Sorry to say this page is no longer maintained and has been neglected. Unfortunately, current pages have no English translation except for some brief and fragmentary explanations. You can, however, still look into the newer pages just to brows the photos of my work.

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Electric Mongolian Horsehead Fiddle
or
ELECTRIC MORIN KHUUR

(Tsakhilgaan Morin Khuur)
and
some Pseudo-Tibetan Artilcles
<This is a tentative site. Look forward to the real stuff to come soon!!>

* Elec Morin Khuur Photo
*Attachment for standing play
* Sound
* Who the heXX is this guy?
If you would not like to read the lengthy mumble of me,  
just click one of these links to get to the point  
NEW Pseudo Tibetan Article Pages Up
Sound Samples UP
Newest Mori Khuur with Wooden Top
but TOO many the images have made
those pages INTOLERABLY heavy,
so, think well before you step into 'em.

And other junk stuff, too.
Still more.....
Electric Morin Khuur

Fake Tools

Tsampanella Being Used The photo on the left is of Mongolian Electric Morin Khuur that I made recently. This is the newest one of my FAKE TOOLS, most of which are derived from everyday articles of the traditional Tibetan culture-- Fake Tools that are , for example,

*Automatic prostrater figurine,
*Rechargeable electric tsanpa kneader,
*Automatic rosary beads counter,
*Electric dongmo (butter tea churn),
*Electric mani wheel (prayer wheel)

Rosary Beads Counter and so on. These strange objects may have only a very few ones smile-- ones who are familiar with Tibetan culture-- or infuriated if they are too serious about Tibet. But they don't have to worry; most Tibetans have such flexible minds that they even exercise two most extremely different prayers: one called prostration (hardest) and the other, rotation of mani wheel (most easy-going).

What amazed me in Tibet were not only prostrating pilgrims traveling over thousands of miles for years but also unusual prayer wheels driven by various power sources: wind, streams of brooks, even uprising convectional current from candles of a temple's alter, while ordinary pyrayer wheels are hand-driven. WHO were praying there? Do you think those who invented the automatic devices are lazy? No, they are not.
While eagerly prostrating, they are simply ingenious and practicable enough to invent those automatic praying tools. Compared with them, my stuff needs more voluntary action onto it-- turning switches on, rotating handles, and so on.

Electric Dongmo Prayer wheels, whether hand-driven or not, may not bring the prayers immediate and material benefits. (I am not saying they are useless, though); they surely determined the course of my sculpture.

To me, making sculptures is producing useless objects; making kinetic-interactive sculptures is manufacturing functional but still useless tools, namely toys.

But so-called "educational toys" have useful functions and valuable effects? Do you really believe it? Forget it!

PoketElectric Mani Wheel Anyway, although fake, every one of my Tibetan Tools has distinctive atmosphere of tradditional Tibet, whether its REAL counterpart exists out there or it is simply romanced out of my imagination.

In these recent years, I found musical instruments to be the most sophisticated tools without serviceable objectives. (Nope, you can't ride on 'em or cook with em!) Musical instruments carry on their traditional looks, and are passive, hence mechanically useless, functional and interactive because they make sounds when played-- perfectly matching my ideal toy!

Dramsneng I once saw a Tibetan boy, accompanied with his toddling little brother, carry and play a small banjo-like instrument as they strolled into a local restaurant of Lhasa. He played a half music, half noise sort of song for money at the table where I was eating. Even after more than a decade, the sound and shape of their instrument-- along with their snivel-stained faces-- remain in my heart.

So, my interest had gradually migrated to musical instrument. And finally when I decided to make one, though my last and biggest (and of course, most stupid) project of another Tibetan fake tool "Prostration Tread Mill" was still untouched, I chose the one
as the model-- the little one the Lhasa boy was strumming. (photo left)

Morin Khuur
Oumasan Morun Khuur As for Morin Khuur (horsehead fiddle),
Electric Morin Khuur is of Mongolian musical instruments (kind of...) , and the second in this Mongolian line after the "Oumasan Morin Khuur" , only ten of which were produced and released under authorization of the Throat-Singing Society in Sapporo, Hokkaido. Mr. Haruhiko SAGA, a friend of mine, of the society encouraged me to manufacture a limited number of Morin Khuur. But as usual, they were not quite authentic, though acoustic, because of their heads' design was taken from a cartoon he drew as the mascot of his own society. Meanwhile the electric one is an offspring of the Oumasan. I really needed something more outrageous-looking and furious-sounding. (photo right: Oumasan, the predecessor of Elec Morin Khuur)

Mr. Saga, by the way, runs the society not only to promote throat singing and morin khuur of Mongolia but also to extend his music to the state of crossover of multilateral cultures along with Irish, Japanese, Tuvan traditional folk songs and even pop music of today.

I am no music critic but would like to suggest those who are interested in Mr. Saga's music to visit his web site, Throat-Singing Society. The site has nicely taken photos, some interesting sound files and, wow! English pages, too. Those are REAL stuff, unlike my fake tools.

Electrocuted
Putting aside the throat singing, let's get back to my Elec Morin Khuur. This electric version has no acoustic body, so the vibrations of the strings have to be electrically amplified-- it is something like that of an electric guitar, or more accurately, that of a "silent" violin which uses piezo elements as the pickup. My Elec Morin Khuur has a twin-head pickup placed directly under the lower bridge to ensure the sharp sound collection from the two strings above. It's purely electric.

