#2 string chinese instrument series

Sometimes I play pipa and audience will come in to say, ‘Wow sounds like a banjo.’ So sometimes I joke, ‘Oh, this is Chinese banjo,'” Man said. “We always thought that banjo and the pipa very, very close somehow they're related. Wu Man said her pipa and Giddens’ banjo pair perfectly together. Giddens is also the artistic director for the Ojai Festival this year. Both musicians are part of Silkroad Ensemble, an eclectic group of musicians founded by famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Man is also performing with Grammy award-winning musician Rhiannon Giddens, who will play banjo. We have a stage setting, and each musician has to play different instruments,” Man said. It's not only like a string quartet and pipa quintet piece, but also very theatrical. “It’s a wonderful, wonderful piece - we’ll offer the best piece from the composer. It's a work by Tan Dun, which the composer wrote in part to feature Man's pipa playing. In addition to these early pipa tunes, Man will be part of the festival’s main performance, Ghost Opera. Because that time in Tang Dynasty, China basically welcomed everyone, so a lot of culture mixed, including the pipa, came from Central Asia!” Man said. “Somehow, between Central Asia and China and Europe, a combination mixed. She said they're in a totally different tuning and mode than what we now think of as modern Chinese music.

Man will be performing a few of those ancient pipa songs at the Ojai Music Festival this year. “I'm doing a recording project: I want to play those 25 tunes.” “So the original, those 25 pipa tunes, right now they’re in Paris, in a museum,” said Wu Man, who began practicing the pipa as a child. Among that treasure were 25 pieces of music written for a traditional Chinese instrument known as the pipa. In the early 20th century, a Taoist monk discovered a trove of ancient documents, paintings and textiles in one of them.

#2 string chinese instrument series

There’s a series of caves in Dunhuang, a Chinese city on the edge of the Gobi Desert. She's performing at the Ojai Music Festival this weekend, bringing both ancient Chinese folk songs and modern East-West fusion to the performance. Since string music in the past was more frequently performed in the palace, many of the outstanding musical compositions spread from the north.Wu Man, a member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silkroad Ensemble, is a virtuoso of the traditional Chinese string instrument, the pipa. The northern region was where Erhu and Pipa were invented. String music developed greatly in northern China. Jiangnan string music was once known as 'South Jiangsu silk bamboo' and 'Wuyue silk bamboo' due to its regional and customary style. Jiangnan string music was fully formed by the late Qing Dynasty, and flourished during the Republic of China. Folk music and ancient music were adapted to Jiangnan string music by generations of silk and bamboo masters, gradually forming its characteristics. Eventually, the music was officially given the name 'Jiangnan Silk Bamboo'. With unique, and colorful acoustic effects, they represent the culture of Jiangnan. The musical instruments involved are small, light and elegant. The string music of Jiangnan reached Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. Also, the sound of fingers sliding over the strings is valued, but nylon strings sound different. Although most players start out using nylon strings, traditional silk strings have better tone. These strings have a longer durability, and are popular for their louder tone, low cost, and the scarcity of high quality silk strings.

More recently nylon-flatwound steel strings were developed. The strings are soaked in a kind of natural glue and dried.

Silk strings are made by tightly twisting silk threads together. Silk strings were not durable, therefore ordinary families could not afford the expense of replacing them. The most common material was silk, explaining why string music was mostly developed by rich families or the palace. In the past the raw material came from animals that had been specially fed. String material: traditionally, horse tail.In the 21st century performances of Guzheng became popular in many countries. In the 19th century, its performance became popular and was learned by many people, who developed new ways to perform. Zheng have a 2,500 year history, beginning in the Qin dynasty. Accordingly, the zheng is louder and suitable for performing to groups of people. Zheng have 21 strings (in contrast to guqin, which have seven).