Disclaimer: I DO NOT own the copyright to this video. This documentary was made by the Music channel of the China Central Television (CCTV – Music) and thus the CCTV still owns the copyright to the video.
箜篌KongHou, an ancient and mysterious musical instrument, exterior appearance and structure is similar to the Harp. The ancient 箜篌KongHou is sub-divided into two kinds, 臥式箜篌Horizontal KongHou, and 豎式箜篌Vertical KongHou. The Horizontal Konghou had been in the Chinese history since forever; however, there were no definitive answers as to its origin. The Vertical KongHou, on the other hand, originated from middle Asia, and made its way to China via 新疆XinJiang during the later Han Dynasty. During the most glorious days of the Tang Dynasty, the development of the KongHou reached its peak period, it was widely used amongst both the royalty and the civilian; it even made its way to neighboring countries such as Japan and Korea, the Japanese house of national treasures – 正倉院ShoSoIn still has two of the KongHous that were made during the Tang Dynasty. Unfortunately, after the Sung Dynasty KongHou gradually lost its place in history, and when it got to the Ming Dynasty, it was lost for good. Nowadays, people can only admire the drawings of the KongHou on wall paintings and sculptures. On today’s episode we are going to explore the mysterious kingdom of KongHou.
<1:22>
Narrator: KongHou is an exotic piece of rare gem in the treasure chest of traditional Chinese musical culture. Its timber is clear yet soft, mysterious and misty. According to historical documentation, from Han Dynasty to Tang Dynasty, KongHou was very popular, and the art in its performance also reached a very high level. In 舊唐書音樂誌Old Book of Tang – Music, and 通典Comprehensive Institution (both are resourceful ancient Chinese literature), they both have description of KongHou. However, after the Sung Dynasty, the KongHou gradually started to degenerate and eventually was lost and no one even remembered it in Ming and Qing Dynasty. After the establishment of the New China (the Communist Party from 1949 – now), several musical idealists wanted to promote traditional Chinese musical culture. After studying historical graphic and literature documentation of the KongHou for years, they finally managed to bring this instrument back into the spotlight of Chinese music in the early 80s.
<2:17>
Narrator: The path of the re-birth of KongHou had been full of roughness. There are about 10,000 people doing research on KongHou. In September 1984, a pedalled, full pitch change, phoenix head piece KongHou was born at the foot of 鳳凰山Phoenix Mountain, in 遼寧省LiaoNing Province.
<2:32>
R = Reporter, Z = 趙廣運Zhao GuangYun (Associate Professor of ShenYang Conservatory of Music, the patent owner of the modern KongHou)
R: When did the KongHou first appeared in China?
Z: Ummm… according to literature, it was around Han Dynasty, there were records of it around the times of 漢陵帝Emperor HanLing, and 漢武帝Emperor HanWu, there were also records of it in 漢樂書The Music Book of Han. At that time, there were two kinds of KongHou, one of them is the Horizontal KongHou, another kind is the Vertical KongHou, and the Vertical KongHou was also called the foreign KongHou, it was an imported instrument, and we named it after a Chinese known instrument, kind of like us now calling the Piano and the Violin as 鋼琴(GangQin) and 提琴(TiQin) we borrowed the Chinese word 琴Qin (which is also a Chinese string instrument) for their Chinese name.
<3:11>
Narrator: Because there were several hundreds of years of interruption in the development of the KongHou, and the KongHou replica is a Vertical KongHou; therefore, we can only admire the charms of the Horizontal KongHou from wall paintings and sculptures. In ancient Chinese literatures, there were quite an abundance of records of these two kinds of KongHou. For example, 白居易Bai JuYi, a poet in the Tang Dynasty wrote in his poem 《雲和詩》(Cloud and Poem), “非琴非瑟亦非箏Not Qin not Se and not Zheng, 撥柱推弦調未成Adjust columns and strings but a tune is yet to be formed…” which is actually a description of the Horizontal KongHou. And “今曲項琵琶this crooked lute, 豎頭箜篌之徒this thing resembles a vertical version of the KongHou, 並出自西域which came from the west” was the description the Chinese通典Comprehensive Institution gave to the instrument KongHou, this literature documentation proves that the Vertical KongHou made its way to China from “the west”. A Tang Dynasty poet named顧況Gu Kuang wrote an article called 李供奉彈箜篌歌Li GongFeng Playing a Song of the KongHou, it told the story of how a KongHou master was favored by the Emperor. From this story, we can also tell how much the rulers of the Tang Dynasty admired the KongHou, they didn’t allow the performers to teach outside the palace, and they also don’t allow KongHou music to be played amongst civilians, this greatly restricted the development of the KongHou, which also led to the loss of the art later on. The success in developing the new KongHou, enabled us to enjoy the heavenly music from the palace in the Tang Dynasty; however, due to the performance techniques required in modern days, the newly developed KongHou is not how it was supposed to look like any more.
