Mongolia · Musical Instrument Making
Морин хуур (Morin Khuur)
The making of the morin khuur — the two-stringed, horse-head-carved bowed fiddle considered Mongolia's national instrument and, since 2003, recognized by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. This record closes a striking gap: the archive's existing Mongolian composite recurve bow record (CRAFT-0608) documents a different weapon-craft instrument entirely, and the morin khuur — arguably the single most internationally recognized Mongolian craft object after the ger itself — was otherwise absent from the archive's 12-record Mongolia collection. A hollow trapezoid-shaped wooden body, covered with animal skin as a soundboard, connects to a long fretless neck terminating in a carved horse head, with two tuning pegs projecting like ears just below it; both the two strings and the bow are made entirely from horsehair. Beyond its function as Mongolia's premier folk instrument — described by Mongolian ethnomusicologist Badraa Jamts, alongside the long-song tradition, as one of 'the two golden wings of Mongolian national music' — specific traditional melodies called tatlaga are used by nomadic herders for their believed calming, therapeutic effect on livestock, most notably to soothe mares during milking.
Risk level: Vulnerable · UNESCO Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage (2003); Representative List
The toono (тооно) is the carved circular crown wheel at the apex of a Mongolian ger — the only carved wooden element in the entire structure, and the most symbolically loaded: it is simultaneously the smoke hole, the skylight, the compass…
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Mongolian esgii (эсгий) is the primary structural and insulating material of nomadic life — used for ger wall panels, floor coverings, sleeping mats, saddlery, and winter clothing.
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