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Post by Si on Oct 21, 2006 18:34:21 GMT
I went to it today.
If you like er hu or di xi or gu zheng you would have been in heaven. Gazillions of people there and exhibition stands etc.
Interesting things of note was a pile of smelly snake skins for use in er hu's etc and many accessories like all the carved decorative stuff that fits on to er hu's and other instruments.
As usual in this universe, gu qins made a minority appearance and the place was so noisy with people screaching di xi's everywhere that it was not possible to hear if the qins were any good.
There was a interesting display of all styles of gu zhengs - all looked very old and seemed to be from all over china. One that caught my eye was what looked like a massive guqin but with the guzheng string and bridge style on the top face - again it looked old.
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Post by YouLanFengChune on Oct 22, 2006 0:22:26 GMT
Hahaha, and i have 2 agents there for me. Leaving tonight though.
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Post by jetz320 on Oct 22, 2006 1:16:45 GMT
UUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! >_< I WISH I WAS THERE!!!!!!!!!!! It sounds so exciting!!!!! They were selling snake skin for erhus? How can you reatach the skin and add a new one?! It sounds really fun though!!!!!!
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Post by YouLanFengChune on Oct 22, 2006 10:48:36 GMT
U have to remove and reskin. Its not attaching. Its likem remaking the sound board of a violin. The process is equally tough, and u need to deal with the effects of skin.
My agent report good sales for snake skins, and the price is CRAZYY!!!!!! Its so unbelieveably high, i worry for priuces and quality of erhu in the future.
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Post by Si on Oct 22, 2006 11:22:02 GMT
The thing about visiting a show like this is that you have to know what you are looking at and be able to tell good quality etc.
All I know is that the only place to consider buying a qin would be a nice calm surrounding where you can really hear the sound.
I actually find it a bit annoying that the di xi players feel they have to make such sharp trilling noises at the show, especially when the instrument is capable of wonderful sounds.
Anyway there was one stall that had some books on show - they are all about the history of the chinese instrumsnts - one is dunhuang, t'other is guqin and another is er hu - they lady gave me the er hu one cos she did not have any others left - so i will go down to their factory one of these days to collect the other books. They are all in chinese but the pics and lovely.
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Post by song on Oct 22, 2006 13:07:07 GMT
I just came back from the Shanghai fair this morning as well. Was there the full 4 days except one afternoon when Shanghai Dunhuang invited us for a tour of their factory. I'll post some pictures soon of 'the insides of Shanghai Dunhuang Musical Instruments Co., Ltd".
The music fair occupied 6 exhibition halls but chinese traditional instruments only occupied 2/3 of a hall- small compared to previous years. The rest are guitars, western strings, piano and music equipment. If you're in Shanghai this time the next year its worth a look.
Yes prices of snake skin have been going up. But hmmm.....I don't remember seeing any booths selling snake skins.
We could have said hello to each other syburn if I knew you were going to be there.
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Post by Si on Oct 22, 2006 14:29:15 GMT
Well we can meet up next year then - it is fun to wander around these fairs no matter what they are about.
I wanted to take a look at the DJ equipment hall in the other fair across the way but I was exhausted after the milions of dixi sonicly attacking me.
The snake skins were at the back and there were flies hovering around too.
I think the shanghai dunhuang was the place i got the book from.
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Post by calden on Oct 22, 2006 14:32:01 GMT
The snake skins were at the back and there were flies hovering around too. Ha. Sounds like some of the night market restaurants in Taipei. Carlos |
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Post by YouLanFengChune on Oct 23, 2006 4:17:30 GMT
FLIES??!!!
THe skin with flies ARE rotting!!!!!
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Post by Si on Oct 23, 2006 7:37:25 GMT
so what do they do to it to make it not rot?
it smelt too!
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Post by YouLanFengChune on Oct 23, 2006 14:14:55 GMT
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Post by jetz320 on Oct 23, 2006 22:43:44 GMT
EWWWWWW!!!!!!!! I've seen snake skin many times. But I can only think it looks good on the erhu and zhonghu!
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Post by YouLanFengChune on Oct 24, 2006 11:42:23 GMT
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Post by jetz320 on Oct 24, 2006 22:03:10 GMT
Yeah. That's the only time I like it!!!
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Post by carol on Oct 25, 2006 1:22:16 GMT
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Post by song on Oct 25, 2006 1:42:09 GMT
Hey Carol, were you the one that played the Guzheng at the corner of the reception room where we had drinks? Our paths crossed and we didn't know that. I was having a bad headache at that time and didn't have the mood to network. I'm the young man in long sleeves and shirt together with an old dude. You stayed in the same hotel as me in the godforsaken place arranged by Shanghai Dunhuang i guess?
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Post by carol on Oct 25, 2006 5:52:12 GMT
Ah, I'm worse. Normally my eyes only see guzhengs when I'm in a guzheng show room.
I just heard the manager saying the other people are from Singapore, so I guess you are probably one of them.
No, I didn't stay at the hotel. My family has an apartment in Pudong very close to the show. I always stay there when I visit Shanghai.
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Post by Charlie Huang on Oct 25, 2006 10:17:58 GMT
Nice photo album Carol! God, wished I could have visited your shop when I was (sort of) in LA...  |
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Post by calden on Oct 25, 2006 13:08:34 GMT
No, I didn't stay at the hotel. My family has an apartment in Pudong very close to the show. I always stay there when I visit Shanghai. Oh, Carol. You've just given me another if-I-win-the-lottery dream. It would be incredible to have a place to stay when I visit China. Living out of hotels is hard on one's soul. Carlos |
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Post by Si on Oct 25, 2006 14:37:55 GMT
Hey Carol - I used to stay in an apartment near the Exhibition centre - well it was opposite the century park actually.
Are your family from Shanghai?
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Post by carol on Oct 25, 2006 15:35:06 GMT
Yeah, everybody is welcome to stay in the apartment when you visit. No, my family is not from Shanghai. It's weired that we have an apartment in Shanghai. My grandma bought it a few years ago, so she can stay there a few months a year. Stay all year long in California is too much for her.
I just posted more photos to the link. The new ones are mainly the antique guzhengs that look like kayagum, dan tranh, and koto, etc.
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Post by Si on Oct 25, 2006 16:24:26 GMT
oh those old gu zheng were very interesting. Shame they did not have any qin.
I wonder if there is a good museum in shanghai to see all the old instruments?
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Post by carol on Oct 25, 2006 18:14:30 GMT
Yes, there is the instrument museum right at XinZhuang subway station. That's the last station of Subway Line 1.
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Post by song on Oct 26, 2006 5:32:53 GMT
You had it good Carol. I had to endure 1.5 hour of traffic jams every morning from hotel to the exhibition grounds.
There is nothing to do after dark, except a sleazy foot massage joint, a KTV lounge and a nightclub with hot babes hanging outside! Permission to enter those places was rejected by my wife of course.
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Post by Si on Oct 27, 2006 8:51:57 GMT
you cant hang around there - get over to puxi and there are loads of places to go - its not expensive to take a taxi.
Even Pudong has a lot of restuarants and place to relax on the river front
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