草原英雄小姐妹

[DuanJiaolong]

这段影片应该是1975年前后拍摄，为北京电影制片厂1976年­拍摄的舞台艺术片《百花争艳》

[kakusanable]

真的是非常精彩，只能用出神入化來形容。

[smileykailey1]

honestly, i'm not too impressed by her performance here. she made a few mistakes (such as from 2:15 to 2:18) and it was rushed in a monotone in general, not a lot of variations in emotions and strokes. I play this piece as well, and there are definitely better interpretations of it on youtube than this one.

[imahsuca]

@smileykailey1 Considering this was a live performance and the difficulty of the piece, I would say she was pretty good. I have yet to see or hear someone who could play the zheng like her. Too bad she left us too soon.

[zitherguyify]

Cheng is always the best! Even though those compositions of  fast fingering sequence nowadays should be superbly interpreted by her.

[01996209]

還是張燕的最好

[maoshanghai]

Amazing!

[maoshanghai]

amazing!

[williamlew777]

This is one great example of China's prowess in the field of music !

[BudgiesFTW]

proness.... yea...

[BudgiesFTW]

I'm related to her...i'm told.. O-o i think she was on my mom's side's cousin of my grandmother. cool. lol.

[ZaDiscs]

This performance of Zhang Yan was not from 1970. It was probably recorded between 1977-1979. During that time I was a student of hers. I remember this was one of the concerts before a performance trip she was going abroad organized by the Cultural Ministry of China. The instrument here was made in Ying Kou Musical Instrument Factory, Liao Ning province, in the late 1970s. I bought one too.

[bossa]

謝謝！因為我無法確認、也找不到任何背景資料，只知道是70年代­的，才會這樣標明。感謝您的提供和說明。：）

[manhuntsoap]

I got a feeling he/she don't understand Chinese.

[xueqi04]

bossa you are amazing.. how did u find a video so long ago! haa

[babamangaa]

the original mongolian song was very beautiful, but this one is almost impossible to recognise it, sounds very Chinese. And it gives me confused feeling because it's neither Mongolian nor Chinese sound

[tyhsu82]

This Mongolian song is from the very first movie I've seen. This is the very first song I was taught to sing, 40 years ago. This still is very moving to me. Thank you.

[sQUisHyPAndA321]

oh my gosh.....that was soo.....oh my gosh

[547212436]

thanks for posting. is it a 26 string guzheng or even more strings?

[doracatdodo]

it's a 21-string Guzheng.

[nivsha]

One of my favorite videos here. They don't make gu zhengs like that any more. Look at the size and sound of that instrument? She is the music.. Great to see musicians who are "one" with the music they perform, rather than simply just technical or flowery.

[21FingerGod]

I agree OoO

Were they really that big back then, or was she an exceptionally tiny woman?

Very nice finger work~ I've never heard some of these techniques/patterns before.

Nivsha makes a very valid point- The woman playing is very bonded with the instrument. Nowadays, its rare to sense that connection between player and played, but when you do, you KNOW it.

[seniorwisdom]

She really can play.Does she still play as good?

[doracatdodo]

Sadly she had passed away several years ago.

[doracatdodo]

Sadly she had passed away several years ago.

[rosa3721]

When I was teenager, I can listen her music all day long. She was such a genius. Question for Zhengmusic: You were Zhang Yan's student. How lucky. Do you wear artificial nails (plectra) on left hand? Why or why not? I see most players do in these past ten years. When I started it, nobody taught us to wear artificial nails. It is so hard to change habit.

[zhengmusic]

Yes I consider myself very lucky had guzheng lessons from her. In the old days, I started with 4 picks, it took some training to get the volume and clarity out of the left-hand chords and it worked for me on all the traditional pieces. Later, I had to add 4 more picks on the left fingers because some contempory pieces needs the left hand to play part of the melody and should have the same tone as the part played by the right hand. It took me a long time to adjust from 4 picks to 8 pick, because

[zhengmusic]

the techniques of plucking and pressing by left hand are very different with the picks, and a lot of pieces needed re-training. Now I use anywhere from 4 to 9 picks depends on what suits the piece.

[rosa3721]

Thank you so much, It solves my puzzles. I try so hard to retrain to use 8 picks now. Thank you again.

[zhengmusic]

Y're welcome. BTW, I knew a very talented woman, over 20 years ago, performed with picks on all 10 fingers, I just don't see the need myself for 10 picks yet.

[rosa3721]

That will be nice to fully use all 10 fingers. I won't be able to reach that level at all. Do you have any favorite piece you can upload to share with us? Thank you.

