National Songs
The most important element in the spiritual life of the Mongols continues to be their love of music, which is conceived also as a means of communication. Mongolian music is predominantly vocal, instruments have a chiefly accompanying role. It consists of a variety of styles which have been preserved and handed down from one generation to another. The Mongols have, of course, come into contact with other tribes and nations, as a result of which Mongolian music also displays influences from other cultures. Mongolian music in general is divided into two genres: tuul' (epic songs), whose essential element is narrative, and ardyn duu (folk songs), whose essential element is vocal. Most genres of Mongolian music display a close relationship with their environment.
Folk Songs
The folk song tradition has two principal forms: The Urtyn duu (Long Song), and Bogino duu (Short song)
Long Song
Urtyn duu is one of the richest and most treasured of the ancient arts of the Mongols. It is characterized by certain patterns of ornamentation, such as portamento, trill-like yodels, and passages of great melismatic complexity. The tonal range of such songs is unusual for a male singer - as much as three octaves, including high tones sung in falsetto. The most remarkable features of urtyn duu are the ornamental melismatic passages. The more these are used, the more the melodic lines expand and contract in a free rhythm, drawing a delicate curved line of its own.
The longer and wider these vocalizations are, and the more intricate the ornamentation, the greater the appreciation shown by the listeners. The song is sung in a full and powerful voice, and breath must be taken extremely quickly so as not to disturb the decorative effects of the music.
In performance, the singer concentrates not s o much on communicating the contents of the text as on singing the melody skilfully in a free, melismatic style.
Urtyn duu is sung to begin a festival or to end one, e.g. the songs Durtmal Saikhan (Poignant Beauty), Ovgon Shuvu (An Old Man and a Bird) and Uyahan zambuntiviin naran (The Sun of the Complacent World), or at the commencement of a horse race, for example Tumen Eh (First Among Thousands).
The geographical differences within the country are reflected in the urtyn duu of the eastern, western, northern (Borjigin), and southern (Bayanbarant) dialects. The eastern style is characterized by a wide range and slow tempo, while in the northern style the melodies move faster and in more complicated forms. In the western dialect, the vocal range is somewhat narrower and the tempo faster in comparison with the eastern; compared with the northern style, elaborate melodic configurations are few. There are some examples however, which use an extremely wide vocal range and sophisticated melismatic ornamentation.
Short Song
The most popular type of vocal art is the bogino duu (short song). It is quite metrical and active, in contrast to urtyn duu, generally in a simple double or quadruple meter.
Themes
The underlying theme of all Mongolian folk songs is love, in three interrelated forms: human love, love for the horse and love of country. But on the basis of textual content and musical form, there are also Mongolian folk songs with philosophical or spiritual themes, connected with work and customs, expressing wishes or connected with legends and epic , and there are folic songs in the context of festivities and ceremonies, songs sung antiphonally by two persons or groups of persons, game songs and satirical songs.
Coaxing Words
In their many years of nomadic life, the Mongols have developed their own specific techniques of handling livestock. One technique employs toig, a sp e cial " coaxing word," which is uttered or rather sung when a ewe is being coaxed into accepting a rejected lamb. The word toig is used with sheep only; for goats, the word is choig; for camels, hoos. In the latter instance, the morin huur (horsehead fiddle) accompanies the singing. While inducing a ewe to suckle a rejected lamb, the following words, for example, are sung:
The mandarin duck has arrived, The mugwort has sprung up, Your udder is full. Keeping it away; why do you reject it? Toig, toig, toig ... This is sung gently, over and over again, until the ewe suckles the lamb. When a mother camel is being coaxed into accepting a rejected or strange calf, it is said to break into tears at the gentle sound of hoos and the enchanting melody of the morin Huur, sung and played by someone skilled in the art of casting spells on animals. The words are more than simple calls and have become absorbed into poems and songs.
Hoomii (Throat Song)
The Mongols have an original art which is called hoomii or overtone singing: a unique vocal style using the throat. (The name literally means "throat music.") In hoomii the melody is formed by changing the shape of the mouth cavity as the resonating body for the vibration of the vocal cords, which at the same time makes it easy to emphasize the tone of the melody by strongly producing vowels. It is said that hoomii is as old as nature itself, beginning when man made the first melodies imitating the murmur of streams or the echoes in the mountains. Hoomii is most common in the west of Mongolia, and this style is also known among some of the peoples of Central Asia, especially the Tuvin, the khalkh and certain ethnic groups in the Altai mountains; it was formerly found also among the Bashkirs in the Urals.
There are different techniques of performing the hoomii overtones, using the nose, throat, chest, or abdomen. It is only performed by men because it needs much physical strength, though there is no particular taboo against its use by women.
Classical
The history of the Mongolian Yuan Empire shows that during Khubilai Khaan's times about 412 performers, singers and dancers would perform splendid shows. In the 15-17th centuries performances with dancing, singing in turn and laying roles were widespread in many parts of Mongolia.
The Lord of Gobi, Danzanravjaa, first established a theatre by the end of the 19th century and staged his "Saran Khukhuu" (The Lunar Cuckoo) play.
The contemporary theatre was established in the 1920s when youth organisations founded artistic groups and began their work by staging several plays based on the folk stories -"The stories of Sengee", "The lord Sumya" and others.
The Mongolian government in 1931 made the decision to found the State Central theatre named "Bumbugur". In the 1940s, the theatre's performers were split into the orchestra, chorus and dancers' groups, and the institution was reorganised as the Musical Drama theatre. Later in 1948 the Puppet show and in 1940 the Circus were established, the Khovd, Bayan-Ulgii and Dornod aimags' theatres were opened and in 1963 the Academic theatre of Opera and Ballet grew from it respectively. Ever since its foundation, the theatre successfully produced national and classic opera and ballet for the public. For instance, "Evgeny Onegin", "Iolanta", "Queen of Spades" by Chaikovsky; "Chio-chio san", Tosca". "Turandot", "Trubadore", "Othello" by Puchinni; "Prince Igor" by Borodin; "Carmen" by Bizet; "The Barber of Seville" by Rossini; "The magic flute" by Mozart and more than 30 ballets like "The Nutcracker", "Sleeping Beauty", "Swan lake" by Chaikovsky; "Flame of Paris", "Fountain of Bakhchisaray" by Asaffiev; "Don Quixote" by Myncus, and "Spartac" by Khachaturian and many others are staged. The State Academic Theatre of Drama has been successfully staging both Mongolian and other famous dramatists' plays like Lopper de Vega, Sheller, Shakespeare, Chekhov and others. In general, most of the theatres take part in international competitions and visiting other countries with performances.