Mongolian Music and Dance

Mongolian music is influenced by Mongolian nomads’ life. Horses and steppes are the main themes of traditional Mongolian music. Long-song and short-songs play a significant role in the history of our traditional music. Mongolian musical creations produced only for a particular music instrument such as Morin Huur (Horse-headed fiddle). Classic and pop music is also developed in modern Mongolia.

Mongolian music

Mongolians love more than music and their music is a reaction to the nomad’s surroundings and life. Caring for a baby provokes melody, seeing a calf being rejected, its mother is convinced to return by singing. 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. 
Overtone singing, known as höömii (throat), is a singing technique also found in the general Central Asian area. This type of singing is considered more as a type of instrument. It involves different ways of breathing: producing two distinctively audible pitches at the same time, one being a whistle-like sound and the other beaning a drone base. The sound is a result of locked breathes in the chest.
"Long songs" (Urtyin duu) are one of the main formats of Mongolian music. The most distinguishing feature is that each syllable of text is extended for a long duration; a four-minute song may only consist of ten words. Other features are a slow tempo, wide intervals, and no fixed rhythm. The richer and longer hold a singer has, the more appreciated the singer. Lyrical themes vary depending on context; they can be philosophical, religious, romance, or celebratory, and often use horses as a symbol or theme repeated throughout the song. Eastern Mongols typically use a Morin Khuur (horse-head fiddle) as accompaniment, sometimes with a type of indigenous flute named limbe. Oirat groups of the Western Mongols typically sing long songs unaccompanied or accompanied by the igil.
Epics and legends. This ancient genre, enriched by generations, combines poetry, songs, music, and the individuality of each performer. 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", "Jagar", "Khan Kharakhui", and "Bum Erdene" are classic legend and story songs. Each is a library of folk wisdom and national heritage.

Musical Instruments of Mongolia

Mongolian traditional instruments include string instruments, wind instruments, drums, and gongs. Mongolians made their instruments across the ages, using metal, stone, bamboo, leather, and wood.   

Morin huur (Horse-head fiddle)

The horse-head fiddle, or Morin Khuur, is a distinctively Mongolian instrument and is seen as a symbol of the country. The instrument has two strings. There is some controversy regarding the traditional carving of a horse on the upper end of the pegbox. Some scholars believe that this is proof that the instrument was originally a shamanistic instrument. The staffs of shamans have a horse similarly carved on top; the horse is a much-revered animal in Mongolia.

Other traditional music instruments

In Mongolian traditional music include shants (a three-stringed, long-necked, strummed lute similar to the Chinese sanxian or Japanese shamisen), yoochin (a dulcimer similar to the Chinese yangqin), khuuchir (a bowed spike-fiddle), yatga (a plucked zither related to the Chinese guzheng), everburee (a folk oboe), khel khuur (Jew's harp), tobshuur (a plucked lute), ikh khuur (bass morin khuur), and bishhuur (a pipe similar in sound to a clarinet).

 Mongolian dance

Mongolian traditional dances could be divided into the categories of commoners, rituals, ethnicities, and nobles respectively. Mongolian dance began as a ritual performance imitating the movement and manner of deities, mystical creatures, and legendary heroes. Shamanist perception of the surrounding world and worshipping of Mother Nature influenced the style of ancient dancing, as well as the shape and pattern of clothing and accessories. 
The great variety of folk dancing has been enriched by clans, tribes, and generations of performers. Besides folk dances, there were special palace dances and religious ritual dances. The earliest form of ritual dance in Mongolia is originated from Shamanism and Buddhist mask ritual dance –Tsam. Especially, in the dance of the central Halh ethnic group, the fine-looking, beautiful pace, slam motion, and proudness is shown to the highest degree. 
In the dance of other ethnic groups such as Torguud, Zahchin, Dorvod, Oold, Hoton, Bayad in the western part of Mongolia sharp motion, quickness, the elasticity of shoulder blade, and motion of shake severalty is in dominance. 

The Mongol Biyelgee  

Mongolian Traditional Folk Dance is performed by dancers from different ethnic groups in the Khovd and Uvs provinces of Mongolia. Regarded as the original forebear of Mongolian national dances, Biyelgee dances embody and originate from the nomadic way of life. Biyelgee dances are typically confined to the small space inside the ger (nomadic dwelling) and are performed while half sitting or cross-legged. 
Hand, shoulder, and leg movements express aspects of Mongol lifestyle including household labor, customs, and traditions, as well as spiritual characteristics tied to different ethnic groups. Biyelgee dancers wear clothing and accessories featuring color combinations, artistic patterns, embroidery, knitting, quilting and leather techniques, and gold and silver jewelry specific to their ethnic group and community. The dances play a significant role in family and community events such as feasts, celebrations, weddings, and labor-related practices, simultaneously expressing distinct ethnic identities and promoting family unity and mutual understanding among different Mongolian ethnic groups.
Traditionally, Mongol Biyelgee is transmitted to younger generations through apprenticeships or home-tutoring within the family, clan, or neighborhood. Today, the majority of transmitters of Biyelgee dance are elderly, and their numbers are decreasing. The inherent diversity of Mongol Biyelgee is also under threat as there remain very few representatives of the distinct forms of Biyelgee from different ethnic groups.

Traditional dance with cup

You may come across old men and women in the countryside who will tell you with fascination what magnificent dancers performed it in the past when it was very much in vogue. They balanced cups full of water on their heads without spilling a single drop. The dance varies depending on whether the cups are balanced on the head, hands, or knees. The Derbets, Zakhchins, and Torguts dance with the cups on their heads and the backs of their hands, while the Bayads balance the cups on their knees. Significantly, only males danced with cups on their knees. The dancers squatted as low as possible, spreading their legs apart to the width of their shoulders, which was thought improper for females to do. In the olden days, the dance with cups on the knees was performed on festive occasions, such as feasts and wedding parties.
An interesting tradition arose in the past in connection with the cup dance. A group gathering in a ger on a festive occasion formed two teams and held a dancing competition. They usually started with the cups on the palms of their hands. Then they danced with cups on their heads and on their knees, which was much more difficult to do. Those who had spilled the least water from their cups were proclaimed the winners.
Each dance is distinguished by extraordinary flexibility, composition, and color. When examining the dances, it is useful to recall that the traditional manner of performing Bielgee and other dances has been handed down from generation to generation and reaches us in a somewhat modified form.

Tsam dance 

The ancient religious mask dance, or Tsam, is a significant religious ritual that reflects Buddhist teachings through images. It is a theatrical art performed by skilled dancers wearing magnificently ornamented costumes, which represent characters of different holy figures and devils, animals, and people. 
Through story, music, and dance, the wide range of personalities of the characters are depicted. To symbolize positive and negative attributes, characters from popular stories and animals such as the Khangarid (lord of flies), lion (the king of wild animal), stag (the beauty among animals), crow (the soothsayer), and various domestic animals are imitated. Furthermore, the colors and decoration of the costumes are clues as to the nature of the personalities of the characters.