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Gourd mouth organ
The gourd mouth organ is a free reed mouth organ played across East and Southeast Asia. It consists of a gourd wind chest with several bamboo or bronze pipes inserted on top of it, the numbers of pipes differing from region to region.
The gourd mouth organ is closely associated with cultural minorities in Asian countries; thus, its styles are diverse, and different counterparts can be seen across different cultures. In southern China, the generic name of the gourd mouth organ is Hulu Sheng (Chinese: 葫芦笙; pinyin: húlúshēng; lit. 'gourd sheng'). The accompaniment of the instrument is essential to the ethnic minorities in China's southern province of Yunnan, such as the Lahu, Yi, Miao and Naxi, especially during their ritual Tage dancing.
In southeast Asia, like Upper Myanmar, northern Laos, northeast Thailand, and Rattanakiri province in Cambodia, the gourd mouth organ is also an essential part of the people's daily and ceremonial lives. In Thailand, it is called naw among the Lahu, lachi among the Akha, and fulu among the Lisu; in Cambodia, it is called ploy; in northeastern Borneo, it is called sumpoton; and in Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Bangladesh, it is called đing nǎm or m'buot.
The gourd mouth organ is tuned based on the pentatonic scale without semitones, especially in the melodies, and the melodies are usually accompanied by chords. Pitches can be changed by closing and opening the pipe holes. The players hold the instrument almost horizontally and blow into the windchest during aspiration.
In Chinese tradition, empress Nüwa is believed to have invented the mouth organ in the third millennium B.C. to mimic Phoenix's neck, body, and wings. This tradition also explains why the gourd mouth organ is often used in the funeral process: people believe the mouth organ creates a protection spell against evil spirit and charm towards the afterlife. The gourd mouth organ also represents "the gourd" category of the Chinese eight sounds system (八音; Bā yīn). In this system the instruments are classified upon the materials used to make the instruments.
The gourd windchest of the mouth organ is hard to preserve, but bronze windchests have been discovered in central Yunnan, China, dating from around the fifth century BCE. The gourd mouth organ is also recorded in several Chinese historical sources from the Tang dynasty onward, for example, in the Book of Odes (Shijing), Tangyuezhi and Manshu. In Shijing it says: "The lutes are struck, the organ blows; till all its tongues in movement heave. The drums loud sound, the organ swells; their flutes the dancers wave." And in the Manshu (ninth century), it records: "Hulusheng was played by young men wandering on the streets in the evenings to express their love towards girls."
The mouth organ had its widest range of distribution around sixth century A.D. It was spread to Persia from China and was called mushtaq sini, "Chinese mushtak", or chubchiq. The instrument then spread westward in the eighteenth century. Johann Wilde, the inventor of the nail violin, bought or was given a sheng in St. Petersburg and learned to play die lieblieche Chineser Orgel, "the charming organ of the Chinese". From 1800 to the present, a large family of reed instruments, such as mouth harmonicas, accordions, and harmoniums, was created.
Hulu Sheng is the Han Chinese name of the gourd mouth organ and has different names in different minority groups in southern China, such as Ang in Yi, Maniu in Lisu and Nuo in Lahu. Commonly, the instrument is made of a dried gourd bottle as the windchest with its narrow neck as the mouthpiece. Usually, five bamboo pipes (sometimes four to seven) are inserted vertically in the gourd walls from shorter to longer respectively (from 20 to 45 cm [7.9 to 17.7 in]) and sealed with beeswax with rectangular or triangular free-reeds assembled to each pipe. Next to each pipe, a finger hole is made to activate the free-reed by opening and closing the hole and inhalation (mainly) and exhalation. Slight variations in shape, size, height of the gourd mouth organ can be observed among different minorities groups, for instance, the bamboo pipes used in Hei Miao can go up to fourteen feet high with brass reeds. Another commonly seen instrument that is similar to Hulu Sheng is called Hulusi, which is also primarily used in Yunnan. It can be seen as the simplified version of Hulu Sheng that has three bamboo pipes passing through a gourd windchest and only the middle pipe has finger holes.
