissue of Tangent TGS126 and TGS127]
The Art of Mongolian Long Drawling Song, perf. Norovbanzad, Nebelhorn 031 (1995)
Mongolia: Living Music of the Steppes, Multicultural Media MCM300 (1997)
Mongolie: musique vocale et instrumentale, Inedit MCM W 26009 (1989)