The long song (Mongolian: ᠤᠷᠲᠠ ᠢᠢᠨᠳᠠᠭᠤᠨ, Urtyn duu) is one of the central elements of the traditional music of Mongolia.
Eastern Mongols typically use a Morin khuur (horse-head fiddle) as accompaniment, sometimes with a type of indigenous flute, called limbe.
[1] These features give the long song profound philosophical, meditational character, often depicting the spacious mountain valleys and a sense of tranquility, believed to represent the Mongolian soul.
The word ‘Aizam’ comes from the non-lexical vocable of ‘Aya, zee khu’ at the beginning of the grand long song, which features a broad melody with a context of philosophical theme, ceremony and quality of ode, honor, respect or solemnity.
[3] 'Mongolian Statehood Long Song' is an album of nine Mongolian aizam ("grande") long songs, including Ertnii saikhan ("Ancient Splendid"), Tumen Ekh ("Myriad's Leader"), Khuur Magnai ("Fiddle Leader"), Durtmal saikhan ("Iridescent Splendid"), Kherlengiin bariya ("Sight of Kherulen River"), Ikh Zambuutiviin naran (The Sun over the Placid World), Asaryn undur ("Heavenly Noble"), Erkhem tur (Statehood of Excellence) and Enkh mendiin bayar ("Celebration of Welfare").
She has observed that the long song today expresses a nostalgia of the past after modernization, and “visual and zoological metaphors connected to the nomadic lifestyle are not only highly significant to urtyn duu’s song texts, categorization, and singing technique but are also closely related to ornamentation, the achievement of vocal timbre, the singers’ understanding of nomadic herding life, and their feelings of longing and nostalgia as expressed through the music.”[9]