Perhaps the most famous use of the traditional Chinese music instrument is in the Academy Award-nominated song ‘A Love Before Time ’ from the 2000 martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The side-blown instrument is held horizontally and creates a gentle, peaceful sound that ’s often incorporated into Chinese folk music and operas. The dizi – also known as the héngdi – is a Chinese transverse flute that ’s often made of bamboo, but can also be made of wood and stone. Read our interview with George Shaw to discover a little more about the composer and the album. Track three, entitled ‘Moon Goddess ’, is a sad yet romantic, cinematic epic that combines the sounds of female vocals with the erhu to tell an emotional story. The erhu is one of the Asian music instruments respected composer George Shaw used to produce his album, Mythical China. The instrument can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty (690-705) and is said to have evolved from the Xiqin. Known in the West as the Chinese violin, the erhu is a two-string bowed instrument that ’s often played in operas and orchestral performances. These bamboo pipes create soft and elegant sounds – ones that pair well with mystical stories that take place in the moonlight.ĭiscover the sounds of the hulusi by listening to Michael Tedstone ’s ‘Moonlight Garden ’ and Tedstone and Burrow ’s unexpectedly upbeat ‘Flight of the Crane ’. Traditionally, the instrument has three bamboo pipes: the central pipe features finger holes whilst the outer two pipes act as drone pipes. In particular, the flute of sorts is linked to the Dai people who call the instrument ‘pi lamtao’ – ‘pi’ means woodwind instruments whilst ‘lamtao ’ means gourd. The hulusi is a vertically-held Chinese free reed wind instrument that ’s associated with ethnic minorities in the Yunnan province of China. “Those instruments are largely connected to Shang-Chi ’s mom and the mystical realm where she ’s from,” says West, “So we treated them more as ethereal layers to hints at this other place”. Marvel ’s ‘ Shang-Chi and The Seven Rings -composer Joel P West told Variety why he incorporated ancient Chinese instruments like the Guzheng into the soundtrack to the superhero flick. It ’s also worth noting that the popular Chinese instrument is usually around 1.63m long. The oldest Guqin discovered – said to be from the Warring States period – was found to have 13 strings, whilst contemporary versions of the instrument often possess 21, 25 or 26 strings. The guzheng is another member of the zither family, but this plucked instrument features a lot more strings than the Guqin. The two most famous songs associated with Bo Ya are ‘High Mountains ’ and ‘Flowing Water ’. The talented soul would perform songs on his Guqin to his companion Zhong Ziqi who instantly understood the picture he was trying to illustrate through his music. Photo Credit: Chinese Musical Instruments:Ī member of the zither family, the guqin – also known as a qixian-qin – is an ancient seven-string instrument that ’s played by plucking the strings.īo Ya – a Chinese musician from the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BC) – is often the first person Chinese music scholars think of when discussing the Guqin. Over the last few decades, Western society has become more familiar with traditional Chinese instruments as contemporary films and television shows – particularly those centred around Chinese characters, locations and/or ideologies – have incorporated oriental sounds into their soundtrack.Īllow us to better acquaint you with some of the most noteworthy musical instruments to hail from the most populated country in the world and provide some examples of their use in contemporary soundtracks and our production music catalogue. Ling Lun was sent by the Yellow Emperor to the Western mountain area to create an instrument that mimicked the sound of an immortal bird called the fenghuang. Perhaps the most curious musical instruments of them all were formed by the people of China, as they believed they could purify people ’s minds and connect humans with nature.Īccording to Chinese mythology, Ling Lun was the founder of music in Ancient China. Some used their instruments for rituals, some used them to complement storytelling sessions, some used them to signal to friends and foes, and others used them to celebrate milestones like marriage and childbirth. Aeons ago, civilisations in different pockets of the world created musical instruments for various reasons.
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