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Post by yehzhaofeng on Feb 18, 2006 8:16:52 GMT
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Post by calden on Feb 19, 2006 4:29:04 GMT
Hey all: Speaking of pictures... I've just started a new photobucket site. Haven't yet had time to upload a lot of pictures, but I'll be transferring all erhu and music pictures to this place. I have, however, uploaded a nice inauguration picture. Just today I bought a few old Chinese LPs at our local public radio station's annual recording and video sale. What a find! So go take a look at the cover - it's at the website below, then in the "Chinese Music" folder. I think the guy in the middle looks rather like David! photobucket.com/albums/f280/calden3/Carlos |
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Post by davidmdahl on Feb 19, 2006 5:22:45 GMT
That LP cover is very cool! You did luck out indeed, Carlos. Strange that the group is all men. Most Chinese or Vietnamese ensembles that I have played in or seen were mostly women. Not that I'm complaining... <g>
Best wishes,
David
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Post by calden on Feb 19, 2006 17:08:59 GMT
Cool, isn't it? I love that gigantic da ruan - that neck is monstrously long. The music is very good, actually, and features a female vocalist. I actually scored three of these LPs!
Carlos
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Post by maaltan on Feb 20, 2006 4:57:46 GMT
Interesting picture. What are some of those instruments? I recognize a few i think.
all from the left:
front row:
seat one (the 4 string erhu like thing)
seat four (the handheld dark tower thing, any Stephen King fans here?)
back row:
seat three the guy with the cymbol growing out of his head (bad photography) the giant erhu thing. Is that a jianghu?
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Post by davidmdahl on Feb 20, 2006 5:22:34 GMT
I have never heard of a jianghu, so cannot say if there is one in Carlos's photo. The fellow with the cymbol growing out of his head has what looks to me like a dahu. The fellow to his left has a much larger huqin with a cello-like peg box. I wonder what that is? It would be fun to see and hear these instruments close up and personal.
Best wishes,
David
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Post by davidbadagnani on Feb 20, 2006 6:43:32 GMT
The "black tower" looks like a 17-pipe sheng and the 4-string fiddle is probably a "sihu." The others are hard to tell partly because you can't see them well, and partly because not all these big bowed instruments are used or made much any more (and the old ones might have already fallen apart). It's interesting how quickly things change in regard to instruments.
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Post by YouLanFengChune on Feb 20, 2006 13:38:18 GMT
hmm....
17-piped sheng was used in 1970s, plus this formation was not used for 30 years!!!!
This was The IN! orchestra of yesteryear. let me find a pic of a Mordern orchestra!
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Post by sanmenxia on Feb 20, 2006 13:41:46 GMT
That's an interesting LP and picture. Some things I've noticed:
Taiwan/ROC flag on map of China,
sihu, not common in ensembles,
could be around mid 60s to early 70s.
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Post by YouLanFengChune on Feb 20, 2006 13:47:54 GMT
 This is my orchestra's puc on millenium day. 6 year old pic. the soloist was Erhu Supremo Min Hui Fen. I was only a lil' fry, playing 3rd Qudi then, buy O yeah!.... |
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Post by Charlie Huang on Feb 20, 2006 15:16:28 GMT
Carlos, any plans to digitalise the LP so we can hear it?
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Post by calden on Feb 20, 2006 15:31:29 GMT
CCC:
Great idea. I hadn't thought of it because they're LPs and I haven't yet bought a magnetic cartridge-->computer interface to transfer any LPs. But...today's a holiday here (President's Day) so maybe I'll run out to the local Computer Superstore MegaBigBox FNC WalMart City to pick something up. I'll get something up within a week.
As to that Taiwan flag on the map of Mainland...
My wife studied guwen (that's right, think deer scapula and oracle etchings) in Taipei in the early 80's as a graduate student. Like all other waiguoren studying Chinese in college, she got a real smattering of Mainland/Taiwan culture and language. Do you know we had to learn pin yin, bo po mo fo, guo yu lo ma zi, jian ti zi, fan ti zi, read stuff from the 20's, read Mao's speeches - we got it all. But when she arrived in Taipei she was fascinated to see, in classrooms, maps of China with a way oversized Taiwan sitting just off the coast. She was also being told by everybody at that time that China was temporarily occupied by the rebels. She also had to legitimately explain the presence of any jianti zi books in her possession. (Of course, we had also heard wild stories about Taiwan and Hong Kong when we live in Mainland in 86 - a good friend of mine, very educated, told me with all sincerity, that "all Hong Kong citizens want to return to the real China - all of them: despite never having been there himself and only having gotten his information from study meetings at school.)
I'm just reporting what she saw at that time - not stating or advocating any positions here. So it makes perfect sense to me to see that ROC flag on the mailand map, given the information distortion at the time. Really marks this picture in time, doesn't it?
Carlos
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Post by sanmenxia on Feb 20, 2006 16:54:59 GMT
It's going off topic, but that Taiwan on China map is a sneaky piece of Guomindang/KMT propaganda!
I'm not sure what the current situation is, Taiwan did used to claim that it was the legitimate government of China, and they had members of the gov representing all the provinces in China.
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Post by sanmenxia on Feb 20, 2006 17:10:16 GMT
To transfer LPs you just need a lead from the line out socket on your amplifier to the line in socket on your soundcard, mic in and headphone out will also work but you need to adjust the volume so it's not too loud. And you also need some recording software.