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Gourd mouth organ AI simulator
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Gourd mouth organ
The gourd mouth organ is a free reed mouth organ played across East and Southeast Asia. It consists of a gourd wind chest with several bamboo or bronze pipes inserted on top of it, the numbers of pipes differing from region to region.
The gourd mouth organ is closely associated with cultural minorities in Asian countries; thus, its styles are diverse, and different counterparts can be seen across different cultures. In southern China, the generic name of the gourd mouth organ is Hulu Sheng (Chinese: 葫芦笙; pinyin: húlúshēng; lit. 'gourd sheng'). The accompaniment of the instrument is essential to the ethnic minorities in China's southern province of Yunnan, such as the Lahu, Yi, Miao and Naxi, especially during their ritual Tage dancing.
In southeast Asia, like Upper Myanmar, northern Laos, northeast Thailand, and Rattanakiri province in Cambodia, the gourd mouth organ is also an essential part of the people's daily and ceremonial lives. In Thailand, it is called naw among the Lahu, lachi among the Akha, and fulu among the Lisu; in Cambodia, it is called ploy; in northeastern Borneo, it is called sumpoton; and in Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Bangladesh, it is called đing nǎm or m'buot.
The gourd mouth organ is tuned based on the pentatonic scale without semitones, especially in the melodies, and the melodies are usually accompanied by chords. Pitches can be changed by closing and opening the pipe holes. The players hold the instrument almost horizontally and blow into the windchest during aspiration.
In Chinese tradition, empress Nüwa is believed to have invented the mouth organ in the third millennium B.C. to mimic Phoenix's neck, body, and wings. This tradition also explains why the gourd mouth organ is often used in the funeral process: people believe the mouth organ creates a protection spell against evil spirit and charm towards the afterlife. The gourd mouth organ also represents "the gourd" category of the Chinese eight sounds system (八音; Bā yīn). In this system the instruments are classified upon the materials used to make the instruments.
The gourd windchest of the mouth organ is hard to preserve, but bronze windchests have been discovered in central Yunnan, China, dating from around the fifth century BCE. The gourd mouth organ is also recorded in several Chinese historical sources from the Tang dynasty onward, for example, in the Book of Odes (Shijing), Tangyuezhi and Manshu. In Shijing it says: "The lutes are struck, the organ blows; till all its tongues in movement heave. The drums loud sound, the organ swells; their flutes the dancers wave." And in the Manshu (ninth century), it records: "Hulusheng was played by young men wandering on the streets in the evenings to express their love towards girls."
The mouth organ had its widest range of distribution around sixth century A.D. It was spread to Persia from China and was called mushtaq sini, "Chinese mushtak", or chubchiq. The instrument then spread westward in the eighteenth century. Johann Wilde, the inventor of the nail violin, bought or was given a sheng in St. Petersburg and learned to play die lieblieche Chineser Orgel, "the charming organ of the Chinese". From 1800 to the present, a large family of reed instruments, such as mouth harmonicas, accordions, and harmoniums, was created.
Hulu Sheng is the Han Chinese name of the gourd mouth organ and has different names in different minority groups in southern China, such as Ang in Yi, Maniu in Lisu and Nuo in Lahu. Commonly, the instrument is made of a dried gourd bottle as the windchest with its narrow neck as the mouthpiece. Usually, five bamboo pipes (sometimes four to seven) are inserted vertically in the gourd walls from shorter to longer respectively (from 20 to 45 cm [7.9 to 17.7 in]) and sealed with beeswax with rectangular or triangular free-reeds assembled to each pipe. Next to each pipe, a finger hole is made to activate the free-reed by opening and closing the hole and inhalation (mainly) and exhalation. Slight variations in shape, size, height of the gourd mouth organ can be observed among different minorities groups, for instance, the bamboo pipes used in Hei Miao can go up to fourteen feet high with brass reeds. Another commonly seen instrument that is similar to Hulu Sheng is called Hulusi, which is also primarily used in Yunnan. It can be seen as the simplified version of Hulu Sheng that has three bamboo pipes passing through a gourd windchest and only the middle pipe has finger holes.