(File Photo)

    BEJING, June 22 -- The erhu has only two strings but just listen to what those two strings can do - from playing the earliest classic, "The Sound of Agony," to imitating perfectly the voices of Peking Opera singers or even the music of bird chirping, writes Michelle Qiao.

    Hollywood star Sharon Stone said "Flaws make me unique" during her Shanghai trip last week. That is also true of erhu, the two-stringed bowed fiddle, the young brother in the family of Chinese traditional instruments.

    With the simplest historical record, the most humble beginnings and one more than the least number of strings, erhu has developed dramatically over the past century and become almost the most popular Chinese instrument on the world stage.

    "There are very few historical records about erhu which developed from xiqin, a similar instrument introduced into central China by minority tribes from along the northern frontier during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD)," says Xing Liyuan, a young erhu performer and lecturer at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. "Modern erhu has a history of less than 100 years when maestro Liu Tianhua (1895-1932) created the first solo composition for erhu, 'The Sound of Agony,' in 1915."

    She notes that erhu was a humble and simple folk instrument used only for accompaniment or group performances on occasions like local operas, banquets, weddings or funeral ceremonies before 1915. It was Liu's contribution that led to erhu being upgraded to a solo instrument and finding a place in conservatories and concert halls.

    "Erhu cannot compare with guqin (seven-string zither) and pipa (four-string lute) which have a history of up to 3,000 years but maybe it's the simple history and humble beginnings that have left erhu more space and freedom in which to develop," says Xing, who has twice won first prize in national competitions. "The instrument has been constantly improved in terms of technique and repertoire at an amazing speed - like 'an uncontrolled wild horse' during the past century."

    Erhu is a simple instrument that has a drum-like body made of ebony or sandalwood. The front opening is covered with the skin of a snake and the back is left open. The functions of the body is to resonate and amplify the vibrations of the strings.

    The neck of the erhu is about 81 centimeters long and is made from the same materials as the drum. The top of the neck is bent for decoration. The two strings of the erhu, which is usually tuned D and A, are made of silk or nylon, but nowadays metal strings are commonly used.

    The bow is 76 centimeters long and is manufactured from a reed which one curves by steaming and is then arched with horse hair in the same way as the bow of violin. However, in the case of erhu, the horse hair runs between the two strings so one cannot take the bow off the instrument unless one of the two strings is taken off or broken.

    Erhu has widely been called "Chinese violin" because its tone similar to a Western violin. While the four-string violin is played horizontally, the two-string erhu is played vertically. The erhu range is up to four octaves in its most common tuning (it is sometimes tuned to play higher or lower octaves.

    The techniques of erhu playing are complex and require great skills. The sound it produced is delicate, rich and expressive. It's a trend in recent years to play classic violin compositions with an erhu.

    "The development of modern erhu has benefited from the techniques of violin playing but erhu is a more difficult to control than the violin," says Xing, who taught violin maestro Itzak Perlman to try to play the "Chinese violin" in 2002 at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

    "Without a finger board (like the violin has), it is very easy to go off-pitch when playing a note on erhu. In fact pressing on the strings harder or softer will make the pitch go higher or lower respectively.

    "But interestingly this 'disadvantage' actually gives the erhu a flexibility almost comparable to the human voice," says Xing, who has tried to imitate the singing of a Peking Opera actor with an erhu during a concert.

    "People said my playing was so much like a man's singing. The famous composition 'Jiang He Shui' ('River Water') sounds like the wailing of a woman. Once I played 'Er Quan Ying Yue,' ('Moon Reflects over the Second Spring'), my neighbor, a boy, came over to ask, 'Who is crying around here'?" she says.

    In addition, the instrument can also create special effects like birds chirping, dogs barking or a horse neighing. Now erhu is widely used as a solo instrument in the orchestra of Chinese instruments and also in numerous Chinese folk operas and ballad forms.

    The most famous Chinese erhu performer in history was Hua Yanjun, a blind street artist who was known as Blind Ah Bing (1893-1950).

    "His father, Hua Qinghe, was a maestro of erhu and pipa and head of a Taoist temple where Ah Bing grew up and learned to play the two instruments," says Xing.

    "After his father died, Ah Bing inherited the temple but was poor at managing it. His dissolute lifestyle left him infected with a disease which caused him to go blind. Bankruptcy and disease forced him to perform on the streets to make a living and he created a rainbow of compositions to express the agony of his life.

    "His music was so touching that he became more and more famous. A visiting team of Chinese musicologists recorded six pieces of his playing (three erhu and three pipa) in 1950 before he died a few months later," Xing says.

    Maybe grassroots erhu is just like blind maestro Ah Bing. With obvious flaws and disadvantages, they create the music that is closest to our voices and souls.

    (Source: Shanghai Daily)