Today I decided it would be a good idea to avoid the buses so Matthew and I stayed near the apartment, planing a trip to lake Dian and reading the lonely planet for China's Southwest. I really like reading the history and little anecdotes which are included. For instance, legends about the places and information about different traditions and people. It is all very interesting as it explains much of what I see in Kunming and around the area.
Today when I went out to sit in the garden there was a man playing a traditional instrument. It sounded very nice. I'm considering maybe playing one of them instead of trying to get a violin. As it seems like it will be very expensive to try and get a violin or cello. They are more popular in the West so it might be easier to get a traditional instrument here and try and learn to play that. As both of them are bowed I'm thinking that maybe it would be fun to try and learn. Erhu is the name of the traditional instrument. What I'm not really sure about is if there is a big difference in what there is available. I have seen the Erhu with 2 strings and up to 4 strings so I'm not really sure what the difference is or if there is a big difference in what is played on the different versions. Jinpeng played some music for me of the Erhu. I like some of it but not all of it. I guess that is true of any instrument you find. The Erhu is part of the Huqin family of instruments and is the most popular from what I can gather on Wikipedia. There is also a sound clip on Wikipedia. It is not very long but I can't find anything longer because of the Great Firewall of China and disabilities of Tor the onion router.
I suppose, like any instrument, this can be beautiful or just plain silly/funky depending on who has it and what they are planning on doing with it. I found some devastatingly rich Erhu music on the Youtube that literally moved me to tears. Other Erhu stuff sounded kind of like Country Fiddle Music, but tinted with a good deal of Chinese spice. This makes me want one even though I have zero music making experience. I know I should just stick to playing the MP3's and not dip my hand in music making. My neighbors will be all the better for it.
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