Buryatia is a part of the Russian Federation. One of the country's main instruments is a two-stringed hearse-head fiddle called a morin khur. This is a similar instrument to that found across the region. Other elements of Buryat music, such as the use of fourths both in tuning instruments and in songs, and pentatonic scales, reveal similarities to music from Siberia and Eastern Asia. There is no polyphony, instead voices and instruments perform the same melody but vary the timing and ornamentation. Narrative structures are a part of most Buryat folk music, often in the form of epic tales, and the last song of famous leaders; these include the Last Song of Rinchin Dorzhin.

Under Soviet control, Buryat folk music was sanitized and only allowed in forms that were supportive of the state's power. This period left behind traditions of student songsters and blatniye pesni, or songs based off prison slang.

The first Buryat rock band was Uragsha, who were one of the few bands of the time to sing both in Russian and their native tongue.