Morin Khuurwpntr2018-12-19T18:28:50+00:00Marco Polo found the traditional Mongolia instrument in Yaunshangdu in 1275 and brought it to Europe. The meaning of the name of the instrument is ‘fidel kind horse head’. The myth of the instrument: a shepherd boy named Suhe coming from the interior part of Mongolia brought up a white horse which saved him from a wolf attack later on. Suhe won a horse race organised by the Emperor of Mongolia with his white horse and won the girl of the emperor as a gift but the emperor didn’t want to give his girl to Suhe as he was an ordinary shepherd, furthermore, he wanted to take his horse. Suhe refused the wish of the emperor, consequently he was sent away and his horese seized. This faithful horse tried to escape to his owner back, but it was shot with a lot of arrows while escaping, it found his owner but died near him. One day Suhe saw his horse in his dream and it gave Suhe the task to produce an instrumen with its body – the neck part of the instrument from a bone, strings from the mane, the top and the bottom from its skin and a carved horse head figure. By this way, Suhe would be always with his faithful friend. This instrument, still very common in many regions of Mongolia, is not in its old version. The neck, top and bottom part of the instrument are in a trapeze shape. And it has a wooden body with nylon strings. The tuners attached to the side part of the instrument are mechanical. The only thing from its past version is the carved horse head on the top of the instrument. The name in Mongolia is Morin Khur, the name in China, were it is played in the Inner Mongolia, is Matouqin. 