The Horsehead Fiddle

We've been carrying a horsehead fiddle with us, with the expectation that one of the people on our journey will play it. We have arrived at his ger.

He is a famous blacksmith in the area. His was the one and only ger I saw that was equipped with a bellows by the stove.

We brought in the fiddle, then had to wait for it to come up to ambient temperature. The blacksmith then went out in search of tree sap, which he would later put on the strings.

(Is this normal? I have never played a stringed instrument. But I have tried to clean sap off of my car upon occasion.) The sap - according to Badmaa - is used so that the strings make a good sound.

The blacksmith played a marvellous song on the horsehead fiddle. It was a combination of bow use and plucking, and deeply rhythmic. I could almost hear horses trotting through the melody...

While he played, more and more people gathered in the ger to see what was going on. At one point I counted 14 people huddled inside. And the ger was smaller than most. This would be one recording where removing extraneous sounds would be critical...