Mongolian Horse-Head Fiddle Music

The horse-head fiddle is the most representative bowed instrument of the Mongols, its scroll carved with a horse's head, said to have grown from the mourning cry of horses on the steppe, with a long lineage. Its music is inscribed on China's national ICH list and stands with the long song and khoomei as one of the most characteristic forms of Mongolian culture, passed down through generations on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia and around Baotou.

The horse-head fiddle is bowed with horsehair to produce a tone both plaintive and deep, rich in overtones; players use slides, vibrato and double-stopping to imitate the neighing of horses and the wind over the steppe, often solo or accompanying the long song and dance, prizing the unity of player, instrument and horse.

The horse-head fiddle carries the nomadic memory and horseback sentiment of the Mongolian people and forms the core vessel of steppe musical culture, holding significant artistic and ethnological value.