Receiving the Song of Love that resonates through the steppe

It is a poignant scene. The female camel has rejected its calf, which will not be able to survive without its mother's milk. Only when a musician is called for, playing the horse-head fiddle and accompanied by the equally soothing voice of a herder, is the beast calmed enough to accept and nurse its offspring.

The importance of the traditional ethnic Mongolian instrument, also known as the morin khuur, goes way beyond its practical use for the nomadic herders. The scene, taken from new movie Song of Love, illustrates the fiddle's cultural significance for the dwellers of the vast, breathtaking steppe. One of the main characters in the film, a master morin khuur player, considers music to be a distinguishing quality of his community.

I was fortunate enough to experience Song of Love at its premiere in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing last weekend. The movie is based on a true story of ethnic Mongolians in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region adopting Han children who lost their families during times of famine.