Ð Morin Khuur - Mongolian horse-head fiddle

The Morin Khuur is a Mongolian bowed stringed instrument, horse-head fiddle, is probably the most important musical instrument in Mongolian ethnic group. It is known in Chinese as matouqin. It produces a sound which is poetically described as expansive and unrestrained, like a wild horse neighing, or like a breeze in the grasslands. It is the most important musical instrument of the Mongolian people, and is considered a symbol of the Mongolian nation.

Ci Bulag 齐宝力高 and the Horse-head Fiddle Orchestra at Chinese New Year Eve's CCTV Gala in early 1991.

The instrument consists of a trapezoid wooden-framed sound box to which two strings are attached. It is held nearly upright with the sound box in the musician's lap or between the musician's legs. The strings are made from hairs from horses' tails, strung parallel, and run over a wooden bridge on the body up a long neck to the two tuning pegs in the scroll, which is always carved into the form of a horse's head.

Mongolian Music in the Library of Congress, DC.


Mongolian Folk Rock Group