Nomadic Mongols created variety forms of music instruments, developed performance techniques and a rich repertoire over a long span of historic period. In terms of sound, Mongolian national music instruments fall into the categories of strings, wind and percussion. Bowed and plucked stringed instruments include khuur (fiddle), ekil (two-stringed wooden fiddle), khuuchir (four-stringed instrument), bivleg, tovshuur (two-stringed lute), yatga (zither), yanchir or yochin (dulcimer), shudarga (three-stringed lute) and biba (lute). Wind instruments include limbe (side-blown flute), tsoor (panpipe flute), tsuur (three-holed vertical flute), bishgüür (shawm) and ever büree (horn-trumpet). Brass instruments, which are often used in celebrations and for calling and cheering, include the ikh büree (the long trumpet) and tsordon büree (small trumpet). A variety of percussion instruments, such as khengereg (big drum), tsan (cymbals), bömbör (drum), kharanga (gong), denshig (miniature cymbals), khonkh (bells), damar (double-headed hourglass drum) and duudaram (gong-chimes), were used during wars and hunting as well as during shamanic and Buddhist rituals and practices.

Awang Batil is a story-teller only found in the state of Perlis. Originally he was known with the name ‘Awang Belanga’ because he used the ‘belanga’ or cooking pot as his music accompaniment. As cooking pot is covered with charcoal, it was then replaced with ‘batil’ that is copper water container. Thus the story-teller is called ‘Awang Batil’. The storyteller also plays other instruments such as the violin, serunai, rebana and gendang terinai. In yesteryears, Awang Batil travelled village to village and from house to house, especially houses that held wedding feasts, to tell his stories. Awang Batil inherits lots of folk stories. A story is in series and with continuities that drags to many evenings. Comedy elements are inserted in his story-telling while beating the copper water container with his fingers. The most commonly told stories of the Awang Batil are Raja Dewa Lok, Raja Bersiung, Raja Berdarah Putih, Anak Lang Pak Belang, Jabat Jabit, Abu Nawas, Cerita Angan-Angan and Awang Ada Duit Semua Jadi. At certain Acts Awang Batil wears a mask to relate the character of a ‘Hulubalang’ (Soldier) and the ‘Wak Nujum’ (Fortune Teller). Both are used when suitable characters appear in the stories to attract the audiences’ attention. The mask is made of wood and usually painted red and white. At a house that holds wedding feast Awang Batil performs in a small hut with a height of three to four meters. The audiences sit encircling the hut listening to his stories with laughter.

Aytiz is one unique form of oral expressions of Kazakh people to sing in pairs. According to its contents, aytiz is classified into basic aytiz, jar jar aytiz, aytiz of animals and humans, aytiz for this life and the life after death, riddle aytiz and aytiz for rituals and practices. Among these forms, the aytiz for rituals and practices is well developed and widely spread. Dombor (Kazakh traditional stringed instrument) players with good voices compete with each other in poetic manners. When pairs are singing Aytiz, they reflect good and bad personality of each other, and compliments the good things and criticize the failures in their community (bagh, soum, city and country) in a way of debating to compromise the opposite person.

One kind of art related to the vocal organ is the playing of the bamboo Jew's harp. This instrument is made of bamboo; Jew's harps are also made of metal or bone. We whittle bamboo or bone and make two small holes through the two ends of the whittled bamboo and furnish them with strings. Besides being played to accompany traditional short- songs, the bamboo Jew's harp is used for playing short melo-dies with special dedications, such as imitating mare camel's calls or camel trotting. Traditionally, the bamboo Jew's harp is played by mostly women and young girls, whereas the jaw harp is specifically used as a tool-literally, as a means of transportation-for shamans and their ancestral spirits. The jaw harp is played at the beginning and end of the shamanis- tic ritual of the Darkhad, Tsaatan and Khotgoid ethnic groups in northern Mongolia.