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Guo Gan avec Lang Lang in Chicogo Symphony Hall 2008  Guo Gan and Grand orchestre de Paris Opéra 2011 in Royan |
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Erhu, literally meaning "two stringed barbarian instrument" due to its importation from Central Asia, has about a 500 year history in China. Becoming popular during the Sung Dynasty (960-1279 AD), later in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasties (1644-1911) variant instruments developed. In the modern era it was really composer and musician Liu Tianhua (1895 -1932) and one might also mention his blind contemporary A Bing that made the erhu the popular instrument it is today. Although metal strings are more common now, traditionally the erhu had two silk strings, belonging to the "silk" category of instruments in the Chinese "eight sound" organographic scheme: Metal, Stone, Silk, Bamboo, Gourd, Earth/Clay, Leather/Hide, and Wood. In Korea, the erhu's sister instrument, the haeg?m, still uses silk strings. |
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