<4:41>
Z = 趙廣運Zhao GuangYun
Z: After the revolution, it (modern KongHou) is not the original KongHou any more, it’s a new instrument inspired by the (original) KongHou. This instrument used to come from the west, the KongHou we have now should be considered more of an “authentic” Chinese KongHou, and this is because it is exceptionally good for expressing Chinese music and oriental music; it is also an instrument with the characteristics of modern times. It is technically capable of performing musics with complicated harmony, and polyphonic; and even performing complicated techniques such as fast overtone.
<5:26>
Narrator: To stimulate the music syncretism between the musical culture of the east and the west, the existence of the KongHou now serves a different meaning; its re-birth filled a huge void in the history of modern instrumental music in not only China, but the world. On the other hand, to allow an ancient instrument from centuries ago to adapt to the new environment, experts had to re-design the instrument entirely, and the abundance experience that the researchers had with other instruments had hence become the most important element of the development of the KongHou.
<5:52>
Z = 趙廣運Zhao GuangYun
Z: Although this instrument had been lost for so many years, there are probably a couple thousand people in China who are re-discovering and developing this instrument. The good thing was, I worked really hard on this subject, it feels like it’s my responsibility, so when I was studying in University, I purposefully studied instruments such as the piano, the harp, and the 古箏GuZheng; I researched a lot into the structure and performance technique of these instruments, and used them as my stepping stone for developing and re-designing this instrument (KongHou).
<6:34>
Narrator: The KongHou nowadays look simple and graceful, has a pure and soft timbre to it. On the Chinese parasol wood (梧桐木WuTong Mu) resonance chamber which looks like one from a 琵琶PiPa, there are two sets of tuning column. The dual alignment strings are made out of nylon wrapped steel strings, two sets of 36 each, a total of 72 strings, the two sets of strings are arranged by the same pitches, each set is tuned to the diatonic scale (first sign it’s a “new” instrument”), has a wide range of 5 octaves. It is a product of careful and skillful combination of the resonance, and acoustic features from instruments like 古琴GuQin, 古箏GuZheng, 琵琶Pipa; with the appearance, structure, length of strings, distance between strings, and the pitch level arrangement of the western Harp.
<7:15>
R = Reporter, Z = 趙廣運Zhao GuangYun
Z: The body of the KongHou is an inverted triangle, it looks more elegant this way, and there are pedals down here, the pedals are for pitch change and provide extra support for the instrument as it sits in the base of the instrument. The pegs on the peg board are for holding the strings in place and for tuning; these mechanisms under the pegs are for pitch changing (once again adapted from the western Harp), they are made out of metal.
R: So you step on the pedal down there…
Z: It would link it all the way up there by the mechanical parts. So this upper beam here serves two functions, one is to hold and maintain the tension in the strings, and the other one is to host the pitch changing mechanisms. This is a special function of it (the upper beam of the KongHou). And this post here, of course, provides the support of the body. The most important thing here is the sound case of the instrument, it is responsible for allowing resonance, and the quality of the instruments highly depends on the quality of the sound case. The major component of the sound case is the sound board, the choice of material and the craftsmanship of the sound board is really the key to decide the quality of the instrument.
<8:31>
Z: This is the sound board of the KongHou.
R: The sound board for the sound case.
Z: For the sound case. It is the main resonating component.
(Information in the running subtitles: The sound case consists of two sound boards and for sound pillars sandwiched between the two sound boards. For the sound case to give a pleasant sound, intricate calculations should be made as to where the pillars should be placed and the angles that they should be placed in.)
Z: I am currently scraping and sanding the surface.
R: So this stick here is a sound pillar?
Z: Yes, for one it is used for transmitting sound wave, it also serves the function of supporting, that’s why it’s called the sound pillar. It has to stick really flat on the sound board, the two ends that are popping up, we have to sand it down, and then we glue it onto the sound board. Glue it very firmly, so that it can best perform its intended function.
<9:40>
R: This is the completed sound case?
Z: This is a completed sound case. The sound board has been stuck together, on the side frame of the sound case there are several sound holes, which allows the sound inside to expand and project outwards, which is the important function.
R: So only 3 sound holes?
Z: Only 3 holes and this is where the post gets inserted. This is the completed sound case.
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Once again, the translation process was exhausting, yet rewarding. The KongHou is my absolute obsession and ultimate dream instrument. I currently cannot afford one, but one of these days, I will get my hands on one, this is a promise I made to myself!! And because I love this stunning instrument so much, I wish to share this with the world, I hope more people would fall in love with this instrument like I did, and that this time, hopefully, it can live on forever!!!! Thank you very much for reading this post, I know this is a really long one!! And yet, there is a part two still awaits my translation!! Stay tuned!! I’ll be back with more!!
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