Legend has it that the matouqur was first made by a little shepherd boy named Su He in the Chahar Grassland. Su He was raised by his grandmother, and they lived on more than 20 sheep. Su He goes out to herd sheep every day and helps grandma cook in the morning and evening. Seventeen-year-old Su He already looks completely like an adult. He has extraordinary singing talent, and the neighboring herdsmen are very willing to listen to his singing.
One day, the sun has set and the sky is getting darker. But Su He hasn't come back yet. Not only was grandma worried, but the neighboring herdsmen were also a little panicked. Just when people were very anxious, Su He walked into the yurt holding a small furry thing. When people took a look, it turned out to be a newborn foal. Su He looked at everyone's surprised eyes and said to them: "On my way back, I ran into this little guy, lying on the ground and moving. When I saw that no one was taking care of it, I was afraid that it would be eaten by wolves in the dark. Just take it back."
As time passed, the little white horse grew up under Su He's careful care. It is all white, beautiful and strong. It is loved by everyone, especially Su He.
One night, Su He was awakened from his sleep by the rapid neighing of a horse. He thought of the little white horse, and hurriedly got up and went out to take a look. He saw a big bad wolf being blocked by the little white horse from the sheepfold. Su He drove away the big bad wolf. When he saw that the little white horse was covered in sweat, he knew that the big bad wolf must have been here for a long time. Thanks to the little white horse, he protected the sheep for him. He gently stroked the sweaty body of the little white horse and said to it: "Little white horse! Thank you."
One spring, news came from the grassland that the prince was going to hold a ceremony at the Lama Temple. At the horse racing meeting, because the prince's daughter wants to choose the best jockey to be her husband, the prince will marry his daughter to whoever wins the first place. Su He also heard the news, and his friends nearby encouraged him to lead the little white horse to participate in the competition. So, Su He took his beloved little white horse and set off.
The horse racing started, and many strong young men raised their whips and galloped wildly. At the finish line, Su He's little white horse ran to the front. The prince ordered: "Ask the rider on the white horse to come on stage!" When Su He walked up to the stand, the prince saw that the first place runner turned out to be a poor herdsman. He changed his tune and said unreasonably: "I will give you three big gold ingots, leave the horse to me, and go back quickly!"
"I'm here to race horses, not to race." He's a horse seller." When Su He heard what the prince said, he became angry. Can I betray the little white horse? He thought like this and said those two sentences without thinking.
"How dare you, a poor herdsman, resist the prince? Come on, give me a good beating for this bitch." Before the prince could finish speaking, the thugs started to take action. Su He was beaten unconscious and thrown under the stands. The prince took away the little white horse and returned to the palace majestically.
Su He was rescued and brought home by relatives and friends. Under the careful care of her grandma, she rested for a few days and gradually recovered. One night, Su He was about to go to bed when he suddenly heard a knock on the door. I asked, "Who?" but no one answered. The door still banged. Grandma opened the door and took a look: "Ah, it turns out to be a little white horse!" This scream made Su He run out in a hurry. When he saw it, he saw that the little white horse was indeed back. It was hit by seven or eight sharp arrows and was sweating profusely as it ran. Su He gritted his teeth, held back the pain in his heart, and pulled out the arrow from the horse. Blood flowed from the wound like a fountain. The horse was so seriously injured that he died the next day.
It turned out that the prince was very happy because he got a good horse, so he chose an auspicious day, held a banquet, and invited relatives and friends to celebrate. He wanted to show off his good horse in front of others, so he asked the warriors to bring the horse over and perform a show.
The prince just got on the horse and before he could sit firmly, the white horse kicked him hard and threw him off. The white horse struggled to get rid of the thick rope and ran away through the crowd. The prince got up and shouted: "Catch it quickly, or shoot it to death if you can't catch it!" The archers' arrows flew towards the white horse like a torrential rain. Although the white horse was hit by several arrows, it still ran home and died in front of its dearest owner.
Baima's death brought greater grief and anger to Su He, and he couldn't sleep for several nights.
One night, Su He saw the white horse come alive in his dream. He stroked it, and it came close to him. At the same time, he gently said to him: "Master, if you want me to never leave you and relieve your loneliness, then you can use my muscles and bones to do it." Let's make a harp!" After Su He woke up, he followed the little white horse's instructions and made a harp from its bones, sinews and tail. Whenever he plays the piano, he will think of his hatred for the prince; whenever he recalls the excitement of galloping on horseback, the music of the piano will become more beautiful. From then on, the morinouqin became a comfort to the herdsmen on the grassland. As soon as they heard the beautiful sound of the piano, they would forget the fatigue of the day and would not want to leave for a long time.
