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Instruments of western origin, such as piano and trumpet, are excluded.
After the 6th century BC it is known that people of Mongolian ethnicity played stringed instruments. The most ancient instrument is probably the tsuur, which is shown in cave wall paintings dated to the 4th or 3rd millennium BC. Other instruments were adopted or modified from instruments in use from neighboring countries, or from conquered countries (for example the Hun/Xioungnu empire 200 BC - 600 and the Mongolian empire between the 12th and 18th century founded by Genghis Khaan). Before the democratic revolution in 1911 several instruments had been restricted to noblemen or for use in monastery ceremonies. The yatga especially wasn't allowed to commoners if the number of strings exceeded eight; only at court could the eleven or twelve stringed yatga be played.
In contrast most of the Mongolic ethnicities adopted four instruments for folk music and other oral performances: the Tovshuur, huuchir, morin khuur and the tsuur. Nowadays some ethnicities changed from the tovshuur to the shanz.
In modern times some instruments have been adapted like the 21-stringed yatga (about 10 strings added), the morin khuur (modification of the sound box and string material) - or invented in the 1960s for completing orchestras like the "ih huur", a horse headed double bass, also having a trapezoid sound box.
Most of these instruments had been modified during the 1940s and 1960, for standardization during the communist period in Mongolia and the time after the cultural revolution in China. That means many instruments have a "modernized" shape, different materials, changed construction details. The traditional shape and the modernized shape is often mentioned in the detail articles.
Examples: The traditional morin khuur had mostly a skinned top and bottom, and sound holes at the sides. It was modernized in creating a wooden sound box, holes and the soundpost. The traditional Yatga had about 8-13 strings but the modernized shape has 21 Strings or 23 Strings. Mostly all strings of the bowed instruments were made from horse hair, and the plucked instruments had silk or gut strings. Nowadays only the bows have horse hair, but the strings are made from nylon (Morin Khuur, other bowed instruments) or steel (Dulcimer/Yochin, Shanz, Yatga)
Ancient Traditional String Instruments and Flute Instrument.
Smaller ensembles of both contemporary and traditional style are known to play on various classical instruments.
Only accompanied with the morin khuur.
Only accompanied with the morin huur, mostly performed in yurts with imitating daily tasks of the nomads life.
Played on the morin khuur, Igil huur, tovshuur and shanz.
Mostly recited without instruments, or rarely with the morin huur.
Beginning with the Russian occupation between 1926 and 1990 various attempts have been made to build orchestras. Large orchestras had been unknown in the ancient history of Mongolia, but the popularity of Mongolian orchestra pieces still exists in the 21st century. Many orchestral pieces exist, as well as some smaller dance arrangements.
Mongolian composers have a standard ensemble: 17x shanz, 14x yatga, 11x morin khuur, 5x yoochin, 2x ih huur, 1x triangle, 7x huuchir, 4x durvun chikh, 1x gong, 2x drums, 1x monastery trumpet, 2 big and 6 small flutes, 6x buree, 2x ever buree.
Music is an integral part of Mongolian culture. Among the unique contributions of Mongolia to the world's musical culture are the long songs, overtone singing and morin khuur, the horse-headed fiddle. The music of Mongolia is also rich with varieties related to the various ethnic groups of the country: Oirats, Hotogoid, Tuvans, Darhad, Buryats, Tsaatan, Dariganga, Uzemchins, Barga, Kazakhs and Khalha.
The morin khuur, also known as the horsehead fiddle, is a traditional Mongolian bowed stringed instrument. It is one of the most important musical instruments of the Mongol people, and is considered a symbol of the nation of Mongolia. The morin khuur is one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity identified by UNESCO.
The igil is a two-stringed Tuvan musical instrument, played by bowing the strings. The neck and lute-shaped sound box are usually made of a solid piece of pine or larch. The top of the sound box may be covered with skin or a thin wooden plate. The strings, and those of the bow, are traditionally made of hair from a horse's tail, but may also be made of nylon. Like the morin khuur of Mongolia, the igil typically features a carved horse's head at the top of the neck above the tuning pegs, and both instruments are known as the horsehead fiddle.
The tovshuur, also known as topshur or topshuur is a two- or three-stringed lute played by the Western Mongolian (Oirats) tribes called the Altai Urianghais, the Altais, Tuvans, and Khalkha peoples. The topshur is closely tied to the folklore of Western Mongolian people and accompanied the performances of storytellers, singing, and dancing. According to descriptions given by Marco Polo, the Mongols also played the instruments before a battle.
Bowed string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by a bow rubbing the strings. The bow rubbing the string causes vibration which the instrument emits as sound.
The musical traditions of Central Asia mirror the immense diversity found in the cultures and populations residing in the region. Principal instrument types are two- or three-stringed lutes, the necks either fretted or fretless; fiddles made of horsehair; flutes, mostly sige at both ends and either end-blown or side-blown; and jew harps, mostly metal. Percussion instruments include frame drums, Tam origin of the bowed string Use of the bowed string is thought to originate with nomads who mainly used the snake-skin, covered horsetail-bowed lute. In Mongolia instruments like the morin khuur or horse-head fiddle survive today.
