White Moon (Tsagaan Sar) by Ensemble melody of
the Steppes PAN 2010CD (1992)
A typical Mongolian CD
with four tracks featuring the khöömii of Ajurzaniin Erdenekhuu, a young singer who studied
the music school in Ulaanbaatar. The late
master limbe (flute) player Doljingiin Enktaivan
leads the ensemble pieces. The liner notes are very good giving the area in
Mongolia that the songs originate and the
first few lines of the text.
1. Gandii Mod 1'56
2 Ianlin Huar T07
3 Sanxiiu Guulum 1'16
4 Tsagaan Sar 1'57
5 Altain Magtaal 4'05
6 Dorvon Tsag 2'48
7 Ontiin Tsagaan Botgo 2’50
8 a‑Uzesgelen Gua b‑Yum Zandan Sjiree 3’19
9 a‑Duuriimaa b‑Sji Udu Huar 1’57
10 a‑Goviin Ondor b‑Gooji
Nanaa 1’41
11 Gunan Xar 0’52
12 Xonin Joroo 0’S2
13 Morini Yavdal 2’05
14 Tooroi Bandi 2'03
15 Urixan Xongor Salxi 2’00
16 Xox Torgon Deel 2’42
17 Ulgeriin Xolboo 3’13
18 Xoior Setgel 1'34
19 Enx Mendiin Baiar 3’16
20 Sanduutai Mod 2’19
21 Toriin Tumen En 4'13
22 Hotgoidiin Unaga 3’12
23 Mandax Nar 1'43 Total time‑55'18
1 Gandii Mod (Mynah tree) Central Mongolia.
A Nostalgic love song.
... I can't find a tree higher than a mountain.
I can't
find a being better than you....
2 Ianlin Huar (lanlin flower) Central
Mongolia.
An Urga city song of starting love, 1921. (At that
time many Chinese people lived in the town.)
... I ask myself why is this bird sitting on the
tree, singing all of the day.
I don't
know this being so much, so why can't it go out of my heart....
3 Sanxiiu Guulum Central Mongolia.
(Sanxiiu is Chinese leather. Gulum is part of
a horse’s saddle.) Song of a son who talks about his father and mother.
...
I always decorate this shawl with a beautiful butterfly.
With every stitch of my needle I infuse
my soul for my beloved, darling mother....
4 Tsagaan
Sar (White moon) Central Mongolia.
Song
from the 19th century about the Mongolian traditional celebration of 'white
moon', which goes back to shaman worship of the sky. The first day of the white
moon (full moon) is celebrated. At sunrise people put a white carpet made of
sheep wool (Esgii) on the ground, sit together on it and pray for the blue sky.
5 Altain
Magtaal (Praise to Altai) Western Mongolia.
Praise
song about the Altai Mountains describing its beautiful nature, wealth, and
treasure. The song is often used as the opening of a very long epic song.
6 Dorvon
Tsag (Four seasons) Central
Mongolia.
Flute
solo of the melody of a song about the way people live and love all four
seasons of the year.
... The seasons of the year are cyclic like a
watch.
It goes on year after year, always the
same, round and round.
When the beautiful summertime comes,
this white world in the distance becomes 12 and green....
7 Öntjin
Tsagaan Botgo (White orphan baby camel) Southern Mongolia.
Flute
solo of the melody of a song about a little camel who longs for his mother.
... How the little camel suffers, how the
camel cries.
The baby camel is hungry. He wants to eat,
but has no mother.
The little camel is going alone and cries
along the valley, where the rain makes streaming rivers....
8 a
Üzesgelen Gua (Beautiful beauty) Central Mongolia.
Instrumental
song of love, in which the beauty of nature is compared to the beauty of a
woman.
b Yum Zandan Sjiree (On a sandal
wood table) Central Mongolia.
Instrumental
song of celebration between friends.
... Tbe sandal wood table from India has a
special smell. It smells good.
Behind this table only good friends sit
and celebrate.
They admire this table, and also what is
on this table, the food and drink.
The people around the table are also
beautiful....
9 a
Duuriimaa Central Mongolia)
Sjanz solo of a song about a man who loves the beautiful woman, Duuriimaa. She doesn't know he loves her. Duuriimaa is a symbol of all the beautiful women of Mongolia.
b Sji Udu Huar (Woman like a flower)
Southern Mongolia.
(The title is in Chinese words.) Sjanz solo of a song in which a beautiful woman is compared with a flower.
... Nature is beautiful, and so are women.
This woman has a beautiful dress and with her natural make‑up she
is like a flower....
10 a Goviin Öndor (Highland of the
Gobi) Southern Mongolia.
Overtone‑singing song describing the
beautiful landscape of the Gobi. People who live in the Gobi admire the
landscape, the animals, the birds, and they sing about the beautiful nature.
... On my Bactrian camel with two upright humps
I will pass the wide steppes of Gobi.
I will meet my darling being and we speak words of the heart....
b Gooji
Nanaa Central Mongolia.
Overtone‑singing
song of love. Gooji Nanaa was a talented man, a well known overtone‑singer
in the beginning of the century. He improvised songs on the spot about what he
heard and saw. He died in 1921 and people made a song about his life.
... A cygnet is singing in the reed. A lucky being, named Gooji Nanaa, is singing happily in his place of birth....