PRESS
July 23, 2025 - Interview by Soundscape Music
The following excerpt is from Soundscape Music’s interview with Han Qiao on July 23, 2025:
Soundscape Music:
In this edition, we focus on your works and explorations for the morin khuur. To begin, let’s talk about your creative journey. Could you introduce some representative works featuring the morin khuur or Mongolian musical elements from different stages of your development? How do you approach these compositions conceptually?
Han Qiao:
I began learning the morin khuur when I was thirteen. Later, I was introduced to composition and gradually started writing music myself. I'm still very much in the process of learning, so I don’t feel I have a truly “mature” work that fully represents me yet.
However, throughout my studies, I’ve continued using the morin khuur and Mongolian music as materials and subjects of exploration. I’ve written several solo and chamber pieces, such as Chuur I, Chuur II, and The Mongolian Perspective on Overtone Singing. Most of these pieces were created in the early stages of my composition training.
My initial intention was to rethink and present the cultural essence of the morin khuur and Mongolian music through a contemporary musical language. My methods range from using the morin khuur directly as a medium to indirectly expressing my understanding and reconstruction of its cultural space through other instruments. These attempts are not limited to sonic imitation but rather seek to explore the spirit, history, and identity embedded within the music.
I’ve always believed that many forms of traditional folk music possess the same intellectual depth and expressive power as what is considered “serious music.” In my work, I hope to continue that lineage.
