Ancestor of the erhu?

[dsouthwood]

I just got home from a concert by musicians from Tuva, a small country just north of Mongolia. One of the musicians played two different sizes of byzaanchy, similar to an erhu but with four strings. Here are some good pictures of the instrument:

www.alashensemble.com/instruments_byzaanchy.htm

The most interesting thing to me was the technique: the strings are a good two-three inches from the neck, and the player touches the backs of the strings with his fingernails to play the notes.

Could this be the "barbarian instrument" that was refined into the erhu?

Another interesting instrument was the igil, which had two widely-spaced strings that were bowed simultaneously, although only one was fingered at a time.

www.alashensemble.com/instruments.htm

The interesting technique here was that although most of the time the strings were touched on top like an erhu, sometimes the note was created by touching the side of the string which was then pushed sideways to bend the note.

The group I heard is called Chirgilchin:

www.chirgilchin.com/

Dennis

[calden]

Dennis:

Thanks for the post. Very interesting! The Mongolian Horsehead Fiddle is played much the same way, with the fingertips actually on the neck but with the string contact point on the top of the finger just above the nail.

Here's a link to a great Matouqin master, LiBo:

www.matouqin.com/

I saw him at Folklife in Seattle a couple of years ago - amazing. At times he sounded like a cello, at times a violin. Superb.

Also, if Tuvan music interests you, go rent "Genghis Blues", one of the most astonishing true stories you'll ever see.

By the way, have the fires affected you down there? Everything okay?

Carlos

[jetz320]

the erhu i thought was based off of an instrument named xi something. it was from mongolia.

[dsouthwood]

I did see Genghis Blues, at the same movie theater that hosted this concert. I saw it on a Saturday night, and there were exactly five empty seats. Part of the draw was that several of the throat singers from the film were there to give a live demonstration. The next night I kidnapped a friend and took her to see the movie; there were three empty seats that night.

Tuvan music is strange and beautiful, and had me in tears from the glory of it.

Dennis

[calden]

dsouthwood said:

I did see Genghis Blues, at the same movie theater that hosted this concert. I saw it on a Saturday night, and there were exactly five empty seats. Part of the draw was that several of the throat singers from the film were there to give a live demonstration.

Wow! That must have been stunning to watch. And to have met those singers....


Carlos

[dsouthwood]

It was. And on Sunday they even had two of the wrestlers from the movie .

Oh, and the fires were pretty far from me, but I lost a week of work because the school I teach at was in the evacuation zone. So if that's the worst that happens, I have nothing to complain about. This has me going around and identifying the things I would most want to save if I had to get out. I'm putting important papers and stuff in a backpack and planning how I would load my instruments into my car. I bought my mini SUV specifically because my guzheng will fit in it, and I can fit the other instruments around it. I just need to figure out what else I must take and catalog everything else for the insurance. But even so, I'm counting my blessings.

Dennis