the Lament - GuQin played by Guan PingHu

[dreacul]

Chinaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa­aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa­aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa­aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I love you Chinaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa­aaaaaaaaa

[Tonailsprinkles]

this song takes me to a totally different place. I don't know how to describe it, but I felt like I found something that was lost.

[KangSangCheung]

I want to learn this piece!

[TheSimplyDivineBlack]

If you look closely at the picture, it looks like its raining~ <3

[eastwest3002]

Such a soothing piece of music. The more I listen to, I more I appreciate it!

[Mesqualito]

I had extremly intense imaginationary mind-trip with this song just now ;)

[jonasconnects]

This is silk strings for sure. Such a difference from metal/nylon strings!

[Ca1237]

Listening to the gentle strumming and sweeping of the qin strings...

Such a soothing and elegant sound.

[runupahill1]

Thank you, lionriver.

[Chichiri520]

Wow! I never took the time to appreciate the beauty of this song now that I stopped for once and listened to it. It's so emotional. You can even the Qin player's expression..almost as if he/she was right there beside you! eery but wonderful at the same time.

[suffert]

where is that painting in the video from?

[Schattensprinter]

wenn ich manches nicht bewerte, dann liegt es daran, dass ich mich nicht traue, etwas zu bewerten.

Schattensprinter

[vladimir2145]

Wo ai guqin! :)

[vtv201]

Ah wonderful, but concerning the picture (if it is raining) then the two women pictured would not be considered sagelike :O this is because the true joy would be to put away the guqin and listen to the music the rain has provided :)

[Benjefwil]

@vtv201 Wow that was the gayest comment ever. Besides what could be more amazing than playing the guqin in the rain.

[GraemeG56]

@Benjefwil youre the gayest person ever

[dy0101]

@GraemeG56 No you are gay. He is right that was the gayest comment ever.

[Benjefwil]

@GraemeG56 Lol if I was gay I would have agreed with the comment. But, apparently you are the gay one because you liked that comment and apparently don't like Chinese girls in the rain.

[guzhanglong]

好对耽书淫古画，

迷琴恋瑟爱春山。

[ticrak1]

So relaxing

[anouknaki]

I love this music, it feels so ancient and ultra modern at once.

[djetra]

How can a poem be set to music? Is this the artists' reinterpretation of the poem or is the song actually 2,500 years old?

Please forgive my ignorance.

[U38066]

Search for "Guqin Tablature" in Wikipedia in English...

You can also searh by "Guan Pinghu"...

[tjentung]

I would say that it is the artists; interpretation of the poem. The originality of a song hardly survives 2500 yrs if it is passed down from teacher to student. Anyway, it is no harm to alter because GuQin playing is all abt playing what your spirit tells you to play. There is no set form of playing GuQin like the piano or other instruments.

[largolegato]

正是因为管平湖先生，我才真正爱上古琴音乐

[alekx58]

really like to listen to the gu qin music!

but its pity for the guqin to be played in the hard rain like on your pretty picture...

[kashmonkey]

that is deep...

[splendorpower]

Ok!

[eksasol]

This song, the poem The Lament, was composed by Qu Yuan almost two and half milenia ago due to his despair of the political turmoil of his state. I never notice how these music have such influences on mordern day until I started listening to them. Especially how Roger Water taking their poetry concept and even copied some lines for his own music. I thought Maudlin of the Well/Kayo Dot were original in their astral advantgarde concept, and then I heard songs like "A Woodcutter's Song".

[cacalacapoo]

Yeah, it's amazing to think that concepts in western history have been shown many times in China way before its occurrence in the west. It's sad that history books in the west or that are presented in our enducation are mostly eurocentric and lacks substance about other cultural histories.

[mrgabest]

Every culture has something to contribute; it's just a matter of teaching people to accept those contributions on their own merits. Western Europe brought China the scientific method and technological innovations that it had never imagined possible, and China offered ancient philosophy and arts in exchange. Seems like a fair trade to me, it just took both sides awhile to appreciate what they were getting.

[cacalacapoo]

Yes, and with western domination, most of those ideas are still covered in dust, only chinese scholars who actively engage in the study of the history have any idea of the technological innovations at that time. Before 1500, China was the leader in terms of tech, after that, political turmoil made it so that tech was to be led by Europe.

[mrgabest]

An argument could probably be made that the Moors were really the most scientifically advanced people of their day. Had their wars with Europe gone better, that aspect of their culture wouldn't have been forgotten.

[vladimir2145]

But China was much more technologically advanced than Europe was for most of its history, until China closed its borders during the late dynastic period.

[mrgabest]

It's hard to compare, really. Both regions had periods where technological innovation seemed to halt completely, resulting in a bizarre game of leap-frog. Certainly all of the signpost events, like the widespread use of iron, were nearly simultaneous in both areas.

[vladimir2145]

Yes, that is true. That is what I was referring to when I wrote about China closing its borders. Because of that mistake, the cultural innovations of Europe were not able to reach the closed off China. After the opening of the borders during the next dynasty, China had to play catch-up and eventually became more advanced yet again, but for quite some period of time, Europe was on the same level, if not more advanced, than China, as you stated in your last post.

[4blossoms]

@mrgabest I think China brought a lot of important innovations to the West by way of the Silk Road long before the West developed science. Things like gun powder, the compass, and modern paper. Guns, cannons, maritime navigation, exploration, conquest, European history, literature, mathematics would all have been at a considerable loss without these earlier innovations from China!

[MrOhaiMark]

@4blossoms

It's debatable, you can't say the east brought anything into the west before they developed "science". That's not true it, the west was MILES ahead of Asia in plenty of ways...

[gooeyfruitbat69]

In 1977, a recording - "Liu Shui" was included in the Voyager Golden Record, a gold-plated LP recording containing music from around the world, which was sent into outer space by NASA on the Voyager 1 & Voyager 2 spacecrafts. ...longest excerpt included (lasting seven minutes and 37 seconds) & the only excerpt of Chinese music.

[Baba5393]

thats pretty amazing.

[gooeyfruitbat69]

Guan Pinghu (1897-1967), Chinese player of the guqin - Chinese 7-string bridgeless zither.

Guan's numerous recordings--notable for their austerity, subtlety, & bold presentation--have exert wide & continuing influence.