A NIGHT OF TURKISH FOLK MUSIC IN MONGOLIA

Four folk music masters – Salih Gündoğdu, Eren Can Yıldız, Mücahid Kol, and Buğra Kutbay – from the Turkish capital, Ankara, in collaboration with the Ulaanbaatar Theater music ensemble, immersed the audience in an enthralling concert. The program consisted of lyrical and rhythmic Turkish traditional melodies played in the first half and lively Mongolian traditional music and dance performed in the second half. The evening ended on a spirited note with an arrangement of R. Bat-Erdene’s Mongolian contemporary classical piece, “The Gallop of Approaching Steeds,” by Ulaanbaatar Theater composer O. Chinbat for the Turkish quartet as the lead.

Palpable in the music was the nomadic spirit that upholds adaptability to change and reverence for freedom and nature as the traditional guiding principles in these cultures that emerged from nomadic roots. They are reflected in shared values such as efficacy in action and religious tolerance. Both Turkish and Mongolian folk melodies speak to the essential presence of nature in the impermanence of life.

The Sky Turks inhabited the land of the eternal blue sky between the 6th and 8th centuries AD and carved the first written use of the name Turk in ancient Turkic runes onto the Tonyukuk stone from the 8th century, located in the Tuul river valley.¹ They worshiped Tengri, who symbolized the universe and its laws. This was the same Tenger deified five centuries later by Chinggis Khaan, the founder of the Mongol State. As two of the numerous steppe tribes to have originated in Mongolia, the Turkic and Mongol nomadic empires had a great influence on one another throughout various periods in history.