Urna Chahar-Tugchi (born 1969^[1]), known mononymously as Urna (stylized in all caps), is a Mongol singer and yangqin player from Inner Mongolia, China.^[2] She currently lives in Bavaria, Germany.

Biography

Urna was born into a family of herders in the grasslands of the Ordos Plateau in Inner Mongolia,^[3] a society where song was a ubiquitous part of everyday life.^[4] Her first musical training was learning to play the yangqin – the Chinese dulcimer – from a Shanghai Conservatory of Music professor who was visiting Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia.^[3] Then, at the age of 18, she moved to study at the Shanghai Conservatory, a challenging step since she had no knowledge of the Chinese language.^[3]

She now performs around the world, and is based in Bavaria, Germany. In 2003, she was awarded the RUTH prize in Germany for Best International Artist.^[3]

Discography and filmography

Urna has produced seven^[5] albums of music on CD:^[6]

• 1995 – Tal Nutag (13 tracks) – with Robert Zollitsch (zither) and Oliver Kälberer (guitar, mandolin) – recorded in a Bavarian church, Mongolian songs and improvisations
• 1997 – Crossing
• 1999 – Hödööd (11 tracks) – with Robert Zollitsch (zither, vocal, percussion), Wu Wei playing the Sheng and Sebastian Hilken playing the cello and the frame drum – Mongolian songs and original compositions
• 2001 – Jamar (10 tracks) – with Robert Zollitsch playing the zither and throat-singing, Morin khuur-virtuoso Burintegus and Ramesh Shotham (Indian percussion) – lyrics in Chinese and Mongolian
• 2002 – Hodood
• 2004 – Amilal (13 tracks) – with Djamchid and Keyvan Chemirani, Zarb percussionists from Iran and Zoltan Lantos (Violin) – a personal record of her travels and her world view^[3]
• 2012 – Portrait d'URNA: Tenggeriin Shivuu
• 2018 – Ser (12 tracks) – with Kroke^[7]

She is also featured in the film Two Horses of Genghis Khan.^[8]

Reception

Andrea Murray's description in The Herald-Times of one of her performances gives an intriguing insight into the extraordinary characteristics of her singing:^[9]

She sang like a child, like a banshee, like a warrior, like a lost lamb, like a horse trader .... when the last note was gone, the silent audience stood up and cheered.