morin khuur
Horse-head string instrument
A morin khuur is a traditional Mongolian stringed instrument, bowed like a fiddle, with a distinctive carved horse head at the top of the neck.
The name means "horse-head fiddle" in Mongolian.
It has two strings and produces a deep, resonant sound central to Mongolian music and nomadic culture: The musician played a haunting melody on the morin khuur.
Cranium of a horse
- steppeTreeless Eurasian grassland
- gerPortable nomadic tent
- nomadsUnsettled, roving people
- GobiCentral Asian arid region
yurt · shamanism · Buddhism · yak · eagle hunting · grassland · herder
Adjust restlessly; folk violin
- stringsThin flexible lines
- bowRespectful forward inclination
- soundboxVibration-amplifying cavity
- resonatorFrequency-amplifying device
bridge · fingerboard · pegbox · tailpiece · tuning · horsehair · carved · wooden
Pleasing sequence of notes
- harmonyAgreement or musical blend
- overtoneSubsidiary meaning or harmonic
- timbreSound's distinctive character
- resonanceAmplified oscillation at natural frequency
vibrato · glissando · ornamentation · pentatonic · drone · lament · ballad · epic
Inherited cultural legacy
- traditionCustom passed through generations
- UNESCOCultural arm of UN
- intangibleNot physically present
- folkloreInherited cultural narratives
storytelling · ritual · ceremony · legend · symbolism · spiritual · ancestral · ethnomusicology
horsehead
Cranium of a horse
Gobi · yurt · shamanism · Buddhism · yak · eagle hunting · grassland · herder
fiddle
Adjust restlessly; folk violin
resonator · bridge · fingerboard · pegbox · tailpiece · tuning · horsehair · carved · wooden · goatskin
melody
Pleasing sequence of notes
- harmonyAgreement or musical blend
- overtoneSubsidiary meaning or harmonic
- timbreSound's distinctive character
resonance · vibrato · glissando · ornamentation · pentatonic · drone · lament · ballad · epic · pastoral
heritage
Inherited cultural legacy
- traditionCustom passed through generations
- UNESCOCultural arm of UN
- intangibleNot physically present
folklore · storytelling · ritual · ceremony · legend · symbolism · spiritual · ancestral · ethnomusicology · preservation
- Bowed Stringsviolin, viola, cello, double bass, fiddle
- MongoliaGobi Desert, Inner Mongolia, steppe, Mongols, nomads
- Asian Musicerhu, sitar, koto, shamisen, tabla
- Mongolian cultureger, nomad, steppe, yurt, throat singing
- Mongolian musicthroat singing, traditional instruments, Buddhist chants, traditional songs
- Chinese musicerhu, gong, ban, Beijing opera, Peking opera