Mongolia to hold major folk art festival to promote tourism

ULAN BATOR, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia will hold a major folk Art festival in its southern province of Dundgovi on Aug. 9-11 to attract more tourists by promoting traditional folk Art, a local official said on Sunday.

"Under the auspices of the Mongolian Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Sports, our province is working to organize traditional folk Art festival called 'The Sun Over the Placid World' at an open-air theater in Ikh Gazriin Chuluu, which is a granite rock mountain range in Gurvansaikhan district of the province," said Tsagaan-Uvgun Bumangerel, head of the province's depArtment of education, culture and Art.

The festival aims to promote Mongolian folk Art internationally and boost the country's tourism sector, Bumangerel said.

A total of 3,000 traditional long song singers and players of the morin khuur also known as the horse-headed-fiddle, a traditional Mongolian bowed stringed instrument, from Dundgovi are expected to attend the festival, according to the official.

Dundgovi is located in the south of the Asian country about 240 km from the capital city of Ulan Bator. The province is nicknamed "the land of songs and music" because many famous Mongolian singers come from the province.