Concerts by Mongolian State Morin Khuur Ensemble

Dr Chuen-fung Wong (Associate Professor, Department of Music, Macalester College)

The Mongolian State Morin Khuur Ensemble brings to the audience a refreshing sound from the vast Central Asian steppes through its wealth of traditional and modern repertoires. Founded by the Mongolian state in the early 1990s, the Ensemble has been at the forefront of musical revivals and staging top-notch music performances in the last twenty-five years.

The mainstay of the Ensemble is the morin khuur—popularly known as the “horse-head fiddle”—a Mongolian national music icon. Similar to other nomadic music traditions in Central Asia, the morin khuur and other Mongolian musical instruments often assume narrative qualities, in which instrumental music is performed and listened to as a form of story-telling. Not surprisingly, the morin khuur itself has been a beloved theme of these stories, one of which tells of the origin of this instrument. In one version of the story, a herder named Khökhöo Namjil was offered a magical winged horse named Jonon Khar by a spirit master. Every night, the winged horse flew him to his distant home to see his lover, and every morning, the horse brought him back to work. One day a jealous woman cut off the wings of the horse and killed it in order to stop Khökhöo Namjil from leaving. Deeply grieved, he created the first morin khuur from the skull, bones, skin, and hair of the horse. Mongolia’s well-known horse cult looms large in many of these stories, and the cantering, trotting, and galloping of the horse are extensively mimicked on the versatile instrument.
 

The morin khuur plays in a variety of solo and ensemble settings, including the accompanying of the artistic singing of Urtiin duu (Long Song), which demonstrates styles of melismatic, highly elaborated melodies. Vocalists of the Ensemble will sing a number of well-known songs in the Urtiin duu repertoire, including Erdene Zasgiin Unaga (The Foal of Erdene Province) and Tumen Ekh (Myriad’s Leader). Singing in Mongolian music is famously realized also through Khoomei (Overtone/Throat Singing), where vocalists produce two or more pitches at the same time through the maneuvering of vocal resonance. The virtuosic capacity of Khoomei singing will be showcased in the famous modern composition Let the Mount Burkhan Khaldun Bless You, which tells the story of Genghis Khan, written by Mongolian composer Natsagiin Jantsannorov (b.1948), among other pieces.

Also to be seen on the stage is the yatga, the Mongolian plucked zither, a close sibling of various East Asian instruments such as the Chinese zheng, the Korean gayageum, and the Japanese koto. A yatga concerto written also by Natsagiin Jantsannorov will be performed at the concerts. The Ensemble is also committed to staging performances that feature modern settings of traditional music, including new compositions that utilize European orchestral forms of concerto, symphonic poem, and ballet. Notable pieces in this category to be performed at the concerts include Gobi Gurvansaikhan (Gobi Three Beauties), written by the famous Mongolian composer Tsegmidiin Namsraijav (1927–1987), as well as a morin khuur concerto by another well-known Mongolian composer Zunduin Khangal (1948–1996). The morin khuur itself is positioned as the Mongolian counterpart of the European cello, while certain East Asian/Chinese bowed fiddles (such as the erhu) also adopted performing techniques and styles from the morin khuur in their ways to becoming a modern national instrument. These two concerts will offer a rare musical glimpse into the perpetuation of centuries-old nomadic traditions in modern-day Mongolia.

The performance will run for 1 hour and 45 minutes, including a 15 minute intermission.  Audience is strongly advised to arrive punctually.  Latecomers will only be admitted during the intermission or at a suitable break.  Presenter reserves the right to change the programme and artists.

The performance will run for 1 hour and 45 minutes, including a 15 minute intermission.  Audience is strongly advised to arrive punctually.  Latecomers will only be admitted during the intermission or at a suitable break.  Presenter reserves the right to change the programme and artists.

Mongolian State Morin Khuur Ensemble

Founded in 1992, the Mongolian State Morin Khuur Ensemble aims to preserve, promote and transmit the morin khuur (horse-head fiddle) as musical representation of Mongolian history, values and cultural heritage. The Ensemble also aims to augment artistic standard of Mongolian music through the unique traditional musical instrument morin khuur and professional music performances.

The Ensemble consists of about 35 professionally trained performers. The morin khuur is the key instrument of the Ensemble. Traditional music of the morin khuur was inscribed onto the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008.  The Ensemble is competent to deliver a wide range of professional, classical and new music.  Their performances were staged in many prestige performing venues such as the Boishol Theatre in Russia, Carnegie Hall in the United States, Symphony Hall in Osaka, Japan, etc.   The Ensemble regularly performed across Mongolia and toured in many other countries and region such as Japan, Korea, China, Macao, Turkey, the United States of America, Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom and Austria.

Concerts by Mongolian State Morin Khuur Ensemble

DATE

VENUE

PRICE

29.06.2017 (Thu)
20:00

Concert Hall, Hong Kong City Hall

$240, $200, $150

BUY NOW

30.06.2017 (Fri)
20:00

Auditorium, Sha Tin Town Hall

$220, $160, $120

BUY NOW

DATE

29.06.2017 (Thu)
20:00

VENUE

Concert Hall, Hong Kong City Hall

PRICE

$240, $200, $150

BUY NOW

DATE

30.06.2017 (Fri)
20:00

VENUE

Auditorium, Sha Tin Town Hall

PRICE

$220, $160, $120

BUY NOW

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Half-price tickets available for senior citizens aged 60 or above, people with disabilities and the minder, full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients (Limited tickets for CSSA recipients available on a first-come-first-served basis.)

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15% off for 10-19 standard tickets;

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Patrons can enjoy only one of the above discount offers. 

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