Learn Chinese online - Strident and sentimental

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CITYLIFE / Weekend & Holiday






Strident and sentimental


By Michelle Qiao (Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2007-07-20 09:45



Suona, the eight-hole oboe or trumpet, is the loudest Chinese instrument
and has a bad rap as simply a horn or bugle for rustics in common wedding
and funeral bands. It's also called the eight-eyed monkey because it can
be difficult to control, like the ornery primate.

The suona or Chinese oboe, sometimes called a trumpet, is the loudest
Chinese instrument, and as it is passionate and lively it frequently sets
the rhythm and beat for a band. It is the musical mainstay at weddings,
celebrations, parades and funerals.

It has earned the reputation, unfairly, as a rustic, low-class instrument
because of its often piercing loud sound. The suona, in fact, is capable
of subtlety, of plaintive, sentimental performances.

It also can create a brilliant sound of hundreds of singing birds. All
this depends on which size the suona and how it is played, of course, but
the reputation of vulgarity stuck.

"The distinctively loud and high-pitched sound of suona was perfect for
outdoor performances. It had been used for festival and military purposes
and currently is widely used in traditional weddings and funerals in the
countryside of North China," says suona performer Hu Chenyun from the
Shanghai Chinese Music Orchestra.

"That gave people an impression that it was not a decent instrument, but
only created some bustling noise."

The suona was originally introduced to China from Central Asia, developed
from Central Asian instruments such as the surnay or zurna, from which
its Chinese name probably derives. A musician playing an instrument very
similar to a suona is shown in a drawing on a Silk Road religious
monument in what is now the western Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,
dating back to the third to fifth century AD.

"Suona was formerly made all of wood and it was used in military
processions as bugles," says Hu. "People later used brass or copper to
make the mouthpiece for a even louder and brighter sound."

But it was the unique loud and bright sound that had attracted French
composer Krystof Maratka to write a concerto for suona. He was the
youngest of the eight French composers, who were recently commissioned to
write music about Shanghai using traditional instruments and Chinese
melodies for a project titled "Presences China" last year.

Other composers chose other instruments after coming to China, but
Maratka decided on the suona when he happened to hear an album of the
instrument in France, says Hu.

After coming to Shanghai, Maratka asked suona performer Hu to demonstrate
different effects on the instrument - the lightest or the highest
pitches, the most passionate or the saddest emotions.

"Suona's timbre is so loud and characteristic that during a concerto it
could never be drowned out by a symphony orchestra. But it's also very
hard to write a composition for suona because it's so characteristic,"
says Hu.

As a result, the suona concert "Chan G'hai" won the first prize after
audience vote. (You can listen to excerpts of this on the Website.)

The humble suona is a simple and inexpensive instrument. It has a conical
wooden body, similar to that of the European oboe. However, it uses a
brass or copper mouthpiece to which a small double reed is affixed,
possessing a detachable metal bell at its end. The best suonas are made
of old rosewood, costing only a little more than US$100.

These instruments are used in the woodwind sections of traditional
instrument orchestras in China and Singapore. Chinese rock star Cui Jian
once featured a suona in his song "Nothing to My Name," which was played
by a saxophonist.

"But unlike Western oboes which have keys to control the pitches, the
two-octave suona has only eight holes, and they rely on the breath and
fingers of a performer to control the pitches and tunes," says Hu. "But
with such a simple structure, the instrument can vividly imitate the
talking, singing or even Chinese opera singing of a human being."

Mastering the suona is difficult and the eight-hole instrument has been
called the "eight-eyed monkey" because like a monkey it is difficult to
control.






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