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Yehu
Feb 14, 2006 2:57:39 GMT
Post by lumry on Feb 14, 2006 2:57:39 GMT
hey i was wondering but what does the yehu sound like?...does any here play it or have played it before?
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Yehu
Feb 14, 2006 4:37:36 GMT
Post by davidbadagnani on Feb 14, 2006 4:37:36 GMT
I play this. It's got a coconut body and a wooden face, often with a scallop shell serving as bridge. It comes in different sizes and tunings and is used a lot in Cantonese, Hakka, and Chaozhou music; probably also in Taiwan and some other places. There is a similar instrument in Vietnam (dan gao, I think) and in Thailand (saw ou). It has a mellow sound that really cuts through an ensemble, but not in the piercing way the gaohu or jinghu does; it's a really full, round sound. Too bad it's not used more as a solo instrument. But this Canadian guy Jeremy Moyer plays it--maybe one of the few non-Chinese to use it: cdbaby.com/cd/jeremymoyerwww.jeremymoyer.com/
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Yehu
Feb 14, 2006 4:41:18 GMT
Post by YouLanFengChune on Feb 14, 2006 4:41:18 GMT
hm....
thats generically called a Banhu. Made popular by Liu Ming Yuan. On his 3rd anniversary of death, i performed 6 of his pieces as dizi accompaniment with his son, Liu xiang.
sadly, liu ming yuan's skills didn't live thru his son. His skills are considered impeccable even today.
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Yehu
Feb 14, 2006 5:06:51 GMT
Post by davidmdahl on Feb 14, 2006 5:06:51 GMT
I have a recording the Vietnamese master Prof. Nguyen Vinh Bao sent me on dan gao with a beautiful throaty sound. A banhu that I tried out in San Francisco last year had a very loud, brash, and even harsh sound. The construction of the Chinese and Vietnamese coconut body fiddles appears to be very similar, so I would have expected the sounds to be similar. What should a good banhu sound like?
Best wishes,
David
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Yehu
Feb 14, 2006 5:52:31 GMT
Post by davidmdahl on Feb 14, 2006 5:52:31 GMT
hm.... thats generically called a Banhu. According to Wikipedia articles, the banhu is from Northern China and the yehu is used in several southern provinces and Taiwan. There is a comment that the yehu is tuned lower than an erhu. I wonder if the banhu is tuned high in comparison. That would explain why the Vietnamese dan gao does not sound anything like the banhu I test-drove. The yehu must be a lot more like its Vietnamese cousin just across the border. Best wishes, David
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Yehu
Feb 14, 2006 5:57:01 GMT
Post by davidbadagnani on Feb 14, 2006 5:57:01 GMT
The instrument I described is a yehu (called "pahi" in Chaozhou), but the banhu is similar in construction. Yehu is usually used in the south (especially the coastal provinces, I think) and in Taiwan, and the banhu is usually a northern Chinese instrument. The banhu probably didn't originally have a coconut resonator because the coconut doesn't grow up there. There's a famous revolutionary solo for banhu called "Days of Emancipation" by Zhu Jian'er that's on the famous "Phases of the Moon" Chinese music compilation. "Throaty" is a good way to describe yehu but banhu is usually really high pitched and piercing/trebly, more like a jinghu in sound.
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Yehu
Feb 14, 2006 6:00:54 GMT
Post by davidbadagnani on Feb 14, 2006 6:00:54 GMT
The Vietnamese dan gao (and probably also the Thai saw ou, which has cow skin) must be closely related to the yehu, but they all sound different, have different sizes, and are constructed and tuned differently. There's also a Cambodian one that sounds great too. I wrote some of that Wikipedia entry and someone seems to have just added that the yehu is tuned lower than the erhu. That isn't accurate. In Cantonese music, yes, the instrument can be very large and tuned low, like a zhonghu, but in Chaozhou music the yehu (called pahi) is small, and tuned pretty high.