During Genghis Khan’s Western Expeditions, large-scale immigration spread Mongolian culture including the Morin Fur to Europe. The Morin Fur also appeared in Russia and was welcomed by people until today.
The state attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. On May 20, 2006, Mongolian Morinouqin music was approved by the State Council and included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists.
Origin
From the period of mountain hunting culture to the early stage of grassland nomadic culture, the musical instruments used by the Mongolians were not morinouqin, but plucked instruments such as Huobisi and Tuboshuoer. It is mostly used for entertainment singing and dancing and dance music accompaniment. Judging from the records in "Secret History of Mongolia" and "History of the Yuan Dynasty", from the period of Genghis Khan to Kublai Khan, Mongolian national musical instruments were still mainly plucked instruments. Mongolian soldiers and herdsmen in the Yuan Dynasty were good at playing fire, and they liked to dance collective step songs. . After the rapid development of grassland nomadic music, the Morinouqin, a stringed instrument, emerged and became widely popular. It eventually replaced the plucked instrument and became the Mongolian folk instrument with the most grassland characteristics. Obviously, stringed instruments replaced plucked instruments and Huobisi gradually declined, so Morinouqin naturally became the protagonist of Mongolian musical instruments.
Morin Khuur - This ancient stringed instrument is named after the horse head carved on the head. "Manuscripts of the History of the Qing Dynasty" records: "Huqin is made of tung trees, with two strings, a dragon's head, and a square handle. The groove is oval and sharp downward, with leather on it. There is wood on the outside of the groove like a hairpin to buckle the string. Below the dragon's head is the mountain pass. Cut out the hollow to receive the string, tie it with two shafts, one on the left and right, and tie it with eighty-one horsetail stems tied with wood." It can be seen that the Morin Khuur originally also had a dragon head. This is recorded as early as "Yuan Shi" Volume 71 "Book of Rites and Music": "The huqin is made like a fire without thinking, with a rolled neck and two dragon head strings. It is strung with a bow, and the strings of the bow are horse tails." According to rock paintings and some historical materials It shows that the ancient Mongolians began to process the yogurt spoon, cover it with cowhide, string two horsetail strings, and play it as a musical instrument, which was called "spoon-shaped huqin". At present, many experts believe that this is the predecessor of Matouqin. The longest spoon-shaped huqin at that time was about two feet, and the sound box was smaller, so the sound was much smaller. To this day, some people in the western part of Mongolia call the Morin Qin "spoon-shaped Hu Qin". At that time, the head of the violin was not necessarily a horse head, but a human head, a skull, a crocodile head, a turtle shell or a dragon head. In addition, some people said that the head of this kind of violin was in the shape of a monkey's head or a Martel head. Martel is shaped like a dragon and has a face like a monkey, symbolizing a divine creature that suppresses evil spirits. According to research by relevant scholars, the name Morinouqin came from around the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, and the head of the instrument was changed from a dragon head or a mater head to a horse head. In addition, there are many types of musical instruments, such as Pihu, Spade Hu, Sihu, Xi Qin, Ji Qin, etc., which were all popular instruments at that time. During the Yuan Dynasty, with the gradual affluence of palace life and the number of dedicated performers, singers, and dancers in the palace, the matouqin gradually became one of the main contents of palace music.
The Morin Khuur is the best musical instrument suitable for playing ancient Mongolian long tunes. It can accurately express the life of the Mongolian people, such as: vast grasslands, howling wind, sad mood, and the sound of galloping horse hooves. , joyful pastoral, etc. Related to this, the overall status of Mongolian national musical instruments in the Yuan Dynasty has been significantly improved. They are not only used to accompany dances and songs, but also produce purely instrumental music, such as "Haiqingna Swan" and "White Feather Bird" Wait, great progress has indeed been made.
By the beginning of the 18th century, the appearance and structure of the matouqur had changed a lot. The sounding box was trapezoidal and larger than before, and the length of the body was about twice as long, so the sound was also different. It is larger and produces a louder vibrato. The head of the violin is mostly a horse head or a dragon head under the horse head.
The two strings of the Morin Qin are the thick yang string, which is composed of 150 horsetails, the thin string, which is the yin string, which is composed of 120 horsetails, and the bow string, which is composed of 90 horsetails. They add up to 360 strings, which is exactly the 360 ??degrees of a circle. With the innovation of the body of the Morin Khuur, new creations and developments have been made in the playing techniques of the Morin Khuur, and many folk rap performers have emerged.