the.com/erhu
two strings, no fretboard, and somehow the sound of an entire dynasty weeping.
means A two-stringed Chinese bowed instrument played upright, with a small resonator covered in snakeskin and a bow threaded between the strings, known for its plaintive, voice-like tone.
from The name is straightforwardly descriptive in Mandarin: 'er' (二) means 'two,' for its pair of strings, and 'hu' (胡) is the old term for the nomadic peoples of the north and west — so the erhu is literally the 'two-stringed huqin,' a member of the huqin family of bowed instruments that Chinese tradition traces to neighbors beyond the frontier. That 'hu' carries centuries of meaning: it long marked things arriving from Central Asia along the trade roads, and the bowed-string idea itself is widely thought to have travelled into China from those western and northern peoples, which is why the instrument's very name still points outward toward the steppe.
- string count
- just two, tuned a fifth apart
- bow trap
- bow hair is locked between the strings
- sound box
- often covered in python skin
- no fingerboard
- fingers press strings against open air
- age
- over a thousand years old
jia peng fang — chinese erhu virtuoso who won the van cliburn international piano competition equivalent for strings, known for high-speed technical mastery
ma xiaohui — principal erhu soloist of the china national symphony orchestra, performed at 2008 beijing olympics opening ceremony