Last week, our friend and master of the morin khuur, Urtaa, met the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet during his visit to the Tibetan Mongolian Cultural Center in Bloomington, Indiana.

Urtaa, who blew our guests away at our kickoff holiday party, played his horse head fiddle at the cultural center founded by His Holiness’ older brother, the late Tagster Rinpoche.

At the heart of Mongolian music and performance art, the morin khuur’s origin is said to be borne from the people’s love of the horse. With a horse head in place of the scroll and both strings and the bow made from horse hair, the morin khuur’s music unmistakably embodies the culture’s connection with Mongolia’s vast landscape.

Check out the article to read more about his visit.

Thanks to the internetz, you can experience more of Urtaa’s beautiful playing:
Click here for a video of Urtaa performing solo and here for his performance with the Mongolian Morin Khuur Ensemble. Both are amazing. Go Urtaa!