1. Pipa

Though also used in ensembles, the pipa is primarily a solo instrument like a guitar. The pipa music repertoire consists of ancient Chinese master pieces whose composers are mostly anonymous, and the contemporary works by composers with both Chinese and western musical influences.

Traditional Chinese music generally refers to the compositions that have stood the test of time and are likely to exists "so long as man can breathe or eyes can see". However, when talking about "traditional Chinese music", just like Chinese, it is helpful to keep in mind that China is made up of many peoples, with each more or less having their own tradition and music.

Generally speaking, there are two kinds of traditions, namely classical traditions and folk traditions. Music from the 'classical tradition' refers to 'sophisticated' music (or classical music) as opposed to folkloric music or music to dance. The major parts of classical traditions can be dated back several hundreds year, with some even over thousand years in Chinese history. It is mainly an oral tradition from generation to generation; there were written scores combining numbers and symbols representing pitch and finger techniques. However it is almost impossible to play directly from the score without learning the from a teacher.

Traditional music in the classical sense is intimately linked to poetry and to various forms of lyric drama and is more or less poetry without words. In the same manner as poetry, music sets out to express human feelings, soothe suffering and bring spiritual elevation. Their interpretation requires not only perfection of pipa playing techniques, but also (and more) relies on the level of spiritual development of the interpreters in order to deliver the deep meaning and inner feeling of the master pieces (see the intervew article with Paula Kirman for further discussion).

The folk melodies are rarely used unchanged for pipa concerts, but have been a constant source of inspiration for contemporary composition. Most contemporary music for the pipa takes advantage of advanced pipa techniques and music theories. The sources of inspiration are rich and are mostly traditional and folkloric themes. In fact, many pieces simply modify, transcribe or rearrange those melodies, so successfully such that some of the excellent works have been regarded as part of the growing classical repertoire, for instance the famous Dance of Yi People composed by Wang Hui-Ran. The repertoire is further expended by pieces composed or arranged for duets or trios in which the pipa is accompanied by cello, guitar, flute, piano or zheng. There are also pieces for pipa and orchestra. Famous pipa concerti are Little sisters on the grassland (Liu Dehai and Wu Zhuqiang), Ghost Opera (Tan Dun), Mulan (Gu Guanren), and The king takes off his armour (arranged from traditional solo piece by Zhou Long, an different version by Yang liqin). Note that are several new works for pipa concertos in recent years in China.

Once the pipa was introduced to the west, its music began to fuse with western classical and contemporary traditions. More and more composers with western music education background begin to explore new possibilities with the pipa, such as USA-based composers, Tan Dun, Zhou Long, Chen Yi. Recently, Melissa Hui, an accomplished Canadian composer, composed one piece for pipa and string quartet and another piece for pipa and nine western instruments, both having been premiered by Liu Fang in 1999 and 2002. Quebec composers Simon Bertrand and Hugue Leclair have all composed for pipa and string quartet and pipa concerto, and having been premiered by Liu Fang.

In 2001 , the internationally renowned composer R. Murray Schafer composed and produced opera entitled "The Palace of the Cinnabar Phoenix" for 5 opera singers, 20 instrumentalist including Chinese pipa, guzheng and erhu, a women chore, and a team of puppet player. The premiere of this great work (where Liu fang performed both pipa and guzheng) turned out to be magical, and highly acclaimed in the media and by the audience. This work will be presented soon again in a natural environment on a lakeshore near Toronto from August 31 to September 9, 2006 in 8 spectacles.

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2. Guzheng

Guzheng has been closely related with guqin (7-stringed zither) but has been enjoyed much greater popularity than the guqin throughout its history, mainly because it is a folk-rooted instrument from its origin as well as later development. Whereas guqin is highly regarded as the most representative of classical music genre in China, performed by scholars, high society ladies and amateurs, and thus belongs to a small "minority" of high class people in the society. On the contrary, guzheng has been always a folk music instrument. Solo guzheng music has always strong local flavour - every region has its own style, in a way like local dialects of the Chinese language. Thus there is Henan style, Chaozhou style, Shandong Style, Kejia style etc. Since the last century there are more and more solo guzheng compositions with western influences. (More ...)

Some further topics:

• Interview by Paula E. Kirman: "Liu Fang's Passionate Pipa - Award-winning young pipa virtuoso Liu Fang talks about her passion for Chinese classical music".
• A brief history of the Chinese lute pipa.
• Free samples of pipa music performed by Liu Fang.
• Free samples of guzheng music performed by Liu Fang
• Music Under Mao, its Background and Aftermath