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Mongolian
Arts and Culture > Music >
Current Situation
 CURRENT
SITUATION
With Mongolia's historic shift to a market
economy and democratic society, the nation's approach to the
arts changed. The culture and art community was not prepared
to face the new trends. This brought a few years of practical
collapse of the arts.
But with the changes, a new approach
to national folk music, especially to the disappearing unique
songs and music of Mongolian tribes, was initiated on the
part of the Government of Mongolia. A project was implemented
jointly with UNESCO to audially and visually document the
oral music heritage of the Mongols and set up a national
fund of recordings, which now resides in the National Archives.
The most successful performance groups at the moment are
the Tumen Ekh Ensemble (a private traditional performance
group), the State Circus, which travels around the world,
and the State Morin Khuur Ensemble, which has also enjoyed
international and national success in recent years.
The flourishing of ballet and classic music
development in the 1970s and 1980s was indeed a unique stage
in the history of the national arts. Some groups that thrived
during socialism are now struggling. The Symphony Orchestra,
for example, only plays concerts by reservation. The Mongolian
State Philharmonics, an organization founded in 1972 which
was the face of Mongolian music abroad, doesn't serve the
same place in the new society which encourages individual
ventures.
There are three fully state-run organizations:
State Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet, the Academic
Theater of National Drama, and State Academic Ensemble of
Folk Dance and Music. These operate regularly but are dependent
on the state budget. World classics are still displayed
on the Mongolian stage regularly, as well as Mongolian productions.
In the summer of 2003, a new opera premiered, "Chinggis
Khaan", by B. Sharav. It teslls the story of Chinggis
Khaan in his youth, and weaves traditional Mongolian elements
with Western classical opera.
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