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Batzorig Vaanchig
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Batzorig Vaanchig, born in 1977, is a Mongolian musician. He came to attention in 2014 when he put videos of himself on YouTube in which he demonstrates throat singing. One of those videos, in which he sings the anthem Chinggis Khaanii Magtaal on a mountain in Bayankhongor in Mongolia while playing the morin khuur, went viral and has by now tens of millions of views. That song means praise song to Genghis Khan.
Music and breakthrough
The morin khuur is the Mongolian horsehead fiddle, a two-stringed instrument played with a bow. Throat singing is a technique in which the singer sounds two or more notes at once: a low, continuous fundamental with a high, whistling melody above it. In 2014 Batzorig had a small role in the Netflix series Marco Polo, as a throat singer in an army camp. In 2023 he sang in Ulaanbaatar for Richard Quest of CNN, and in 2025 he performed for the streamer iShowSpeed in the Chinggis Khaan National Museum. For the games company Paradox Interactive he wrote and sang Nomad for Crusader Kings III and Manduul Haan for Stellaris. His album Great Chinggis Khaan was released in 2022.
Influence
Batzorig shows how an ancient musical tradition can reach a worldwide audience through the internet. He uses social media and a website of his own to share his work.
Listening
Jargalant Altai · Batzorig Vaanchig, 2022