Morin huur master to mark his band's 30th anniversary
- By Zhang Rui
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E-mail China.org.cn, June 14, 2016
The morin huur master Chi Bulag announced on Monday that he would hold a concert at the Beijing Concert Hall to mark the 30th anniversary of the founding of his band Wild Horses.
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The morin huur master Chi Bulag performs at a press conference on June 13, 2016. [Photo by Zhang Rui / China.org.cn] |
The morin huur is a Mongolian string instrument. The name means "fiddle with horse's head," which refers to the shape of the top part of the instrument. It produces a sound that has been described as expansive and unrestrained, like a wild horse neighing or a breeze in the grasslands. It is the most important musical instrument of the Mongolian people.
Chi Bulag, 72, a descendant of Genghis Khan, founded the world’s first-ever morin huur band: Chi Bulag Wild Horses Morin Khuur Band. He is one of the very few folk musicians who can play the ancient musical instrument and the most famous morin huur master in the world.
"Playing the instrument makes me feel younger and fills me with national dignity and pride," he said, adding he has played it for 65 years.
Chi Bulag was born in 1944 in a small village on the Horchin grassland in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. At the age of three, he moved into a lama temple in Horchin. Without anyone teaching him, he learned to play the morin huur as a boy. Many years later, a local art troupe impressed with Chi Bulag’s playing, allowed him to being performing with them.
Besides performing, Chi Bulag also composes music, claiming that inspiration comes out of his blood. "Ten Thousand Horses Galloping" is one of the most famous artworks of Chi Bulag. To put more passion into the sound produced by the morin huur, Chi Bulag also modifies the fiddle's design. Thanks to his efforts, the morin huur now has a wider range and a louder volume.
He visits and performs in many countries and regions across Asia, Europe, America and Africa, Chi Bulag says he's received a warm welcome from every city he's visited and now has over 20,000 students worldwide. He says nothing will stop him from playing the morin huur and spreading the sound of peace to all four corners of the world.
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