Abing and other non-conservatory musicians

[jbfiddle]

First of all, since I could find no other place to make with introductions, hello! I'm thrilled to find this (incredibly active) forum! About eight years ago I taught at a multi-cultural music workshop that featured an excellent erhu player, and I've been smitten ever since. However, then I started undergraduate, then graduate, and then marriage, and so on and so forth. I never forgot about the erhu, but I never really had time to dive into an instrument with a built-in language barrier (not so problematic with Irish music). Well now I'm here, I'm eager to learn, and I'm slowly mulling over my erhu acquisition options - though that's another story.

I'm sorry to make my first post a request of sorts, but I figure it will act as a springboard for some good discussion. That said . . .

I'm interested in tracking down the recordings of Abing (all six if possible). I've managed to find a couple on YouTube, but I'm wondering if there are higher definition copies of the original wire recordings out there. HuqinBlog only has a few lower quality versions, and some of those links are down. Are there any commercial or non-commercial sources of this powerful playing out there?

Secondly, what other sources of older-fashion playing (i.e. raw bowed playing with a higher emphasis on gesture and a lesser emphasis on auto-tune level intonation and technique) are there? Was Abing the only rural, non-Party trained musician recorded?

I've got nothing against conservatory-trained musicians in any culture, but that style of playing very rarely does anything for me.

Thanks in advance for any information you can give me!

[sanmenxia]

I suspect those recordings came from the CD included in Jonathan Stock's book about Abing as I don't know of where else they are available in the English speaking West. Perhaps that's how they sound on the original "tapes" made on a portable wire recorder.

There are some clips from the film "Street Angel" (1937) on Youtube that has the erhu in it: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXlGqwTlagk
Zhou Xuan singing Four Season Song and Wondering Songstress

78 record:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=akuE6d1to4M


You'd probably have to look at traditional ensemble playing like the music that accompanies opera.

ROI Productions has this CD of Abing:
roi-productions.com/index.php/-products.html?page=shop.product_details&flypage=eny_fly_furniture.tpl&product_id=5&category_id=6

but I not sure if it includes his own recordings.

[George]

Hi jbfiddle!
Don't know much about A Bing, but I'm interested in what you say about the conservatories. My problem is with their repertoire rather than their performance styles. I certainly haven't come across Auto-Tune intonation among erhu players; the best-known performers all seem to have very subtle microtonal control, much subtler than is normal in the West, though it's true it's far from raw.

As well as Stock's book, there are some good articles available for download on how things came to be as they are: Stock's 'Contemporary recital solos for the Chinese two-stringed fiddle erhu', 'A historical account of the Chinese two-stringed fiddle erhu' and 'An ethnological perpective on musical style, with reference to music for Chinese two-stringed fiddles', Colin Huehn's 'The "early music" erhu', Terence Michael Liu's 'Development of the Chinese two-stringed bowed lute "erhu" following the New Culture Movement (c. 1915-1985)', and Shuo Zhang's 'Erhu as violin: development of China's representative musical instrument, c. 1990-2008'. All can be found by Googling, though you might need to pay for some of them.

Best wishes,
George

[davidmdahl]

Welcome to the forum, jbfiddle. I share your love of erhu and Abing. I had my own mountaintop experience with Abing, or at least with Erquan Yingyue. I do prefer the less overblown erhu tunes, although there really is good music in every genre, even among the modernish conservatory tunes with piano accompaniment.

Beyond the few tunes we have from Abing, some of the best stuff is by Liu Tianhua, the man responsible for the state of the modern erhu. You can find a list of his tunes on his Wikipedia article, and then listen to them on Youtube.

If you are interesting in reading about Abing, the Stock book (Musical creativity in twentieth-century China : Abing, his music, and its changing meanings) is well-worth tracking down. Unfortunately, it is out-of-print and copies can be expensive. Inter-library loan is probably your best bet.

Among the old tunes I have found most enjoyable to play and listen to is the Jiangnan Sizhu - Silk and Bamboo music. This is the "seisiun", Chinese style. You will not encounter dance music as in an Irish session, but it is a tradition of ordinary people getting together to play music.

Best wishes,

David

[jbfiddle]

Thank you everyone for your expedient replies! Its so nice to find a traditional music forum that's alive and kicking!

sanmenxia: I found Stock's book on Amazon, but it was over $200! I'll try for an inter-library loan as davidmdahl suggests. Thanks for the other resources as well - I'll see where they lead me (and I'll try to find out more about the ROI recording as well).

George: I should clarify that when I mention "auto-tune" intonation in the instance of conservatory musicians, I don't mean that they're using that technology but that they typically choose to play notes very safely. The spontaneity and life of the performance comes more from the precision of the technique instead of the playing itself . . . if that makes any sense. Sometimes I think I'm just a fuddy duddy . . .

Anyway, I'll definitely look into the articles and books you mention as well (maybe inter-library loan can be of service here as well), thanks for those!

davidmdahl: Totally agree that there is great music in all genres and styles, I've certainly heard some great contemporary erhu playing in the past few days!

I've looked into Liu Tianhua a bit, and will continue to do so.

"You will not encounter dance music as in an Irish session, but it is a tradition of ordinary people getting together to play music."
As it happens, that tends to be the music that sticks with you. I look forward hearing more of it!

Thanks everyone for your help!

[George]

I know what you mean about conservatory musicians' practised precision. They do, though, often deviate from what a tuning fork would tell you is the correct pitch. That's one aspect of pre-20th century musical tradition that has, thankfully, survived in the conservatories.

[davidmdahl]

The erhu master Sun Huang is certainly a product of the Chinese conservatory system, but she is far from the sanitized safe erhu babe that seems to be common. Sun Huang's technique is monster-sized, and she plays with amazing passion. There some Youtube videos of her playing flashy violin tunes on erhu. Normally I don't care much for that, but she really sells them. Here is Sun Huang on a Liu TianHua tune:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O-SS-7yTNg

Here is Sun Huang playing a modern tune with piano. Even though erhu with piano should be a bad news, this is great stuff. As Duke Ellington has been quoted to say, "If it sounds good, it is good."

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLHUkwha4K8

Here is one of my favorites of Jiangnan Sizhu - Huan Le Ge - Joyful Jiangnan:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjN9mo7pUAY

Best wishes,

David

[George]

I love Sun Huang. Even her 'Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso' is pretty convincing. (Anyone who's heard other erhuists tackle the violin repertoire will understand how impressive that is, though I'm still waiting for someone to record Bach's Chaconne on the yehu.)