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Yehu
Feb 14, 2006 6:03:26 GMT
Post by davidmdahl on Feb 14, 2006 6:03:26 GMT
I play this. It's got a coconut body and a wooden face, often with a scallop shell serving as bridge. It comes in different sizes and tunings and is used a lot in Cantonese, Hakka, and Chaozhou music; probably also in Taiwan and some other places. There is a similar instrument in Vietnam (dan gao, I think) and in Thailand (saw ou). It has a mellow sound that really cuts through an ensemble, but not in the piercing way the gaohu or jinghu does; it's a really full, round sound. Too bad it's not used more as a solo instrument. Well, I could use an alternative to the dan bau when I want to play something different in a Vietnamese ensemble. The erhu is a possibility, but something truly Vietnamese would be better. I think the higher-pitched dan nhi will wear out my audiences, while the more mellow dan gao coconut fiddle might be just the trick. Hmm. Something to keep in mind. Best wishes, David
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Yehu
Feb 14, 2006 6:10:25 GMT
Post by davidbadagnani on Feb 14, 2006 6:10:25 GMT
That is a great idea. I should do the same. I have been trying to learn dan nhi too but it's like playing with fire. :-o The fact that the strings are fishing line makes it hard to get a good tone all the time because you have to be really cognizant of bow speed and pressure to avoid squeaks. BTW there's a very good dan nhi player not far from you, Phong Nguyen's uncle, based in Seattle. I guess he performs quite a bit there with some kind of opera troupe.
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Yehu
Feb 14, 2006 6:17:25 GMT
Post by davidbadagnani on Feb 14, 2006 6:17:25 GMT
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Yehu
Feb 14, 2006 6:21:42 GMT
Post by davidmdahl on Feb 14, 2006 6:21:42 GMT
That's interesting about the fishing line. I use it on my dan nguyet, but my three dan nhi have metal strings. I bought the three from a musician from Hanoi who was in Portland during Sept. 2004 for a drama production. I assumed this was typical. I have replaced the original metal (violin?) strings with good erhu strings and the sound is much better and more reliable.
Best wishes,
David
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Yehu
Feb 14, 2006 6:56:56 GMT
Post by davidbadagnani on Feb 14, 2006 6:56:56 GMT
I think Phong's uncle was using fishing line (it surprised me to see it, but it makes it easy to retune radically to fit singers or other instruments, without breaking strings, and the sound was pretty good). Phong has fishing line on his dan nhi too. I think Hanoi-based music (due to Conservatory influence) has been strongly influenced by Chinese music, for example the northern dan nhi used in "modernized" Vietnamese traditional orchestra music has a wider body, closer in sound to the erhu.
Jane Lanctot, the tro u (coconut fiddle) player of the Cambodian group Light from Heaven, uses some kind of white plastic cord for her instrument's strings and they sound great! I can't remember exactly what material they are.
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Yehu
Feb 14, 2006 7:54:30 GMT
Post by davidmdahl on Feb 14, 2006 7:54:30 GMT
My largest nhi is very much like an erhu, only the decorations are Vietnamese and the resonator is a tad smaller than my erhu. I wonder if the dan co in the south is more typically strung with fishing line and the dan nhi of the north is strung with something more like erhu strings.
It is an interesting point about the line being more forgiving for different tunings. I remember the strange (to me) responses when I started asking how the nhi should be tuned. "Whatever you like" <g> That is a challenging concept for this Western musician.
That Cambodian group is very cool. I enjoyed listening to the samples. Their website even has the score of a tune along with the performance. I will have fun playing along.
Thanks!
Best wishes,
David
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Yehu
Feb 14, 2006 11:27:28 GMT
Post by sanmenxia on Feb 14, 2006 11:27:28 GMT
There are some differences between the banhu and yehu: banhu have tuning pegs at a different angle compared with other huqin, pegs have gear mechanism, has nut, strings goes over it, back of small body is open, high pitched www.hugomedia.com/inst/HRP765-2.htmYehu is like an erhu but with a coconut body and wooden face. The back of the yehu used in Cantonese music is round with a few sound holes. The yehu in Cantonese music is low pitched, tuned 1 octave below the gaohu, G3-D4. It's not ususlly used as a lead instrument, although it is sometimes used as a lead instrument in a few pieces like chan yuan zhong sheng (bell sounds in the Buddhist courtyard) www.hugomedia.com/regional/HRP729-2.htmI think in Hakka, and Chaozhou music it is high pitched. There is also similar instrument in Cantonese music called the er xian (2 strings) used in the older style of Cantonese music (hard string). www.hugomedia.com/regional/HRP706-2.htm BTW this is a brilliant CD! Passionate music played with complete virtuosity. I fact all 3 are superb CDs.
