Legend of Herlen, 2000

B. Sharav
Mongolia

Instrumentation:
urtin duu (voice), morin khuur (bowed lute), trombones (3), percussion (3), piano

In Legend of Herlen, Byambasuren Sharav offers a contemporary version of the Mongolian tradition of telling a story through music, in this case, a legend about the Herlen River. Sharav skillfully combines an electrifying complement of Western brass and percussion with two of Mongolia’s most emblematic musical sounds: that of the morin khuur [MOO rin HOOR], a fiddle whose neck is decorated with a carved wooden horse’s head, and urtiin duu [OOR tin DOO] or long song (a Mongolian vocal genre). Both Sharav and long song singer Khongorzul, who performs Legend of Herlen in Silk Road Ensemble concerts, represent a new generation of urbanized Mongolians who are dismantling the boundaries between indigenous and imported music, and who are as comfortable in one of Ulaanbaatar’s many discothèques and Internet cafés as in a ger [gair], the round felt tent of Mongolian herders.