Zheng 箏 ichigenkin 一弦琴 jazz 爵士 - Mei Han Art Ensemble 韓梅爵士樂隊

[dbadagna]

Do a Google search on 鸭母哒仔 and the first search result is a company in Taiwan making the Taiwanese equivalent of this instrument. I wonder if this instrument came to Taiwan from Guangdong or Fujian. Apparently it's used in Taiwan opera. The name means "female duck quacker." Such an undignified name! ;-)

[ZaDiscs]

Obviously a houguan descendant.

[dbadagna]

Search for "houguan" on Flickr -- I've added a link to your video.

[ZaDiscs]

The term "houguan" is Cantonese. The terms "guanzi" and "bili" are more common, and are used interchangeably for both the bamboo folk instrument and the thicker rosewood court, now Buddhist ensemble, instrument. These both are quite old and can be traced to Northern Persia, related to the duduk and other tubular double reeds. Asian relatives of this instrument also made of bamboo are the Korean "piri" and the Japanese "hichiriki". You can see the relationship between these terms and "bili"

[dbadagna]

I've never heard the Cantonese bamboo guan referred to as a "guanzi" (which I think of as the northern hardwood version) but I suppose a few hundred years ago all guans were made of bamboo (like the piri still is today). Have you ever looked at the Chinese characters for "bili"? It means "bamboo bugle." Some scholar probably concocted them ages ago to fit this borrowed term. The same for "pipa" which may come from Persian "barbat" and "haidi" ("sea flute") which I think may come from "ghaita."

[ZaDiscs]

You might want to check that, as the Chinese character for bili actually has no meaning as "bili" is a foreign term. The character for guanzi could be interpreted as such, often people use the same character for the two instruments.

[dbadagna]

Search Wiktionary for 篳 and 篥 (the characters making up "bili" and "hichiriki") and you'll see the individual definitions: "wicker, bamboo" and "bugle." They're very unfamiliar characters that I don't think are used for many, if any words other than this instrument, so that's why I said they seem to have been concocted just for this instrument's name, like some other Chinese instruments adopted from elsewhere, whose names similarly mean nothing in Chinese.

[ZaDiscs]

You are correct in that the Chinese characters for foreign terms such as "pipa" and bili" are onomatopoeic, and are therefore quite difficult if not impossible to translate. I often run into translations of instrument terms in English words like "bugle". Most of these are quite humorous in their inaccuracy. Keep in mind that "qin" was translated as a "lute" for years, when it is actually a zither.

[dbadagna]

Yes, the Van Gulik book calls it a lute throughout.

[ZaDiscs]

The houguan with the bell is quite modern in comparison with the rest of this instrumental family and is usually only found in Cantonese music.

[dbadagna]

The Chinese websites about the instrument state that 100 years ago the small size was a street peddler's instrument, and that the medium and large sizes, with bell, were developed in the mid-20th century.

[ZaDiscs]

The Zhongguo Shaoshu Minzu Yueqi Zhi lists the small tubular bamboo instrument as "bili". An instrument that originally came from Xinjiang region in the 13th C. and is played by Naxi in Yunnan. It is not considered a traditional Cantonese instrument.

The Zhongguo Yueqi Tujian lists the "houguan" as only the instrument with the bell, invented in the early 20th C. for Cantonese Opera.

[dbadagna]

I'm going to hunt up those references. I've never heard Naxi guan music. Regarding what is "traditional" in Cantonese music, that's a tough one, because the music keeps changing. And supposely a lot of northern Chinese music (including instruments and opera genres) was imported to Guangdong about 300-400 years ago. Certainly the guan is used in opera and Cantonese instrumental ensembles, if only for less than 100 years.

[dbadagna]

Nice to talk about this esoteric Chinese oboe stuff; most people aren't interested, preferring to talk about the guzheng, erhu, or pipa. ;-)

[dbadagna]

Gotta give you credit for playing free jazz on the houguan--I've never heard anybody else do that ;-) Do you ever use the larger sizes with brass bell? Apparently there's also a Taiwanese version which is very similar.

[ZaDiscs]

Thanks, yes to the use of the brass bell version, used it when performing with Sainkho Namtchylak and Barry guy.

[dbadagna]

Aha, I was at that concert in Victoriaville!