Traditional Mongolian music features long songs accompanied by the morin khuur horse-head fiddle, with each syllable drawn out to carry over the steppes. Throat singing, or khoomii, produces multiple notes from deep in the throat to describe nature and folk songs. Mongolian fine art has evolved from Bronze Age cave paintings depicting nomadic life to modern styles influenced by both Mongolian and Western traditions, with notable historical artists like B. Sharav capturing everyday life and the transition to socialism after 1921.

1. Mongolian music and fine art
Music. A key element of traditional Mongolian music is the Long Song form. Each
syllable of each word is drawn out or extended for a long duration. One four-minute song, for
example, might only have 10 words, but each syllable of each word is prolonged, with vibrato
on the vowels. The long vibrating notes gives these songs a deeply meditative quality that
carries over the grand distances of the steppes. Mongolian songs express the singer’s deep
feelings for their horses, natural beauty, love of family or the nomadic life.
Long songs may be accompanied by the other key element of Mongolian traditional
music, the Morin khuur or horse-head fiddle. These two-string fiddles have elaborately
carved horses’ heads crowning the fiddle. The Morin khuur can sound the deep tones of the
cello or it can emulate the neighing of a Mongolian horse.
Khoomii – throat singing, is a type of singing found nowhere else in the world. The
khoomii is the art when a skillful singer who produces several notes at once from deep in the
throat. The hoomii is widely used for describing sounds of nature, singing praises and folk
songs.
Fine Art. Historical and cultural monuments on and under the ground of central Asia
are mirrors of the wisdom and rich cultural heritage of our ancestors. Rock and cave pictures
found in Dundgobi, Uvurkhangai and Khovd aimags indicated that this art was flourishing in
Mongolia at the late Bronze Age and the early Iron Age. The paintings of the 13th and 14th
centuries reflect mainly the nomadic lifestyle, wars and nature, though portraiture began to
flourish. From the 15th century, religion (especially yellow Lamaism) began to dominate
painting.
Mongolian paintings began developing in the two major directions of iconography
and genre painting, depicting simple life and ordinary people. B.Sharav was a painter whose
art linked the old and the new. The way of life is most famously depicted in his One Day in
Mongolia. The new social system which emerged with the 1921 Revolution produced art
dedicated to promoting that system. Mongolian artists became acquainted with European
painting and began using both Mongolian and western styles.
In the 1950s, many genres of fine art, carpeting and porcelain were introduced, when
a number of artists and architects became noted for their thematic work. They included
painter O.Tsevegjav for his animals, U.Yadamsuren for workers, N.Chultem and G.Odon for
history and everyday life, L.Gavaa for nature, and architect S.Choimbol for monuments. In
the 1960s there was a great artistic change, as artists began to reject linear perspective and
colour harmony and began to work with more modern styles, themes and content. Such
notable art works include U.Yadamsuren's The Old Horse-fiddler, A.Sengetsokhio's The
Mongol Lady, B.Avarzed's Uurgach, and Ts.Minjuur's Caravan Guide.
At present, new and different artistic trends are emerging, and creative young painters
like as S.Sarantsatsralt, Do.Bold, J.Munkhtsetseg and D.Tengisbold are developing modern
Mongolian art.