An instrument for ancient Chinese music
By Aggie Zou
Photos by Yao Fan

在厦门, 赵良山这个名字往往与修钢琴、调钢琴联系在一起. 其实, 他与"埙"的缘份要深远得多, 因为他的钻研与坚持, 才使得这种业已失传的中国古代乐器"复活"在现代舞台上.

He used to perform on wind instruments for the Hubei Provincial Song and Dance Troupe before coming to teach in the Department of Music at Xiamen University. He is known to most locals as the "piano doctor," however, he is better recognized as the first person to bring the Xun (埙) --an egg-shaped, holed, ancient Chinese wind instrument-to the modern stage. He is Mr Zhao Liangshan.

Upon entering Zhao's apartment, our eyes were captured by the collection of Xun, which are of different sizes and colors and made by Mr Zhao himself. And soon we were immersed in Mr Zhao's fascinating stories about the history of the Xun, about his efforts to revive it, and to introduce it to the modern world.



History of the Xun

As a matter of fact, the Xun has a history of over 7,000 years and the instrument witnessed the formation of the five-tone musical scale. At the very beginning, primitive people made holes in dried clay lumps and strung them together. Later, these early people discovered that the lumps could produce certain sounds that would seduce animals. That was the original Xun.

The Xun evolved as time went by. Approximately every 1,000 years, one more hole was added to the Xun. The five-holed Xun came into being during the Yin Dynasty. Thus, a pentatonic scale was established. The six-holed Xun emerged in the Han Dynasty. However, during the Tang Dynasty, the Xun declined and finally disappeared, due to the development of stringed instruments and the introduction of ethnic musical instruments.

In the 1970s, the Xun was discovered in many historic ruins, such as the Banpo ruins in Shaanxi Province and the Yin ruins in Henan Province, but no one knew for certain what it was called and how it was used. After painstaking investigation and fierce debates, the Xun was identified as a wind instrument. Its name and proper pronunciation were confirmed as well. However, nobody at that time knew how to play it as no record of a musical score was found.



Revival of the Xun

Many archaeologists and music experts were interested in this instrument and anxious to figure out how it was played. One day, Mr Zhao received a package that contained a model Xun and a letter from his admired teacher Mr Chen Zhong. In that long letter, Mr Chen expressed his earnest wish that his favorite student, Zhao Liangshan, should endeavor to revive the ancient Chinese wind instrument.

At that time, Mr Zhao was a performer with wind instruments for the Hubei Provincial Song and Dance Troupe. Motivated by the desire to fulfill Mr Chen's wish, Mr Zhao spent all his spare time studying the Xun, and slept little each day. Since the model Xun was made of silicon carbide, it could not be properly played. Furthermore, its fundamental key was not set, not to mention tone, accuracy, range, and tunable tones. Thus, to make a standard Xun became the first priority for Mr Zhao. He first experimented with wood, but it cracked too easily. Later he tried porcelain. Out of hundreds of trial products, he produced two which sounded loud and had a standard musical scale. The timbre of the Xun is plaintive, deep and serene. Hence, its keynote is set to mainly convey sad emotions.

When a standard Xun was finally produced, Mr Zhao began to consider how to make it known to people. As the old saying goes, "Rare achievements are rarely easy." A lot of obstacles kept getting in Mr Zhao's way. However, he never gave up hope and struggled at every turn. Finally, in 1983, after painstaking efforts, he was allowed to give a one-minute solo performance of the Xun at a concert. On the big day, he actually performed for over three minutes, but no one realized it since everyone present was so captivated by his music, including officials from the Ministry of Culture. The performance was, in fact, so well received that articles and reports about Mr Zhao and the ancient Chinese instrument appeared in many major newspapers the following day.



Preservation and promotion of the Xun

Produced by the China Record Company, Mr Zhao made an album of Xun music-- New Life of the Xun (《陶陨新魂》)-- the first recorded collection of the music in the world. Mr Zhao was also invited to play the Xun around the country and abroad. Everywhere he went, he was warmly welcomed. Since then, Xun music has been used in movies and TV series, such as Good Women (《良家妇女》) and Da Ming Gong Ci(《大明宫词》), which added to their prestige.

In 1986, Mr Zhao came to teach in the Department of Music at Xiamen University. In addition to his teaching, he became renowned for his professional ability at tuning and repairing pianos. Since his retirement, he has put all his efforts into producing, teaching and popularizing Xun music. Recently he joined a private art troupe committed to reviving ancient South China music. "I think the ancient instrument, the Xun, fits perfectly with the ancient music," he said. Further adding to Mr Zhao's pleasure, his son Zhao Liang has become a master of the instrument under the longtime influence of his father.

Reflecting on the struggles of his own life, Mr Zhao concludes that miracles always come from hardships. He also firmly believes that what belongs to a nation belongs to the world. That's why he never spares any effort to contribute to Chinese folk music. Thanks to his efforts, we may all have faith that all our traditional music will eventually survive.

Vocabulary
pentatonic 五声的
clump 团, 块
timbre 音色
tribute 颂歌
calligraphy 书法
painstaking 勤恳的

 

 

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Photo by Yao Fan



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