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Encyclopedia > Morin khuur
Mongolian musician playing the Morin khuur
Mongolian musician playing the Morin khuur

The morin khuur or morin huur (from the Mongolian: морин хуур) or matouqin (from the Chinese: 馬頭琴) is a chordophone of Mongolian origin whose name roughly translates as "horse-head fiddle" in English. It is played with a bow and produces a sound which is poetically described as expansive and unrestrained, like a wild horse neighing, or like a breeze in the grasslands. It is the most important musical instrument of the Mongolian people, and is considered a symbol of the Mongolian nation. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (704x904, 217 KB) Summary FR:Musicien Mongolien. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (704x904, 217 KB) Summary FR:Musicien Mongolien. ... A chordophone is any musical instrument which produces sound primarily by way of a vibrating string or strings stretched between two points. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... A cello bow In music, a bow is a device pulled across the strings of a string instrument in order to make them vibrate and emit sound. ... Mongolian horse (with trimmed mane) The mongolian horse (mongolian Мор, mor) is the favourite animal of the mongols, and not only since Genghis Khan conquered half the world with its help. ... Mongols (Mongolian: Монгол Mongol, Turkish: MoÄŸollar) are an ethnic group that originated in what is now Mongolia, Russia, and China or more specifically on the Central Asian plateau north of the Gobi desert and south of Siberia. ...


The instrument consists of a wooden-framed sound box to which two strings are attached. It is held nearly upright with the sound box in the musician's lap or between the musician's legs. The strings are made from hairs from horses' tails, strung parallel, and run over a wooden bridge on the body up a long neck to the two tuning pegs in the scroll, which is always carved into the form of a horse's head.


The bow is loosely strung with horse hair coated with larch or cedarwood resin, and is held from underneath with the right hand. The underhand grip enables the hand to tighten the loose hair of the bow, allowing very fine control of the instrument's timbre. Species About 12; see text Siberian larch Male (above) and female (below right) cones of Japanese Larch emerging in spring Larches are conifers in the genus Larix, in the family Pinaceae. ... In music, timbre, also timber (from Fr. ...


The larger of the two strings (the "male" string) has 130 hairs from a stallion's tail, while the "female" string as 105 hairs from a mare's tail. Traditionally, the strings were tuned a fifth apart, though in modern music they are more often tuned a fourth apart. The strings are stopped either by pinching them in the joints of the index and middle fingers, or by pinching them between the nail of the little finger and the pad of the ring finger. This Trakehner would be most appropriate to sire horses for the discipline of dressage. ... 13 year old Peruvian Paso mare A broodmare and foal In English, a mare (an old Germanic word) is a female horse; the word is also an etymological root of marshal (originally marescalcus horse servant). Mares are considered easier to handle than males, which are called stallions or after castration... The perfect fifth or diapente is one of three musical intervals that span five diatonic scale degrees; the others being the diminished fifth, which is one semitone smaller, and the augmented fifth, which is one semitone larger. ... The perfect fourth or diatessaron, abbreviated P4, is one of two musical intervals that span four diatonic scale degrees; the other being the augmented fourth, which is one semitone larger. ...


Traditionally, the frame would have been covered with camel, goat, or sheep skin, in which case a small opening would be left in back, but in modern times, an all-wood sound box is more common, in a style similar to European stringed instruments, including the carved f-holes. Species Camelus bactrianus Camelus dromedarius Camelus gigas Camelus hesternus Camelus sivalensis Camels are even-toed ungulates in the genus Camelus. ... Species See Species and subspecies The goat is a mammal in the genus Capra, which consists of nine species: the Ibex, the West Caucasian Tur, the East Caucasian Tur, the Markhor, and the Wild Goat. ... Species See text. ... The sounding board is the largest part of a string musical instruments body. ... A cello with f-holes A guitar with a round hole A sound hole is a hole in the upper sounding board of a string musical instrument. ...


