By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
JEJU ― Tseyen Tserendorj, a Mongolian morin khuur (two-stringed instrument) player, never learned how to play the horse-head fiddle at school or official institutes, but rather from oral traditions surviving from ancient times. Now he wants to keep the country's traditional music alive and pass it down to the next generations.
"I learned how to play the instrument from my mother when I was eight years old because there was a fiddle in our house. I have never received any formal musical education," Tserendorj said in an interview with The Korea Times. "Just like how I learned, I want to transmit the traditional folk music to the next generation."
The 69-year-old folk fiddle virtuoso is now taking part in the 3rd Delphic Games here as judge of the competition for the music and acoustic arts section. He will also put on native folk music performances as part of the maestro program.
Tserendorj said that Mongolian folk music has survived from its origins in the oral traditions of early cultures and finds the present folk scene from a rich mix of cultures.
"As many youngsters in many countries enjoy Western modern pop music rather than their own traditional music, Mongolian youngsters also do so," he said. "But I am just relieved that they don't forget their traditions when they get married and hold a family feast at home. I think it's a kind of interest in the traditional music."
The musician said that the morin khuur, which was put on the World Art Heritage Cultural Object list by UNESCO, is a "father of stringed instruments" since it tells how people entertained themselves by plucking a string made of hairs from animals and dancing in tune with the sounds. It also shows the Mongolian nomadic life which uses the shape of a horse, a symbolic animal for the country, on the top of the instrument, he said.
The fiddle holds sacred meaning and value beyond being a musical instrument in the life and customs of Mongolian nomads. The decorations depict the important instinctive desires of humans.
The green color of its resonance box represents land and man. Interweaving the strings with black and white horsehair emphasizes the inseparable entanglement of pain and happiness, as beautiful tunes are played.
However, as Korean traditional music declined in 1970s when the nation was rapidly industrialized and modernized, Mongolian music also suffered a downturn because the government dissuaded people from playing traditional music until 1990.
"But the government is now stepping up its efforts to encourage and support folk musicians, and public awareness about the importance of traditional music is also rising," he said. "I received numerous awards from the government and I was designated as the fifth folk musician master by the government."
Tserendorj was born in 1940 in Mongolia. Since 1960, when he started working as an actor at the Cultural House of Omnogobi Province, he has performed on stage for about 50 years.
He has taught and passed his talent to others, as well as his son. "I have a lot of disciples learning from me. It's important to teach my skill and talent to the next generation," he said. "So I have taught my son and invited many gifted children to my house to teach them how to play the instrument."
He has been keen on not only teaching his disciples but also promoting his native music to the world. Tserendorj has traveled with his son to about 50 cities in over 20 countries including the United States, France, Japan, Russia, China, India, Thailand, Holland, Germany and Korea, introducing the folk art of his country and calling for people of the world to live peacefully.
"I saw the Korean traditional music performances such as the drums and gayageum (12-stringed instrument) and `buchaechum' (Korean traditional group dance). Korean traditional performance is splendid and flamboyant, compared to the Mongolian performance. I think Korean traditional music should also be internationally appreciated," he said.
In a Jeju performance on Sept. 11, he introduced unique traditional music such as the handclap, oral techniques, myth, festive songs, paeans, epic songs, ``orting do'' or long songs, ``bogin do'' or short songs and folk musical instruments.