Ｍａｓｔｅｒ ｏｆ Ｈｏｒｓｅ－Ｈｅａｄ Ｆｉｄｄｌｅ

The night of August 26， 2005 probably might not have been the greatest day in Qi Baoligao’s life， but it was certainly a memorable day for many people who heard his words and his music at the Golden Hall in Vienna， a gala event in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the anti-fascist victory. That night， the 61-year-old Mongolian from China declared to the European audiences: “Our ancestors came here with horses and broadswords about 760 years ago. Today， the descendents of Genghis khan have come with horse-head fiddles. We are here for peace and we are messengers of peace.” Then the man and the world’s first orchestra of horse-head fiddles threw the audience into the wild ecstasy of the oriental charm created on horse-head fiddles.

Qi Baoligao was born in Inner Mongolia on February 25， 1944， a day which in traditional Chinese lunar calendar marked the time the dragon rears its head. Nobody in the family realized that the second baby boy would one day become a master of horse-head fiddle， but the boy grew up showing his musical talent. At 7， the musical boy received two fiddles from his father. Visiting Mongolian artists became his teachers whenever they stopped in the village on their itineraries across grasslands. At 8 he could play together with visiting artists.

In October， 1958， the Inner Mongolian Experimental Troupe was looking across the grasslands for young musical talents and they spotted Qi Baoligao.The talented 12-year-old， who had just finished his 6-year primary school education， was recruited by the troupe.

The troupe opened a new world to the boy. He studied with a master of horse-head fiddle. He studied composition with a musician working at the troupe. And he studied with a violinist at the troupe. All these helped the boy mature as a musician.

Baoligao grew to be a master of the horse-head fiddle in these years， although he suffered seriously during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). In his biography， he wrote how he survived the chaotic years when the fiddle he played was regarded as a symbol of so called Mongolian independence conspiracy. Shortly after the Cultural Revolution he published his book on horse-head fiddle in both Chinese and Mongolian， which was the world’s first ever theoretical book on the instrument.

One day in 1986 Qi Baoligao was writing a solo for horse-head fiddle at home when his wife commented that he should write something so that he and his disciples could play together. He was inspired. Pretty soon he submitted a suggestion to the authorities concerned for organizing a team of excellent horse-head fiddle players from all over Inner Mongolian troupes. He reasoned that a group of players could help the old instrument survive better and promote its popularity. The suggestion was approved. A few months later a team was organized.

The team made its debut at a gala in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region. The concerted effort by the players created a huge sensation. The audiences were overwhelmed by the grandeur and wild energy of the ethnic fiddles. Someone commented that the team was like a group of wild horses galloping on the prairie. Since then the band is known as the Wild Horses.

A master player and ingenious manufacturer of horse-head fiddles， Qi Baoligao has introduced three major innovations to the traditional instrument. In 1973， he replaced the cattle hide on the fiddle with boa skin， which gave wider scope and depth to the sounds of the fiddle. Ten years later， he replaced the snake skin with a thin wooden plate from phoenix tree， which solved the problem of accuracy as snake skin is more easily affected by moisture. In 1996， white pine was replaced by phoenix tree. Through his innovations， the modernized fiddle now has a better timbre that works well with an orchestra.

Baoligao has also explored the performing skills and transplanted skills used on other instruments into the performance of the fiddle. He has standardized the performing and introducing the new skills to other players.

Today， Qi Baoligao has 6，000 disciples across the world and he has composed eighty percent of the Horse-head fiddle music in the world. He is the president of China Horse-Head Fiddle Players Association and the honorary president of the horse-head players associations in Japan and Mongolia. His international presence as a master of horse-head fiddle is great. He has won three international prizes for his musical artistry and he has paid 53 visits to Japan playing his music.

In 2001， Qi Baoligao and his 1，000 disciples played 10，000 Galloping Horses， a composition he created. The performance overwhelmed the audience at the Hohehot International Art Festival for Young Horse-Head Fiddle Players and created a new Guinness world record. The Mongolian master now is looking forward to having 2008 players stage a show of horse-head fiddles at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.