Erhu music
Oct. 19th, 2004 12:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
petroniaMy CD-RW drive is being temperamental (the DVD drive has already been temperamental for a good while). So burning progresses, but slowly. ^^; In the meantime, am uploading some of the promised erhu music. It's a folk instrument - serves pretty much the same purpose as a fiddle - and thus more immediately accessible than the pipa (which I've always thought of as a "courtly" instrument, like the lute) or the qin (which is utterly tied up with scholarly ideals, to the effect that it's designed to be played solo for an audience of plus or minus one, with the one being a connoisseur).
Lei Qiang - Moon Reflected on Er-Quan Spring
(Why is it not translated "Moon Reflected on Two Springs"? Is it the actual name of a spring? No, I don't know these things, I'm lame. This is a famous song, but then they all are.) Mr. Lei Qiang actually busked in the Montreal metro for a couple of years after he emigrated, until - well, until he didn't need to anymore. I remember him as a staple of my commute to high school, sawing away in Snowdon station under the sign of Orpheus's lyre (the rather poetic icon used by the then-STCUM to designate licensed busker locations).
Here's a livelier one you can dance to:
Lei Qiang - Boys and Flowers ~ Raise the Red Lantern
The album's pretty orchestrated, as you can see, but nowadays they often have mixed Western/Chinese traditional orchestras. It's like Renaissance/Baroque music, you can either perform it with all period instruments or disregard that aspect. Also like Renaissance/Baroque music, many of the instruments simply can't carry a solo over modern orchestration, though the erhu can.
Here's a random guqin (seven-stringed Chinese koto) track I downloaded just now:
Anonymous - Changmenyuan (Sorrow of Changmen Palace)
I have no idea who plays this or when/how it was recorded, but you can hear the grating-silk sound of the player's fretwork. It creates an odd sense of immediacy, like listening to Glenn Gould mutter. XD "Changmenyuan" is a classicaldrabble challenge poetic topic: the sorrow of Empress Cheng after she loses the favour of Han Wudi and retires to Changmen Palace. Yes, I'm getting the names off Google, damn me if I can normally remember which Emperor did what when. XD;;
EDIT -- Anonymous - The Moon Represents My Heart (Guzheng Instrumental)
CLASSICO-POP KITSCH AHAHAHAHA. XD (Not qin, which simply cannot be abused like this. It's zheng, which has a higher more akarui sound, and can be used in orchestras. In general if you hear a koto-like thingy being played as a supporting instrument, it's zheng.)
Lei Qiang - Moon Reflected on Er-Quan Spring
(Why is it not translated "Moon Reflected on Two Springs"? Is it the actual name of a spring? No, I don't know these things, I'm lame. This is a famous song, but then they all are.) Mr. Lei Qiang actually busked in the Montreal metro for a couple of years after he emigrated, until - well, until he didn't need to anymore. I remember him as a staple of my commute to high school, sawing away in Snowdon station under the sign of Orpheus's lyre (the rather poetic icon used by the then-STCUM to designate licensed busker locations).
Here's a livelier one you can dance to:
Lei Qiang - Boys and Flowers ~ Raise the Red Lantern
The album's pretty orchestrated, as you can see, but nowadays they often have mixed Western/Chinese traditional orchestras. It's like Renaissance/Baroque music, you can either perform it with all period instruments or disregard that aspect. Also like Renaissance/Baroque music, many of the instruments simply can't carry a solo over modern orchestration, though the erhu can.
Here's a random guqin (seven-stringed Chinese koto) track I downloaded just now:
Anonymous - Changmenyuan (Sorrow of Changmen Palace)
I have no idea who plays this or when/how it was recorded, but you can hear the grating-silk sound of the player's fretwork. It creates an odd sense of immediacy, like listening to Glenn Gould mutter. XD "Changmenyuan" is a classical
EDIT -- Anonymous - The Moon Represents My Heart (Guzheng Instrumental)
CLASSICO-POP KITSCH AHAHAHAHA. XD (Not qin, which simply cannot be abused like this. It's zheng, which has a higher more akarui sound, and can be used in orchestras. In general if you hear a koto-like thingy being played as a supporting instrument, it's zheng.)