[zhengmusic]

I didn't mean more picks is better or worse, it depends. And of course you can reach it, just keep playing. I don't have much audio/video collection. I have old VCRs somewhere, like when Lin Ling was a kid, I always like her style, I guess there's a way to upload VCRs.

I never upload anything before, I will learn that first.

[zhengmusic]

Zhang Yan was my guzheng teacher. I have played guzheng for almost 40 years, and I am not even close to her level. I still haven't seen any guzheng soloist with such ability of expressing music with the instrument. FYI, she played even better in the eighties. I miss her so much. Thank you so much for the upload.

[rosa3721]

I have played guzheng for about 30 years. I never can reach her level at all ( not even half of it.)I can listen to her music again and again.

ps, for your info, She died of colon cancer at age of 51.

[aaroncurley]

is that true? how sad. I want her soul to play that piece for me. I will not be affraid.

[aaroncurley]

is that true? how sad. I want her soul to play that piece for me. I will not be affraid.

[aaroncurley]

is that true? how sad. I want her soul to play that piece for me. I will not be affraid.

[rosa3721]

She is the number 1 master for guzheng. I really admired her. I met her once after her solo performance. It was my forever experience with such a master.

[Ancientech]

anybody know who she is？

有人知道她是谁吗？看过这么多人弹琴，今天见到的真的是震撼啊！

[utbarry238]

如果沒有說錯，這位應該是張燕古箏名家。

[Ancientech]

今天才看到，bossa的介绍里写了这个是張燕1970演奏版的­。呵呵。

[aaroncurley]

the most beautiful peace of guzheng i've heard. thanks for uploading.

[fobbyrice]

it is a big guzheng. its the old style guzheng? interesting

[xXunimageXx]

WA!!!! i think she is only wearing 2 picks!!!! how does she play withought pics???? it hurts to even shake the strings w/o the picks....

[Piggycuty01]

well...at least she has 2 of them...and you shake the string with the thumb and the index right? But..it's still surprising..

[aaroncurley]

guzheng strings are soft.

[sixtango]

Thx for this wonderful video its rejoice the mind its so beautiful !

[nivsha]

Anyways now to comment on the video itself. They don't make gu zhengs like that anymore, gu zhengs now adays are more about status and price, instead of sound. Notice how huge this instrument looks compared to modern gu zhengs. The sound is just BOOMING! Lost art, gu zheng making is!

[SihalathavongV]

omg, i watch a lot of video, this lady just

beat the hell out of everybody.

[nivsha]

lol thats a silly thing to comment on. "beat the hell out of everybody"? you think there is some sort of competition in music and between musicians? we could care less about competition. music comes from the heart and belongs to everyone, each person has different ways of expressing music just like how you uniquely express yourselves..

[cacalacapoo]

That's true, but the most successful soloists are in some sort of competition, in China there's serious competition especially with rising ability in musicians. There's a serious difference in China's First Grade Musicians than regular teachers that graduate from the conservatory. But too bad, it's not like what you said. It should be though, but in China there's jsut too many talents wanting to be skilled virtuosi.

[umbdude]

WOW this is so beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

[ahgurlplayguzheng]

zhang yan is really talented!!!

even my guzheng teacher admire her so much!

she's very musical..!bossa,if i want the video clip,could u send it to me? =]

[Sakuzo]

Great video! great music, Heroic Littl esister is so beautiful song, it is so hard to find with vocals...

This woman plays with grace... AMAZING!

thank you very much for posting

[mancypeng]

omg....she's a legend in zheng!

Thank you so much for the video!

[Royyuen3]

hello.. bossa.. do u have 范上娥 songs? and 临安遗恨？

[millrdge1]

Strongly recommended. Nice Guzheng performance. Even though I can not feel the little brother and sister (music title), but I do feel that there is wide open space and some people are happily running on that wide short grass land. Thank for posting.

[enforcer533]

wow! i love listening t zhang yan's masterpieces. thanx fer sharing n do post more if possible (;

[BeiBeizheng]

That is incredible!

[nivsha]

that is a very unusual gu zheng instrument, who is the maker i wonder it looks wider and larger in thickness than standard gu zhengs. interesting. thank you for this great post! more!

[coligar]

this is one great video !!! definately the best guzheng vid i've seen on youtube !!!! thanx a lot for posting !!!

[hjade007]

Thank you for posting this beautiful video. Zhang Yan is fabulous and very graceful. I'd love to hear her playing some traditional pieces. Can you upload some more? Thank you.

[bossa]

It's pity that this video is my only one of Zhang Yan.

But if one day I collect her video of traditional pieces, I will shared with you without hesitation. ^-^