Mongolian composer B.Sharav’s empathetic arrangement for piano of the Mongolian nomadic herder’s folk song Unchin Tsagaan Botgo (white orphan camel calf).

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This composition for solo piano has been arranged to express an orphaned calf’s inner world, with its precise, dissonant and minimalist texture echoing salient notions of abandonment, discordance and insecurity.

From a technical perspective, descending broken and suspended chords are used over bare, open or empty fifths, oscillating back and forth over the distance of only a semitone to musically articulate the unsteadiness and uncertainty that would be at play for a young sentient being in such a predicament. Rendered in classical notation, in order to articulate the melody (on paper), a number of time signatures are used (4/4, 5/4 and 3/4).

The tonic notes of the descending broken suspended-4 chords move between F and Bb, the two open string notes of Mongolia’s national instrument the morin khuur, the horse-headed lute traditionally used by Mongolian nomadic herders for soothing rituals in such situations.

[Spoiler] In this short work, there is no final upbeat resolution. Whilst the topic under consideration is neither pleasant nor comforting, its musical articulation is quite beautiful. Master Sharav’s compositional skill in this regard is exemplary.

“What comes to your mind, when you listen to the sound of the high-pitched descending broken chords in this piece?”

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FURTHER READING

Source of musical notation: Sharav Byambasuren (2013). Works for Piano Vol 1. Pieces, Preludes, Sonatinas and Compositions based on Folk Songs, pp47-48.

Artscape 07: During the socialist times provides a foundational diachronic analysis of the material culture and institutional art history of the era, situated within my broader ethnographic research into cultural continuities in Mongolia.

End of transcript.

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© 2013-2026. CP in Mongolia. “Intermedia 10: White orphan camel calf” is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Open access should not be understood as the absence of attribution.Documents and works linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions. Posted: 2 November 2024. Last updated: 20 August 2026.