Details and appearance of Elec Morin Khuur may be seen in the next Spec section and in the Photos of the Japanese section respectively. If you are interested in the musical instrument or want to place an order, please read the Question/Reservation/Order section and e-mail me to communicate before you actually make up your mind.

Though Mr. Saga advised me to put some images of my Electric Morin Khuur on view to public by means of the web, I had hesitated at the beginning for various reasons. Instead, I started sending out to my friends e-mail massages with photos attached to show off what I made. Some of the friends responded with positive inquiries or even confirmed orders. This was really encouraging; I have finally started to edit an html file to be up to the web-- ending up with such a messy home page. But I hope this will do the trick (as long as there's someone reading this stuff, like YOU). Thanks!




to the top of English section
ELECTRIC MORIN KHUUR
Prototype #1

Body Electric Morin Khuur
to Spec
to top of Enblish section
Being Played Head

to top English section
*Photos shown above are of the first preproduction model. Therefore, there have been some modifications made for the ones in the first production lot.

*The head figure is supposed to be a horse-- a funny character which was borrowed from Ms. Pon Tanaka's cartoon series: Sukho's Funny Horse.

*Winding pegs are now located on both side (one on each side of  the head).

*The guy pretending to play the instrument is NOT for sale.

*Down below are photos of the attachement for standing play (option).
This one also is a prototype, so that the most recent counterbalance has been replaced with more neat-looking one for production models.
ATTACHMENT FOR STANDING PLAY
to top of English section
to spec

StandingStrapped HolderSide


Counter Balance Reverse

to top of English section



Sound

These are sound files (WAV, MP3) of my terriblly poor
performance of playing the Elec Morin Khuur. So, beware of nausea-indusing noises; I cannot be responsible for any physical or mental damage upon listening to them.

Samplesound7, Elec Morin Khuur Sound 1 and
Elec Morin Khuur Sound 2 are recorded without effecter. The latter two are especially poor in quality due to my PC evironment prone to noise and of course because of my lack of technique to play.

New Ups
SampleSound1
SampleSound2
SampleSound3
SampleSound4
SampleSound5
Samplesound6
SampleSound7

Old and even poorer
Elec Morin Khuur Sound 1 (372KB)
Elec Morin Khuur Sound 2 (517KB)



Spec
Following are the specs of Electric Morin Khuur:

Dimension
L : 109cm, W : 22cm(at base of body), Fingerboard L : 52cm
Weight
Never weighed. But it's light!
Material
Neck------- stainless tube (hairline finish)
Fingerboard- red sandalwood
Body------- dubious fir-like wood (silkwood, maybe...)
Tail piece--- red sandalwood
String
Nylon fishing lines (#0.8 x120 + #0.8 x90 bundled parallel)
Pickup Twin piezo element pickups placed under lower bridge
Control
Variable resister x2 + condenser x1
Design
Head : After the character from "Sukho's funny horse" by Ms. Takako 'Pon' TANAKA of the Throat-Singing Society
Body : Abstracted horse (original)
Option

(virtually
nothing)

* Headphone amp was added to the prototype,
which turned out to be a bummer in sound.
Production models will come w/o one
-- until a better circuit is figured out.

* Tremolo arm could be a good idea... (just joking)

* Bow could be ordered but more reasonable ones
are available on market and on the web.

*Well, there IS one thing to sell: attachment for standing play.
see photos
to the top of English section

Price and Payment

Price : 86,000 Yen JPN (approximately 750 $ US)

Attachment for standing play: 6,000 Yen JPN (approximately 50 $ US)

Shipping charge and method: Depending on the country to which the merchandise is delivered
Payment : Method will be decided upon agreement between the purchaser and maker



Question/Reservation/Order

Contact me by e-mail

E-Mail

I will be glad if you tell me how you have become acquainted with my Electric Morin Khuur and more with Mongolian horsehead fiddle in general, when you e-mail.
It is my pleasure to answer your questions concerning Electric Morin Khuur and Tibetan Fake Tools.

I am a very slow worker-- so slow that only a few morin khuur can be finished a month, and strongly recommend to inquire the inventory or availability of the product before ordering.
to the top of English section


Who the heXX is this guy?
(You certainly don't wanna see my portrait photo, do ya? Nevertheless, I have put it here, anyway, It's been shown in another section.)

Koji Okamoto name : OKAMOTO, Koji

Japanese (supposed to be....)
Born in Kyoto, Japan
Living in Kyoto, Japan
Occupation: Can't you figure out, even after having read up until here?

Very few and poor exhibition record:
"Pseudo Tibetan Articles" (1998, Sakaimachi Gallery, Kyoto)
personal exhibition of kineto-interactive sculptures

M.F.A .(3D) from UW-Madison, Wisconsin, USA
B.A. (sculpture) from Moorhead State U, Minnesota, USA
Studied painting at Kyoto Seika Jr. College


when calling from outside Japan,
omit 0 of the area code "075"
and add the country code "81" instead.

And get ready for my heavy accent!

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Wanna see another sculpture of mine? Click HERE.
But think twice; this one is REALLY ugly, so those who are easily offended
or eating a meal should avoid jumping to the linked image!!!


OR
ESCAPE