The Pipa is graceful, the Konghou is graceful... Two representative Musical Instruments that blend Chinese and Western on the ancient Silk Road are also attracting attention in international musical instrument exhibitions today.

Recently, at the "2023 China (Shanghai) International Musical Instrument Exhibition" (referred to as the Shanghai International Musical Instrument Exhibition), the "post-80s" pipa maker and the master pipa player started a dialogue; Six modern Konghou you call me to respond, in the hands of young players jump up spiritual notes; Composers, performers, experts in the archaeology of Musical Instruments, etc. There are also a number of imitation Dunhuang cave murals Musical Instruments on display... Leave a wonderful scene.

From pipa to Konghou, people listen to the elegant and correct sounds of Chinese folk music at the Shanghai International Musical Instrument Exhibition.

Musical Instruments in Dunhuang cave murals come alive

Flute, Xiao, sheng, drum, Zheng, Tartar, pipa, Konghou... Shanghai Folk Musical Instrument First Factory Co., LTD. (referred to as Shanghai Folk Music First Factory) after many years of research and development completed the "Leming Dun Huang" series of imitation Dunhuang cave murals Musical Instruments, October 11 to 14 concentrated in the Shanghai International Musical Instrument Exhibition.

Lasting more than half a century, the Shanghai Folk Music Factory, which has built the brand of Chinese national musical instrument "Dunhuang", has specially set up a simulated "Dunhuang Cave" in the 512 square meters of the exhibition area, which displays the main instrumental types of the "Music Dunhuang" series of imitation Dunhuang murals.

Taking pipa as an example, there are pipa with long pear-shaped four strings and four straight necks modeled after Cave 148 of the Mogao Grottoes, small pipa with long pear-shaped five strings and four straight necks modeled after Cave 285 of the Mogao Grottoes, Lance-shaped four strings and four curved necks modeled after Cave 331 of the Mogao Grottoes.

In the "Leming Dun Huang" series, Ruan, an ancient Chinese instrument with the closest historical origin of the "Pipa family", has a five-string flower-shaped curved neck in imitation of Cave 220 of the Mogao Grottoes.

According to reports, "Leming Dun Huang" series imitation Dunhuang cave murals Musical Instruments is in the Dunhuang music and dance research expert Gao Dexiang personally led, from more than 7,000 pieces in the existing Dunhuang cave murals appeared on the musical instrument image, the selection of representative Musical Instruments, through numerous technical research, and finally completed the imitation of this series of Musical Instruments. At present, there are 51 pieces in this series, covering four categories of Musical Instruments: blowing, pulling, playing and playing, which fully reflects the actual situation of the development of Musical Instruments in ancient China described in the murals. Among these imitation instruments, there are 10 wind instruments, 4 string instruments, 32 plucked instruments and 5 percussion instruments.

The person in charge of Shanghai Folk Music Factory said that this imitation project is committed to reproducing the real situation of the "Silk Road" Musical Instruments gathering together, hoping to use "Dunhuang" brand Musical Instruments as the carrier to continue to promote the exchange and integration of Chinese and foreign musical cultures.

Learn from each other the skills on the string and learn from each other

In the four-day musical instrument exhibition, Shanghai Folk Music Factory also launched the cooperation with the British National Gallery of the "integration of the East and West" series of Musical Instruments, of which the decorative theme of Monet's iris work pattern guzheng, the most popular players and fans, the launch of buyers booked. In addition, the picturesque series, which is rich in excellent traditional Chinese cultural elements, and the Dun Dun Philharmonic series have also attracted considerable attention.

To the attention of the folk music peers, the factory also continued the tradition during the exhibition, inviting Wu Yuxia, president of the Chinese National Orchestra Society and a famous pipa player, and Fire Xiaojie, a pipa maker of the "post-80s", to launch a wonderful "technology" and "art" conversation.

In the lecture, Wu Yuxia talked about how the "Wenqu" and "Wuqu" of pipa can achieve the goal of perfection of intonation and timbre by relying on the quality of the instrument itself, the quality of the string and the ingenious method of string tying. In response, Huo Xiaojie analyzes the sound principle of the pipa from the perspective of the pipa craftsman, as well as the importance of the craft itself, and its influence on the interpretation of the "Wenqu" and "Wuqu" of the pipa.

