There is only one Mongolia in the world

While I was having a conversation with the well-known morin khuur player (the horse headed fiddle) Chibulag, I was thinking even though he was 74 years old, he is energetic, humble, talented articulate and he was such a great minded one. He initiated an idea to establish international university of morin khuur. He accomplished it and opened the university 4 years ago when he was 70 years old.

22 journalists from both Outer and Inner Mongolia had a chance to meet the most vagabond person on earth, the well-known morin khuur player Chibulag at his university, while we were making an interview of our brothers next to the border for the 70th years of anniversary of Inner Mongolia. I have heard about him for 30 years but never had a chance to see him before.

While he was welcoming us to his room, he said –I just came back from southern region tour yesterday. Tomorrow I am going to leave. You are lucky to see me just when I am back. We were all happy to see the hardest person to find, therefore we asked him tons of question.

Chibulag at his university

When he was 2 years old, he was chosen as Great Spirit. However, the times changed and he went through many things but he never left his morin khuur, which he has played since he was a child. Furthermore, he still kept his morin khuur with him during the Cultural Revolution even though he was deserted and prisoned. He is hard work to share Mongolian culture with others has paid off and he became master musician of china, well-known morin khuur player, and emeritus of Inner Mongolia and most importantly he have his own university named after him.

He was so proud of him when he was saying that he draw the construction drawing of his university. A big monument of morin khuur in front of his university surrounded by his 4 great teacher’s statue shows that he is respectful of his past generations.

In 1980, he heard morin khuur music by outer Mongolian Jamiyan on record player and he decided to become his student. During this time, Mongolia and China’s relationship was not good and the borders were closed. However, he made it to Mongolia and and became Jamiyan’s student. He was talking of his memory so emotionally. Now Jamiyans statue stands with his morin khuur in front of ChiBulga’s university.

He offered us to help ourselves to drink tea. Because he has no assistant even though he is a director of whole university. He does not event like an assistant. “A person must do what he can do by himself. Nowadays, people are tend to be careless and lazy and they try thing done by others” he judged.

Chibulag has been living in Shiliinkhot city for 58 years. “I looked for a place to settle after finished my music university in Khuhkhot. When I first came here, there were nothing except a monastery and an open field. People were barely seen,” he said.

“There were full of bats in the monastery when I was staying there for a night and was bit my nose by a bat” He shared his memory of first coming in this town with us. Chibulag is living proof of how the open field completely changed in 58 years.

The development was so amazing, he said proudly. Then he said sarcastically “A stage for professional orchestra needs to be built. Our stages are not for orchestra, it is for directors to give speeches.”

Even though he is 74 now, it was admiring to listen to him still talking of his mother and quote her words in his talk. My mother told me that never set apart from my morin khuur, he said. In this world, only unique things are not a lot. Those unique things are our unique Mongolia, unique morin khuur and our parents. Whenever we said inner and outer Mongolians, he always corrected us and said that there was only one Mongolia on earth.

If fame is your goal in life, you will never accomplish that goal. Because, human greed is endless. Man has to work hard for only certain thing, which he wanted to acquire. Other things will come itself, he said. In his international university, there are many students from every part of the world, who are admired his concerts and plays. It is ravishing to see those students from Inner Mongolia, Asia, Europe, America and Australia study foundation of music of the world and most importantly, they learn the unique instrument morin khuur, study Mongolian culture and share their knowledge with the others wherever they go…

Resource: http://arslan.mn/social/news/44649.shtml June 16 2017 Shilinkhot city, Shiliingol province, Inner MongoliaPhoto by director Bayasgalan, “Taliin duu” radio, manager Chinzorig