Music of Mongolia
Music is an integral part of Mongolian culture. Among the unique contributions of Mongolia to the world's musical culture are the long songs, overtone singing and morin khuur, the horse-headed fiddle. The music of Mongolia is also rich with varieties related to the various ethnic groups of the country: Oirats, Hotogoid, Tuvans, Darhad, Buryats, Tsaatan, Dariganga, Uzemchins, Barga, Kazakhs and Khalha.
Besides the traditional music, Western classical music and ballet flourished during the Mongolian People's Republic. Among the most popular forms of modern music in Mongolia are Western pop and rock genres and the mass songs, which are written by modern authors in a form of folk songs.
Pop music[edit]
Largely unknown outside of Mongolia, there is a thriving popular music scene centred in the city of Ulaanbaatar. Actually, this is a mixture of various kinds of popular music. It is often subdivided into pop, Rock, hip hop, and alternative (consisting of alternative rock and heavy metal). The pop scene includes boy bands like Camerton, Nomin Talst and Motive, girl groups like SweetYmotion, Kiwi, Gala, 3 ohin and Lipstick and solo artists like Jargalsaikhan.D, Sarantuya, Altaa, Erdenetsetseg, Serchmaa, Delgermörön, Bold, BX and the renowned Ariunaa, the alternative scene bands like Nisvanis, Night train, Magnolian, and The Lemons, the rock scene rock-n-roll like the Pilots and Soyol Erdene, folk rock like Altan Urag and hard rock bands like Haranga, Hurd, Chinggis khaan and Niciton, and there are also some techno bands like Khar Sarnai. A few of the younger Mongolian popular artists are becoming increasingly well-established internationally, most notably, the young female singer Nominjin (singing in eight languages in a variety of genres), singer Enguun, the winner of the season 1 of The Voice of Mongolia, and Amarkhuu Borkhuu, a star of the Russian pop music.
Hip hop/Rap has gained considerable popularity in Mongolia. From the early 1990s, Mongolian teenagers and youngsters formed dancing groups with anywhere between three and thirty members that started to compete in national tournaments. This was the beginning of the Mongolian hip-hop movement. For some reason, single rappers had never "made it" into the Mongolian hip-hop scene. Although, the Mongolian-Swedish rapper Battulga Munkhbayar, also known as The yellow Eminem and 50 öre, has made it to the big stages in Sweden because of his unique rap style. He wasn't so successful as a pickpocket on the streets of Bangkok, though, being arrested there for thieving a Slovak tourist's wallet in 2019.[7]
Early bands include Har Tas and MC Boys. The latter two groups represented the beginning of rap in Mongolia. Their songs mostly stressed social issues, philosophy and rebellious ideas. A later generation consisted of bands like Dain Ba Enkh, 2 Khüü, Erkh-Chölöö, Lumino, Mon-Ta-Rap, Ice Top, Odko, Gee, Quiza, B.A.T and URMC. They continued with similar messages as their predecessors but also came to include “soft” touches in their songs, which faced strong resistance from hardcore rap fans but were welcomed by the general public.