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Post by calden on Feb 20, 2006 17:40:13 GMT
sanmenxia:
Yeah, propaganda is right. Perpetrated heavily on all sides as well. As I said, I'm not trying to imply that any one position is right or wrong. From an outsider's perspective it's fascinating to see the heavy massage of facts and data. Geez - look what the US does with info about Iraq. But I digress - and this is not meant to be a political post - so let's get back to that older music, shall we?
I do lots of recording on a computer based system and know that the line from a phono cartridge needs a special impedance matching preamp. I'll try recording direct into my Mac, but I susect that it might sound thin. In any case I'll find a way to get it up and available. As I said, it's really quite good. A very full sound, probably due to the large number of large and bass instruments in the mix. It's GREAT hearing about these unique instruments - thanks all for the observations.
Carlos
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Post by sanmenxia on Feb 20, 2006 18:37:11 GMT
Getting back on topic  : I've got an older amp (it's about 20 yrs old) which works with turntables, I can just connect the line out to my soundcard. I think most current amps need a pre-amp to work with turntables. So I think it depends on what amp you've got. |
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Post by carol on Mar 24, 2006 3:47:15 GMT
I just bought my first Erhu in Suzhou. Surprisingly, after shopping through quite a few famous makers' workshops in Suzhou, I ended up buying a Huqiu brand made by Suzhou First Folk Instrument Factory. It's an Old Rosewood one. I wanted to buy a little leaf purple sandalwood one, but found that the old rosewood sounds better in all the shops I went to. Since I can't play at all, I asked the people in the shops to play it for me. Somehow this one sounds the best, even though I don't like the poem engraving and the grains of the old rosewood aren't that nice. pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/carolchang/album?.dir=2e9e&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photosNow, I'm ready to take lessons! |
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Post by calden on Mar 24, 2006 5:21:17 GMT
Carol:
Nice! Welcome to the two-stringer club!
Carlos
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Post by paulv on Mar 24, 2006 13:26:06 GMT
Carol,
The erhu looks great -- I also have an older wood erhu and the sound is a lot better. Maybe is has to do with the wood being seasoned all those years -- I don't know, I'm not an expert.
After you get some erhu experience, you'll be able to add erhus to your shops inventory!
Best wishes with your pursuit of two-string melodies!
Regards,
paul...
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Post by Charlie Huang on Mar 24, 2006 19:24:00 GMT
Could you produce a better pic of the poem engraving so I can translate and critique upon? I've already spotted a dodgy character in the mix of allegedly 'seal script' characters...
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Post by carol on Mar 24, 2006 21:34:55 GMT
hahah, it's such an ugly piece. Who would put green color engraving on the old rosewood. I can't read half of the characters on it. It looks like its saying "Chinese Culture Instrument....."  The Old Rosewood one in Wang Guoxing's shop looks a lot nicer, there is even an ivory or bone piece inlaid in the top. However, I think that one doesn't sound as nice, and I don't like the dirty smelly environment of his workshop. I bet none of the Erhu there are actully made by himself. |
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Post by YouLanFengChune on Mar 25, 2006 0:25:34 GMT
Pardon me carol, I didn't particularly like the skin of the erhu.
The python is burmese python from Indo-china
The yellow parts look blackish, signs of chemical processing to make the raw skin look shinier when it was still a piece of skin. This tends to harm the skin.
look at the back of the skin from behind, using a torch. You should see clean white surface. If there are blood streaks behind, it means the flesh is left there. In extreme conditions, the skin won't last 3 yrs.
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Post by maaltan on Mar 25, 2006 0:51:28 GMT
Suzhou. that sounds familiar. Is there any writing on the neck of the erhu? between the tuning pegs? the label is obscuring this part. I'm pretty sure I have not posted my pictures in this thread maaltan.freewebpage.org/erhuits a cheap erhu from ebay that I have gotten to near tolerable levels. |
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Post by carol on Mar 25, 2006 4:14:17 GMT
Hahah, that's ok! Chinese makers always come out with fancy way of shortening the making cycle. Plus, I only paid $250 for that, half of the money I was willing to spend for an Erhu. I was so surprised by how cheap the Erhus are in China. The basic ones I saw is only 80 yuan, that's like $10 USD!!! The most expensive one I encountered is 4800 yuan. Incredible!
I've often heard the statement that even properly made, the snake skin won't last over 10 years, which I don't know if it's true or not. Then, I was told that's why the price of Erhu can't go up.
Since I don't know how to judge an erhu from it's making, I had to judge by its sound. This one I got, even though ugly, is the best sounding one in my shopping. Or I should say it has the tone I desire from an erhu. I also got a whole bunch of free strings including some Erquan string sets.
Hi Maaltan:
Suzhou is a town famous for making erhu. It's also the hometown of Abin. The writing on the neck only says "Suzhou First Folk Instrument Factory".
I can't open your picture link!
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Post by YouLanFengChune on Mar 25, 2006 6:26:21 GMT
Shuzhou First Factory --- Haiz, after wang Guo Xing's Dad, Wang Rui Quan died, the whole factory well all the way down in terms of erhu quality. Wang Guo xin's personal auttograhed erhu, complete with his picture as a label is... EEEEWWWWEEEWWW......its machine made.
about life span of erhu. I conisder the skin expendable, every 10-15 years. When properly died and cured before making, and proper mounting, with even pressure at all angle (resulting in zero wolf tone), the skin will not sag, or tear easily. I can even stand on the skin without it tearing.
Price of erhu. The dragon head erhu we sell online, made in Singapore, has been sold for 10K renminbi in Shanghai to a collector. It has some special features like Albino Snake (Golden Python).
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