Morin khuur vary in form depending on region. The Instruments from central Mongolia tend to have larger bodies and thus possess more volume than the smaller bodied instruments of Inner Mongolia. Morin khuurs (matouqin) built deeper in China also tend to be of poorer quality construction than their northern cousins. In Tuva the morin khuur is sometimes used in place of the igil. Inner Mongolia (Mongolian: ᠥᠪᠦᠷ ᠮᠣᠨᠺᠤᠯᠤᠨ ᠥᠪᠡᠷᠲᠡᠺᠡᠨ ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠬᠤ ᠣᠷᠤᠨ r Mongghul-un bertegen Jasaqu Orun; Chinese: 内蒙古自治区; Hanyu Pinyin: N... Capital Kyzyl Area - total - % water Ranked 22nd - 170,500 km² - negligible Population - Total - Density Ranked 77th - est. ... An igil is a two-stringed Tuvan musical instrument (huur), played by bowing the strings. ...


The morin khuur is one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity identified by UNESCO. Map showing the Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage by country designation as of 2005: red (countries with 4 designations), orange (3), yellow (2) and green (1). ... UNESCO logo UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1945. ...


Among the Chinese, the matouqin is one of several instruments in the huqin ("foreign instrument") family which also includes the erhu. Side view of an erhu. ...


Origin

One legend about the origin of the morin khuur is that a shepherd received the gift of a magical winged horse; he would mount it at night and fly to meet his beloved. A jealous woman had the horse’s wings cut off, so that the horse fell from the air and died. The grieving shepherd made a horsehead fiddle from the now-wingless horse's bones, and used it to play poignant songs about his horse.


Another legend credits the invention of the morin khuur to a boy named Sükhe (or Suho). After a wicked lord slew the boy's prized white horse, the horse's spirit came to Sükhe in a dream and instructed him to make an instrument from the horse's body, so the two could still be together and neither would be lonely. So the first morin khuur was assembled, with horse bones as its neck, horsehair strings, horse skin covering its wooden soundbox, and its scroll carved into the shape of a horse head.


Chinese history credits the evolution of the matouqin from the xiqin (奚琴), a family of instruments found around the Xilamulun River valley in northwest China. It was originally associated with the Northern Xi (奚) people. In 1105 (during the Northern Song Dynasty), it was described as a foreign, two-stringed lute in an encyclopedic work on music called Yue Shu by Chen Yang. Marco Polo obtained a matouqin while visiting Yuanshangdu (the Upper Capital of the Yuan Dynasty) in 1275 and took it back to Europe. Any non clear-cut connection is denoted by a question mark (?) beside the equivalences. ... Events Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor deposed by his son, Henry V Tamna kingdom annexed by Korean Goryeo Dynasty. ... The Song Dynasty (Chinese: ; pinyin: ) was a ruling dynasty in China from 960-1279. ... Marco Polo (September 15, 1254 – January 8, 1324) was a Venetian trader, born in Dalmatiam a region in Croatia, and explorer who gained fame for his worldwide travels, recorded in the book Il Milione (The Million or The Travels of Marco Polo). ... This article is about the summer capital of Kublai Khans empire. ... The Yuan Dynasty (Chinese: ; pinyin: Yuáncháo; Mongolian: Dai Ön Yeke Mongghul Ulus), lasting officially from 1279 to 1368, followed the Song Dynasty and preceded the Ming Dynasty in the historiography of China. ... // April 22 - The first of the Statutes of Westminster are passed by the English parliament, establishing a series of laws in its 51 clauses, including equal treatment of rich and poor, free and fair elections, and definition of bailable and non-bailable offenses. ... World map showing the location of Europe. ...


See also

Mongolian musician Mongolia is a nation located in Asia, and its people form a distinct ethnic group composed of several smaller tribes and clans. ... The Story of the Weeping Camel film poster The Story of the Weeping Camel is a 2003 Mongolian documentary produced by ThinkFilm. ...

External links


  Results from FactBites:
 
Four Notes - Morin Khuur (433 words)
The two strings of the morin khuur are made to exacting specifications: the smaller is a clump of 105 strings from a mare's tail, while the bigger uses 130 hairs from a stallion's tail.
The carved horse-head is probably a relic of the morin khuur's past use in shamanistic rituals.
Today, the morin khuur still holds a deep-rooted seat in the Mongolian psyche, its mystical history contributing to its exalted status.
  More results at FactBites »

 

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