The music of Kalmykia, a national republic within Russia, has roots in the musical culture of the Oirats. Traditional instruments include the dombra, which is used to accompany dance music. The state folk ensemble Tulpan was formed in 1937 to promote traditional Kalmyk music.
Huqin is a family of bowed string instruments, more specifically, a spike fiddle popularly used in Chinese music. The instruments consist of a round, hexagonal, or octagonal sound box at the bottom with a neck attached that protrudes upwards. They also usually have two strings, and their soundboxes are typically covered with either snakeskin or thin wood. Huqin instruments usually have two tuning pegs, one peg for each string. The pegs are attached horizontally through holes drilled in the instrument's neck. Most huqin have the bow hair pass in between the strings. Exceptions to having two strings and pegs include variations of huqin with three, four, and sometimes even more than five. These include the zhuihu, a three stringed huqin, the sihu, a huqin of Mongolian origin, and the sanhu, a lesser-known three-stringed variation.
Traditional Korean musical instruments comprise a wide range of string, wind, and percussion instruments. Many traditional Korean musical instruments derive from Chinese musical instruments.
The long song is one of the central elements of the traditional music of Mongolia. This genre is called "Long song" not only because the songs are long, but also because each syllable of text is extended for a long duration. A four-minute song may only consist of ten words. Certain long songs such as Uvgin shuvuu khoyor, also known as Jargaltain delger take up to three hours to sing at full length, with all thirty-two stanzas. Lyrical themes vary depending on context; they can be philosophical, religious, romantic, or celebratory, and often use horses as a symbol or theme repeated throughout the song. Eastern Mongols typically use a Morin khuur as accompaniment, sometimes with a type of indigenous flute, called limbe. Oirat groups of the Western Mongols traditionally sing long songs unaccompanied or accompanied with the Igil.
The xiqin was a bowed 2-string string musical instrument. The instrument was called xiquin in China, referencing the Xi and quin. It is perhaps the original member of the huqin family of Mongolian and Chinese bowed string instruments; thus, the morin khuur and erhu and all similar fiddle instruments may be said to be derived from the xiqin. The xiqin had two silk strings and was held vertically.
The yatga (Mongolian: ᠶᠠᠲᠤᠭᠠ, romanized: yatug-a, Khalkha dialect: ятга, yatga; pronounced[ˈjɑtʰəq]; is a traditional plucked zither of Mongolia.
Altan Urag is a Mongolian folk rock band. Formed in 2002, the band's musical style combines traditional Mongolian and contemporary influences. They're considered to be the pioneers of mongolian folk-rock.
Hujia is a traditional Mongolian double reed instrument traditionally used to accompany khoomei. The Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute was adapted from Hujia song in Han dynasty.
Lipstick is a Mongolian all-female band. Lipstick's music varies between melodic pop songs, R&B, and pumping disco beats. They were formed on March 1, 1999. The next year they won the Pentatonic award, a national rock and pop music award, as the best debut band. Since then they have received several other prominent awards for their work and were very successful with the younger generation in Mongolia from 1999 to 2002. They all sing and play instruments such as keyboard, solo guitar, bass guitar and drums. They also used traditional instruments such as the Shanz and the Yatga for their music, e.g. in the songs Khüree khüükhnüüd 'City ladies' and Sarnai tsetseg 'Rose'. As of 2007, the band is inactive, but still widely considered one of the representative Mongolian pop bands.
Altai Khairkhan is an overtone singing ensemble from Mongolia founded in 2002 by Childeegiin Palamjav, Sambuugiin Pürevjav and Ejeegiin Toivgoo.
Tengger Cavalry was a heavy metal band originated from Inner Mongolia and Beijing and formerly based in New York state and Texas. They combine elements of the traditional music of Central Asia and music of Mongolia with heavy metal into a kind of folk metal that Billboard and CNN refer to as nomadic folk metal.
Rumble of Thunder is the second studio album by the Mongolian folk metal band the Hu, released by Better Noise Music on 2 September 2022. The album was announced on 8 July 2022 upon the release of the single "Black Thunder". A deluxe edition featuring bonus tracks was released on 30 June 2023.
Batzorig Vaanchig is a Mongolian throat singer. He first garnered attention for a video of him singing "Chinggis Khaanii Magtaal" on top of a mountain in Mongolia. He later sang more Mongolian folk songs using his throat singing skills.
Khusugtun is a musical ensemble from Mongolia that plays music inspired by traditional Mongolian music. The group has released 2 albums and notably performed at the 2011 BBC Proms. In 2015, the group came in second place in the first season of Asia's Got Talent. The band is named after a type of cart, named a "khusug," that nomadic Mongolians would use to transport their yurts and other belongings.