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Yehu
Feb 14, 2006 20:20:25 GMT
Post by davidmdahl on Feb 14, 2006 20:20:25 GMT
Hmm. Interesting. The banhu photos I have seen showed a closed body (resonator) in the form of half of a coconut. This is the same description as the yehu according to the Internet entries, which of course are never wrong. <g> I am curious about how the bridges appear to be different among the coconut fiddles in Asia. The Vietnamese dan gao uses a small sea shell as the bridge, while from the photos, the banhu uses a wood-like bridge. I can't tell what sort of bridge the yehu uses from the photos I can find.
Best wishes,
David
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Yehu
Feb 14, 2006 21:35:23 GMT
Post by sanmenxia on Feb 14, 2006 21:35:23 GMT
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Yehu
Feb 15, 2006 2:20:05 GMT
Post by YouLanFengChune on Feb 15, 2006 2:20:05 GMT
NopE.
the type with open back are usually for northern music.
ths lower one, played by liu ming yuan, is also called Qin Hu.
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Yehu
Feb 15, 2006 11:37:22 GMT
Post by Charlie Huang on Feb 15, 2006 11:37:22 GMT
Well, you can hardly take internet sources too seriously. Articles, unless written by those who have a good deal of knowledge on the subject and/or praised supported by highly regarded and respect peers, should be read with caution. Articles like mines are good, but there are probably errors and bias, misinformation, etc creeping in them. That's why I want many people to read it and tell me corrections and mistakes so I could improve it. It is only then does that article can be considered a good source of information. Well researched as well, plus the footnotes where suggested during the nomination (I groaned initially at the extra work, but it definately gave it a good evidenced standing in the end). That's why it has become featured now (hopefully when I complete my nomination submition, it will go on the front page as well).
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Yehu
Feb 15, 2006 14:53:58 GMT
Post by sanmenxia on Feb 15, 2006 14:53:58 GMT
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Yehu
Feb 15, 2006 17:55:04 GMT
Post by davidmdahl on Feb 15, 2006 17:55:04 GMT
Great yehu photos, sanmenxia! A few photos are definitely worth a few thousand words. This really does look a lot like a Vietnamese dan gao. I will try to have my teacher bring me back one (dan gao) from her trip to Saigon this summer.
Best wishes,
David
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Yehu
Feb 15, 2006 18:19:11 GMT
Post by davidbadagnani on Feb 15, 2006 18:19:11 GMT
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Yehu
Feb 15, 2006 22:48:58 GMT
Post by davidmdahl on Feb 15, 2006 22:48:58 GMT
Wow, that www.meixinya.com site is cool! I will have to save the instrument photos. The matouqin on page 2 with the snakeskin is a strange beast. I wonder how common those are. Too bad there are no photos from other angles than front. It would be interesting to note those with an open back. Best wishes, David
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Yehu
Feb 15, 2006 23:56:03 GMT
Post by sanmenxia on Feb 15, 2006 23:56:03 GMT
That yehu's a cheap instrument; the neck's finished in black paint! I suppose variations of the coconut fiddle are found in Fujian, Guangdong, and vietnam. I'll have photos of banhu (inc the backs) in a few days. www.meixinya.com/pages1/buolan.htmYeah that's great link, they have pics of almost every instrument you can think of.
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Yehu
Feb 16, 2006 14:41:40 GMT
Post by Charlie Huang on Feb 16, 2006 14:41:40 GMT
I love that site! It's even got a pic of a se!
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Yehu
Feb 16, 2006 18:12:02 GMT
Post by davidbadagnani on Feb 16, 2006 18:12:02 GMT
How do I find the se? I could only find a section on Chinese bowed strings (bottom left, third link from bottom) and wind instruments (bottom left, second link from bottom). The rest seem to be Western instruments and electric guitars.
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