Legend has it that the matouqur was first made by a little shepherd boy named Su He in the Chahar Grassland. Su He and grandma depend on each other. Live by what you raise. Su 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. 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 day goes by, the snow-white little white horse grows up. Beautiful and strong, she was 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 little white horse's sweaty body 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 rider to be her husband, the prince will marry his daughter to whoever wins the first place. Su He and his little white horse also participated. 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. In the end, Su He and Xiaobai Ma became the first. But when the prince saw that Su He was very poor, he denied it. He said unreasonably: "I will give you three big ingots, leave the horse to me, and go back quickly!"
"I'm here to race horses, not to sell horses." Su He said without thinking Said those two sentences.
Su He was beaten and bruised all over by the prince's men. The little white horse was also taken away.
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!" The little white horse was hit by an arrow and returned. 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, but 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 shot a few arrows, but the little white horse ran home and died in front of its dearest owner.
Su He was devastated by Baima's death. 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.
Every time he plays the piano, he will think of his hatred for the prince; every time he recalls the excitement of galloping on horseback, the music 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.
Extended information:
The Morin Qin is a stringed instrument of the Mongolian ethnic minority in China. It is named after the horse head carved on the top of the piano rod. The morinouqin has a long history and evolved from the stringed instrument Xiqin in the Tang and Song Dynasties.
It had been spread among the people during the time of Genghis Khan (1155-1227). According to "Marco Polo's Travels", a two-stringed qin was popular among the Tatars (the predecessors of the Mongols) in the 12th century, which may be its predecessor. It was used in court bands during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Due to the different regions where it is spread, its names, shapes, timbres and playing methods are also different.
In the western part of Inner Mongolia, it is called "Molin Hughur", while in the eastern part of Inner Mongolia, Hulunbuir, Zheheimu and Zhaowuda League are called "Chaoer". ?
There are also other names such as "Hughur", "Huqin", "Mawei Huqin" and "Gongxian Huqin". Outside of Inner Mongolia, it is also popular among Mongolians in Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Gansu, Xinjiang and other places.
The Morin Qur is a representative musical instrument of the Mongolian nation. It not only occupies a place in the family of musical instruments in China and the world, but is also a favorite instrument among folk artists and herdsmen. The music played by the Morin Qur is deep and rough. The exciting characteristics reflect the production, life and grassland style of the Mongolian nation. ?
There are many excellent pieces of Morinouqin. The traditional music has various styles, rich in grassland characteristics, and the tunes are euphemistic. Most of them describe natural scenery or sing about horses.
Such as "Vermillion", "Cool Hanggai", "Four Seasons", "Mongolian Minor", "Spring in Ordos", "Cool Spring", "Walking Horse" and "Horse's Steps" wait.
"Zhu Selie" is adapted from the folk song of the same name. "Zhu Selie" is the name of the mountain, and the music uses it to describe the steadfastness of love between men and women.
"Cool Hanggai" describes the summer scenery of mountains, forests and pastures with abundant water and grass.
"Four Seasons" is adapted from the folk song of the same name. The tune is melodious and smooth, depicting the changes in the natural scenery of the Xilin Gol Prairie throughout the year and the herdsmen's love for their hometown.
Excellent compositions praising the new era and new life include "New Song of the Grassland" and "New Year" by Darima, "Hymn of the Grassland" and "Prairie Connected to Beijing" by Qi Baoligao, "Thousands of Horses Galloping", "Ballade", "On the Ordos Grassland", "Ode to the Mongolian Huqin" and Xin Huguang's Morinouqin Concerto "Grassland Sound Poems", etc.
"New Song of the Grassland" is based on folk songs of Ximeng and Humeng. It is a hymn for the grassland and herdsmen. "Grassland Connected to Beijing" expresses the Mongolian people's passionate passion for being in the grassland and yearning for Beijing.
"Thousands of Horses Galloping" depicts the magnificent construction scene of thousands of miles of grassland in Inner Mongolia. Someone once said: For the description of the grassland, the melody of a matouqin music is far more expressive than the colors of the painter and the language of the poet. This is very appropriate. When a melodious Matouqin music plays in people's ears, you can close your eyes and meditate along with the melody...
From the period of hunting culture in the mountains and forests to the early stage of nomadic culture on the grasslands, ?The musical instruments used by the Mongols are not morinouqin, but plucked instruments such as Huobisi and Tuboshuoer, which are mostly used for entertainment singing and dancing and dance 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 dominated by plucked instruments. Mongolian soldiers and herdsmen in the Yuan Dynasty were good at playing plucked instruments. When playing fire, you must think about it, and you like to dance and sing together.
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.
"Qing History Manuscript" records: "Huqin is made of tung trees, with two strings, a dragon head, and a square handle. The groove is oval and sharp downward, with leather exposed, and the wood outside the groove is like a hairpin and buckle. "Xian, there is a mountain pass under the dragon's head. It is hollowed out to receive the string. It is tied with two axes, one on the left and right, and tied 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 in "Book of Rites and Music", Volume 71 of "History of the Yuan Dynasty": "The huqin is made like a fire without thinking, with a rolled neck, two strings on the dragon's head, and a bow, and the strings of the bow are horsetails. "According to rock paintings and some historical data, the ancient Mongolians began to process yogurt spoons, cover them with cowhide, string two horsetail strings on them, and play them as musical instruments, 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 western Mongolia also call the Morin Qin "spoon-shaped Hu Qin". At that time, the head of the violin was not necessarily a horse head, but could be a human head, a skeleton, 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.
Myrtle looks like a dragon and has a face like a monkey, symbolizing a divine creature that suppresses evil spirits.
According to the research of relevant scholars, the name Morinouqin came from around the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. The head of the fiddle 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.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Morin Flute