Mongol Long-Song (Barghu Style)

The Mongol long-song is a traditional art linked to UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity; since the 13th century it has been carried by the Barghu Mongols on the Hulunbuir steppe, forming the distinctive "Barghu long-song" branch. In 2014 the Mongol Long-Song (Barghu Style) entered the fourth batch of national ICH items, declared by Xinba'erhu Zuo Banner and chiefly practised in the Left, Right and Chen Ba'erhu banners, all part of the same Hulunbuir cultural sphere as Manzhouli.

The Barghu long-song moves in free metre with breath that stretches on, a single phrase often holding for tens of seconds; the verses sing of steppe, mountains, horses and homeland, gliding between chest and head voice in what is called a "symphonic poem of the grassland," sung as herders sit together and answer one another in improvisation.

The Barghu long-song is one of the chief colour-regions of the Mongol long-song, carrying the spiritual world and steppe aesthetic of a nomadic people; it is of major value for the study of Mongol music and northern cultures, and underlies the grassland-gateway culture that Manzhouli opens onto.

The Barghu long-song is chiefly found across the Xinba'erhu Zuo, Xinba'erhu You and Chen Ba'erhu banners of Hulunbuir, and can be heard in Manzhouli as the gateway to the steppe.