For the Khanty and Mansi peoples, music is a conversation with the spirits of ancestors, and only the chosen one has the gift of playing a musical instrument. The Northern peoples made such instruments by hand from natural materials: carefully dried wood, veins, horsehair, leaves, grass and bone. Playing music was considered as important an element of a religious rite as beating a shaman’s drum. And of course, people enjoyed playing music day-to-day.

It is believed that the most ancient lamellophone-type Khanty instrument is the tumran, or tomran, a type of mouth harp. It was made from wood or, more often, from the rib, shoulder blade or metatarsals of a deer (suup-tumran). The bone was split and given the shape of a plate slightly tapering at one end. A tongue was cut out in the middle, and to its base, a tendon thread was tied.

The fragility of the material required accuracy and a lot of preparation: just like the bone was boiled in water before making the instrument, the instrument itself was kept in boiling water for several minutes before one could start playing it. Musicians were very careful with it, trying not to apply excessive pressure. As a rule, a performer made their own tumran, creating the instrument to fit their style of playing.

The range of the instrument is not wide, the sound is quiet. However, short dance melodies and traditional tunes can still be performed with the tumran. The Khanty believed that the mesmerizing sound of the tumran could heal the sick and drive away unfriendly spirits.

The tumran is traditionally a female instrument, although there are also male performers. Presently, there are entire ensembles of tumran players. These instruments are nowadays made not only from traditional materials, but also from metal and ordinary thread.

To produce the sound, the tumran is pressed lightly to the lips, and the thread is pulled with the index finger of the right hand. As a result of fluctuations, the tumran begins to “speak”, imitating the pitter-patter of hooves or the voices of animals. The mouth of the musician acts as a resonator. The performer regulates the pitch of the sound with their own breathing.