Two-string plucked lute used to accompany heroic epics in contemporary west Mongolia. Two-string lutes have been associated with the Mongols since Marco Polo's description of instruments played before battle in the 13th century. There is evidence to suggest that Kalmyk Mongols used a three-string lute during the 17th century and that they were also used to accompany epics.
Topshuur bodies vary in shape according to ethnic and family traditions. The instruments of Baits, Dörbets and Hotons may be small and round (see illustration), shaped like a cup or bowl, rectangular or trapezoidal. Some Altai Urianghais, Baits and Torguts make necked bowl topshuur (for further illustration see Avirmed, Baataryn). Altai Urianghais prefer to fashion their instruments from juniper in the shape of the wooden tsatsal ladle used to offer milk-aspersions to the spirits of nature. It is often named after the shape of its pegbox or table. If the body is shaped like a milk ladle, it is called a shanagan topshuur, but if it is in the shape of a tsatsal ladle, it is called a tsatsal topshuur (for further illustration see also Epic). Among Dörbets, Zakchins and Torguts a spike bowl lute is played; among Baits, Dörbets, Altai Urianghais and Zakchins a spike box lute, similar in construction to the two-string spike fiddle Ikil, may also be used. The strings of both the topshuur and ikil are tuned to an interval of a 4th. When the topshuur is strung with horsehair it may easily be converted into a bowed instrument.
All topshuur are handmade. Although in recent times the instrument's body may be covered with goat- or camelskin, traditionally the skin of ‘hot-nosed’ animals was preferred i.e. those with a kinship relation to humans, such as horses and sheep. The skin table should be as thin as possible and is therefore often taken from the groin of an animal. Among Baits and Dörbets, strings are made from sheep intestines which, after being cleaned and washed several times, are stretched and twisted clockwise and anticlockwise, then dried.
The topshuur was traditionally kept in a place of honour within the bard's tent and was allowed to be touched only by him. On the day before the epic performance, the host carried the topshuur, in a special box, to his home where its presence was thought to repel danger.
A legend of origin of the topshuur explains its use to accompany epics prior to hunting (see Epics illustration). A hunter's unaccompanied performance of the epic prelude Altain Magtaal (‘Praise-Song of the Altai’) was interrupted when one of the many tiny spirit-masters of the Altai mountains, who were sitting all over him including on his face, fell from the tip of his nose on to his top lip. The diviner and hunting companion who witnessed this made an instrument to help the performer to keep a steady rhythm and not spoil the spirits' entertainment (thereby causing dire consequences for the hunt) even in the face of such mishaps.
The instrument has a repertory of tunes called tsohilt, comparable to the huur repertory (tatlaga). These descriptive pieces imitate animals and nature and are sometimes used to accompany the biy-dance (see Mongol music, §3(i)).
GroveI (A. Nixon)
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CAROLE PEGG