On November 25, 2005, "Mongolian Long Tune Folk Songs" and "China's Xinjiang Uyghur Muqam Art" were both declared by UNESCO as the third batch of "Masterpieces of Human Oral and Intangible Heritage" , among which "Mongolian Long Tune Folk Songs" is the first time that China and a foreign country have jointly applied for and approved the same intangible heritage project to UNESCO. Long-tune folk songs are closely related to the grasslands and the nomadic lifestyle of the Mongolian nation. They carry the history of the Mongolian nation. Their high-pitched and long-lasting style is suitable for narrative and good at lyricism. It is a symbolic display of the production life and spiritual character of the Mongolian nation.
"Mongolian folk songs with long tunes" are a form of Mongolian folk songs. Mongolian folk songs are divided into long tunes and short tunes. During the formation period of the Mongolian nation, folk songs with long tunes already existed, and one of their major characteristics is that they have fewer words and longer tunes. The long tune generally consists of two lines each, one at the top and one at the bottom. The singer performs the lyrics based on his life accumulation and understanding of nature, and the rhythm of the singing is different. Most of the lyrics in the long tune describe grasslands, horses, camels, cattle, sheep, Blue sky, white clouds, rivers, and lakes. At the same time, Mongolian Chang Tiao folk songs are also a cross-border culture. China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Mongolia are the main cultural distribution areas of Mongolian Chang Tiao folk songs. The success of China and Mongolia's joint application for World Heritage is enough to demonstrate the immeasurable artistic and world-wide value of Mongolian long-melody folk songs as a cultural heritage.
Mongolian long tunes belong to Mongolian music, and Mongolian music can be divided into three historical development periods, namely, the mountain and forest hunting music culture period, the grassland nomadic music culture period, and the farming and herding music culture. period.
During the period of hunting music culture, its music style was represented by short tunes. Folk songs had the characteristics of short structure, concise tones, clear rhythm, many words and few accents. The overall music style is narrative, song-and-dance, and weak in lyricism, which is also the unique characteristic of human music art in the primitive period. It can be seen from the existing data that some Mongolian folk songs with obvious musical and cultural characteristics of this period are still popular among the people, such as "Hunting and Fighting Wisdom Song" and "White Sea Blue Dance".
With the transformation of hunting production methods to nomadic production methods, the music style of the second period also evolved from short-key folk songs to long-key folk songs, forming a steppe in the history of Mongolian music. Period of nomadic music culture. From the perspective of music morphology, this period not only retained and developed the short-key music style of the hunting period, but also gradually innovated and formed the long-key music style. As far as the long-tune folk songs themselves are concerned, this period also experienced a long inheritance and development process from simple to complex, from low to high. Therefore, in the thousand-year history from the 7th century AD to the 17th century AD, the general trend of the development of Mongolian folk songs can be summarized as: a period in which short-key folk songs are based on short-key folk songs, long-key folk songs are innovative, and long-key folk songs gradually dominate. It is also an important historical period for the formation of the overall Mongolian music culture style.
Since about the 18th century AD (the middle and late Qing Dynasty), with the historical changes and development, the connection between the northern grasslands and the mainland of the Central Plains has been further strengthened, and the pace of integration and exchanges among various ethnic groups has accelerated. The agricultural-based production methods in the Central Plains have also penetrated into parts of the northern grasslands, and cultural exchanges have become more frequent. Under this historical background, short-key narrative songs and long rap songs have gained new development, forming a period of Mongolian music culture that combines farming and animal husbandry. The musical style characteristics of this period can be summarized as follows: short-key folk songs regained new life and developed rapidly, while long-key folk songs maintained their characteristics and became more mature.
Listening to a long pastoral song is like standing on the vast grassland and expressing your experience to nature. This artistic realm is called "the perfect unity of the sounds of nature and the sounds of the heart" by many musicologists and singers. It is understood that as long as one person takes the lead in singing a long melody and three or five people sing with sustained bass, a solemn, majestic and magnificent momentum will be produced; and a folk solo song "Walking Horse" of Morinouqin will have an earth-shattering effect. spirit. Both can give people a majestic and sublime experience.
"The Vast Grassland" is a model of long-key pastoral song. The musical language and musical form structure are concise and concise. The whole song only has two dual phrases melody, but it is passionate and unrestrained, achieving the image and artistic conception. , the perfect unity of man and nature, also gives people a vast and bold masculine beauty. The ancient banquet song "Sixty Beauties" sings sixty beautiful things in a simple song with a single section. The song lists grassland land, life and youth, cattle, sheep and horses, migratory birds and geese, sunshine and mist, bright moon and stars, mountain scenery, sea scenery, blooming flowers, clear water, plucked strings, loud singing, parents The kindness of the brothers, the teachings of the elders, the peace of the world... This unique artistic conception and charm of the blending of scenes, the harmony of nature and the unity of man and nature. When mankind entered the era of large-scale industry, the natural ecological environment was severely damaged. Today, the high aesthetic value of Mongolian folk songs with long tunes is more prominently displayed.