DIFFERENT PERSONALITIES OF CHINEASE MUSIC FEATURED AT THE RAINFOREST WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL

Date: 19 May 2006
Written By: Yeoh Jun-Lin

Chinese music goes as far back as its civilization and roots. Their instruments and the theory of their music production were already in the sophisticated mode by the time western music started.

Most important to Chinese music is the tone quality and the subtle nuances and shades of expression especially of the melody.

They believed that music is a symbol of the harmony between the trilogy of heaven, earth and mankind. The earth provides the materials for making the instruments and can be categorized into stone, silk, metal, clay, wood, skin and gourd.

This year’s Rainforest World Music Festival has invited musicians from the Persatuan Orkestra Tradisi Oriental Kuching to bring on stage two very different styles of Chinese music.

One is a group of young percussionists who, with their instruments, will depict humourous and vivid scenes about animals. Percussion instruments, in Chinese history, have been around for longer than any others. In 1560 BC, more than half of all music instruments were percussion ones.

The band will be using instruments from the metal and wood families.

There are the bronze cymbals called xiao puo and zhong puo that were used in the Sui and Tang dynasties (581-907 AD). They can produce very clear and forceful sounds and are very popular during performances of acrobatic fighting.

There is also the luo family of gongs. These are some of the oldest Chinese instruments that existed from the Han period of 206 BC. They come in different sizes and tone qualities. Most of them have a prefix to define which kind they are. For the festival, the band will be using the yung luo and the zhong luo.

From the wood family, is the mu yu – “mu” meaning wooden and “yu” meaning fish because it was carved from a block of wood in the shape of a fish and then hollowed out. It was originally used to accompany Buddhist chants only. 

Then there will be a haunting melody played by Yap Ting on the hu lu si which is a free reed instrument with 3 bamboo pipes attached to a gourd that acts as a wind chest or resonating chamber. It was mostly common in the Yunnan province among the Dai people. “hulu” means gourd and “si” means silk to account for the soft but pure clarity of its tone which made it perfect love song serenade material for the Dai men to offer to their women.

Yap Ting will also be accompanied by the erhu and the yangqin and the dizi.

The erhu is the 2-stringed vertical violin andis one of the most widely used stringed instrument of the Chinese. It has been around for over 500 years and, while likened to the western violin, it’s horsehair bow is inserted between the two strings, it has no touch fingerboard, it has a resonator which is covered by snakeskin, and produces a more nasal and “whining” tone quality.

The yangqin is a stringed dulcimer with a trapezoid body which probably came from the Middle East where it was called the santur or the cymbalom. The strings are struck with light sticks, making it a cross between a stringed and a percussion instrument.

The dizi is made of bamboo flute and held transversely. It has six fingerholes but what makes it different is the mo-cong – an extra hole covered with a thin membrane which vibrates in sympathy when the flute is being played, thus producing an extra sweet tone.

The Rainforest World Music Festival will run from the 7th to the 9th of July at the Sarawak Cultural Village, just 45 minutes outside of Kuching.

Tickets are priced at RM60 and RM30 for children aged 3 – 12 years. They are available at the Visitor Information Centres in Kuching, Miri and Sibu. Or check the website www.rainforestmusic-borneo.com for packages or travel agents or outlets and updates on the festival. More enquiries can be made by calling the Sarawak Tourism Board at 082-423600.

The festival is run by the Sarawak Tourism Board with support from the Ministry of Tourism. They have on board with them, Malaysia Airlines who is Official Airlines 9th year running as well as fROOTS magazine as Media Sponsor.

 PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association) has just announced the Rainforest World Music Festival as the winner of the gold award 2006 in the Heritage and Culture category. PATA, the leading US-based travel industry, will be officially presenting the award at the 55th annual conference in Pattaya, Thailand from 23rd – 27th April this year.

Yeoh Jun-Lin
Artistic Director
Rainforest World Music Festival