"Being able to 'wen' and 'Wu' may be what many pipa players are pursuing, and my dialogue with Master Fire is to show you the far-reaching impact of musical instrument craft on both 'Wen' and 'Wu', which is a tribute to China's national musical instrument making industry in the 21st century, and it is also a knowledge that focuses on precision, causing everyone to think." Wu Yuxia said.

Wu Yuxia also boarded the famous pulpit under the arrangement of the exhibition organizer to analyze the development history of Musical Instruments with the theme of "Talking about playing Pipa". She also invited Wu Lin, chief of the Central Chinese Orchestra and a famous performer, to perform a piece called "Spring River Flower and Moon Night" to reveal how the pipa and Konghou, the two national instruments "sister flowers", complement each other and support each other with their rhyme and melody. The venue was filled with people holding their breath and enjoying a feast of folk music.

From pipa to Konghou, perspective of the past and present "sound"

At the musical instrument exhibition, in the exhibition area of Shanghai Folk Music Factory, you can see the colorful imitation of Dunhuang murals pipa, and you can also see the high imitation of various Konghou, which appeared in the murals almost simultaneously in history. People noticed that the restored ancient Konghou and modern Konghou each have their own characteristics, and the exhibition in the same room is more spectacular. Experts interpret, from the perspective of pipa and Konghou to observe China's national music, you can find the past and present "sound" of folk music - both inheritance and innovation.

Wu Lin, the famous Konghou player, gave the most authoritative Konghou knowledge interpretation lecture for the Shanghai International Musical Instrument Exhibition, which became one of the main Chinese folk music image display activities of the exhibition. This is an Konghou knowledge open class which combines teaching, dialogues, performances and valuable videos. Hundreds of Konghou enthusiasts, representatives of musical instrument manufacturers, as well as the principals of Konghou promotion groups in major cities across the country were present to listen.

In the course of the lecture, Wu Lin first introduced the differences and similarities between ancient Konghou and modern Konghou, and she also invited Wu Yuxia, President of Shenyang Conservatory of Music, professor He Zhiling of Liaoning Province, Professor of composition Department of China Conservatory of Music, doctoral supervisor Liu Qing, to explain the "Konghou's past and present 'sound'".

Professor He Zhiling, who has been engaged in the archaeology of Konghou for a long time, introduced the approximate geographical distribution of Konghou found in China at present. Up to now, the number of ancient Konghou found in China has reached 24, mainly in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, she said, and these cultural relics also confirm the scene of East-West communication and integration in the field of music along the ancient Silk Road.

Composer Liu Qing for the harp specially created a number of concerto, ensemble, lecture played the "point track" "on the string Ye Erqiang" "Music dance lightly" and other pieces of Liu Qing famous works, she was on the scene on the original intention of personal creation and repertoire details were explained one by one.

The six players of Yuan and Konghou Orchestra also took the stage at the lecture. Under the careful guidance of Wu Lin, they successively demonstrated the use of restored ancient Konghou and modern Konghou for solo and ensemble. A total of 6 works, each piece of the performance is finished, won warm applause.

In the dialogue session of the lecture, Wu Yuxia from the perspective of pipa performance analysis pointed out that in the national instruments, Konghou and pipa have multiple predestination, both of them are in the process of Sino-Western exchange "arrived in China, rooted in China" foreign instruments, the timbour of the two are also complementary, composers, performers prefer to match the two together, present elegant music, right sound.

Careful viewers also found that the number of modern Konghou appeared in the lecture alone was more than 15, including the restoration of the ancient Konghou, hand-turned Konghou, half-pedal Konghou, full-pedal Konghou and so on. Wu Lin said that as the social awareness of Konghou increased, the folk instrument manufacturers such as the Haisen Tianyin Instrument Manufacturing Co., Ltd. in Chengdu, Sichuan province, have long studied the production process in the industry to improve the quality of the instrument, which also makes the Konghou people encouraged.