Guqin

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guqin

"Tan Dun Eternal Vow"  Cedar Sky_RasC_DJ HashIsh_The American Lion.  Recorded 2013 In Mountain Ranch California and Williams Oregon.  

Produced by Cedar Sky_RasC_DJ HashIsh_The American Lion.



Tan Dun Eternal Vow

Guqin tune 'Flowing Waters' 流水 Liu Shui, played on silk strings on 7 string ancient Chinese zither.

Guqin tune 'Flowing Waters' 流水 Liu Shui

Tan Dun

This is one of my most favourite guzheng music pieces.  It utilizes a important characteristic of the instrument - sweeping of the finger over the strings to make a flow of notes similar to playing a long arpeggio except with much ease.  

My usual problem of being hasty is avoided in this playing.  In the second half of the piece about flowing water, however, I should have produced a more continuous and smooth water flow pattern.  Well, another homework for the future.

The story of Yu Boya and Zhong Ziqi (adopted from the Wiki article:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_Ya )

Boya was a government official and musician during the Spring and Autumn Periods. One evening he was travelling along the Changjiang river in a boat for government business. The moon was bright and wind fresh so he decided to play his guqin as his boat was moored beside some hills. As he played a string on the qin suddenly broke. As superstition goes that a broken qin string means someone is hiding nearby listening, Boya called for the listener to come forward. A woodcutter named Zhong Ziqi stepped out.

Though a peasant, Zhong Ziqi also study diligently. But he could not leave his aged parents for even a day, because they were very poor and relied on Zhong Ziqi to take care of them, so he couldn't attend the government recruitment exams to become a government official.

At first Boya was skeptical, but soon become amazed by Ziqi's ability to understand his music.  When Boya's will was towards high mountains in his playing, Zhong Ziqi would say, "How towering like Mount Tai!" When Boya's will was towards flowing water in his playing, Zhong Ziqi would say, "How vast are the rivers and oceans!"  Whatever Boya thought of Ziqi would never fail to understand.  He wished they can spend more time together, but he had to leave for government business, so they made an agreement to meet again around Mid-autumn Day the next year. When the time came there was a flood upstream and Boya's boat was delayed for over 10 days. He arrived at the same spot but Ziqi wasn't there. He waited, but his friend never came. Boya went onshore to look for Ziqi. There were only two tiny villages in that area, so he found Ziqi's home easily, only to learn that Ziqi had spent night after night waiting by the river for him, after chopping wood all day, and as a result caught a cold and eventually passed away.  Boya was stricken with grief, he went to Ziqi's tomb to mourn, and broke his guqin there, vowing to never play again, and saying that no one would ever understand his music again.

Scores from: The Central Conservatory of Music Examination Pieces for Guzheng, Grades 1-6
Date of This Recording: 2014-08-16

樂譜來源：《中央音樂學院古箏考級曲目 1-6 級》
樂曲類型：傳統浙江箏曲
錄音日期：2014-8-16


High Mountain, Flowing Water 高山流水

Metal-string versions of the guqin piece, "Flowing Water" (流水) played by Zhao Jiazhen (赵家珍)

"Flowing Water" (流水) played by Zhao Jiazhen on guqin with metal strings

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon - Ngoa Ho Tang Long - Various Artists - Album Spring and Autumn and W [NCT 41634197167832968750]

RAVI SHANKAR  1

Gong Yi - Fisherman's Song (Guqin)

ChineeGuZheng II demo track demo track by Dongsheng Shan

KA GuQin Demo

Tan Dun Green Destiny ~ Love Theme

A new composition by Peiyou Chang for silk string Guqin (Chinese 7 string zither) with the voices of the Wood Thrush. The Guqin is a Chinese musical instrument, also called a seven-stringed zither. It has existed in Chinese culture for 3000 years, and has been the favorite instrument of the literary class. Sounds of the wood thrush were provided courtesy of Cornell University Lab of Ornithology.

Serenading The Forest - Guqin and Wood Thrush

Pt. Ravi Shankar - yamani bilawal vilambit - YAMANI BILAWAL

Guqin means “ancient stringed instrument,” and it is ancient as its name implies.  Confucius himself is belived to have played the guqin and written pieces for it.  In addition to people writing pieces for the guqin, some guqin pieces originated from poems.  Ancient poems were often sung rather than recited.  Hence melodies have come to associated with the poems that they have traditionally been used to sing such that these melodies when adapted as instrumental pieces, are still name for the original poems (the lyrics of the original song, so to speak) and remind the listeners of the original meanings of the poems.  Many guqin pieces came about in this way.  Shang Ye is a Han dynasty poem praying for eternal love.  Composed by Hong Ze Nan, Guqin dapu by Wang Cai Gui.

原是古樂府詩，描述不渝的愛情。原文如下：上邪！我欲與君相知，長命無絕衰。山無陵，江水為竭，冬雷震震，夏雨雪，天地合，乃敢與君絕！度曲者為洪澤南。古琴打譜王財貴。


Shang Ye (guqin) 上邪樂府古琴

古琴 Guqin tunes played on traditional 絲弦 silk strings. The way guqin was originally meant to be heard; with silk strings.
Hi-res royalty-free versions of these guqin tunes are available for download for media production use at: 

7-silk strings Chinese zither Guqin tune 忆故人 Yi Gu Ren
http://www.productiontrax.com/royalty-free-music/372941

7-silk strings Chinese zither Guqin tune - ping sha luo yan 平沙落雁
http://www.productiontrax.com/royalty-free-music/372939

Guqin tune 'Flowing Waters' 流水 Liu Shui

SilkStringsGuqin