Hello friends!
According to the internet (a dangerous phrase, I know), July 31st is Uncommon Musical Instrument Awareness Day. A minor holiday of unknown origin, Uncommon Musical Instrument Awareness Day is meant to celebrate all of the instruments that are left out of the mainstream musical discourse. I definitely encourage people to explore some of the interesting – and interesting sounding – instruments out there! Nothing brings people together like music, and very little allows us to broaden our horizons in such a vibrant way.
Which means, of course, that I must tell you to look up the Silkroad Ensemble. Silkroad was founded in 1998 by Yo-Yo Ma as an act of cultural collaboration, bringing together musicians from around Asia and Europe to make exciting new music. As their website says, “Silkroad creates music that engages difference, sparking radical cultural collaboration and passion-driven learning for a more hopeful and inclusive world.” Now operating under the artistic direction of the phenomenal Rhiannon Giddens, Silkroad continues to bring together musicians and instruments from all over the world. If you listen to their recordings you will encounter a fascinating range including a pipa, a duduk, a Shakuhachi, a morin khuur, and so many other beautiful sounds. Rather than describe them to you, I am just going to let you have the experience of their music unencumbered by expectations. Their website is silkroad.org, and it is an excellent place to start.
For now, let me mark the day by talking a bit about an instrument that is uncommon in the US, but not in Asia – the biwa! The biwa is a stringed instrument rather like a lute that came to prominence in Japan in the 8th century, and is still played today. Rather than being plucked or strummed, a biwa is most often played with bachi, which would look to us like drumsticks. Originally, the biwa was an instrument commonly used by blind monks called biwa hoshi, who would travel between villages and sing poetic epics and stories, accompanied by the music of the biwa. The most famous of these was “The Tale of the Heike” — an epic story of the struggle between the Taira clan and Minamoto clan for control of Japan at the end of the 12th century. It is an interesting story, one that is full of action and heroism, but also one that highlights both the brutality and heartbreak of the war it is depicting. It has been published as a poem and a novel many times through the years, and I definitely recommend giving at least parts of it a try.
Additionally, both “The Tale of the Heike” and biwa hoshi show up in Kwaidan, a collection of Japanese ghost stories compiled in the 19th century by Lafcadio Hearn. One of the stories (honestly, my favorite one) tells of a young blind monk named Hoichi, who is renowned for his performance of the poem. At night, a samurai appears at the temple, and demands Hoichi’s presence to perform for the court. This continues to happen night after night, leaving him exhausted. Eventually the other monks realize what is happening, and that both the samurai and the members of the court are actually ghosts, killed in the same battles the poem recalls. To try to protect Hoichi from his supernatural visitors, they cover him in kanji characters from the Heart Sutra. Unfortunately, they forget to paint the characters over his ears. When the ghost visits again, every part of Hoichi save his ears is invisible – leading the ghost to take his ears and deliver them back to his liege. After that, Hoichi is never bothered by the ghosts again.
You’ve got to love a good ghost story. I do promise, however, that you will not be plagued by samurai ghosts if you look up biwa music! In fact, I hope you will give it a try. And, if you want more suggestions of uncommon instruments, allow me to point you towards the haunting sounds of the nyckelharpa and the hurdy-gurdy; the strident tone of the Breton bombard, and the unique resonance of the erhu. There are great examples out there of all of these instruments in both traditional and modern music, and it’s really fascinating to hear how playful people can be with sound.
In the meantime, I hope you are having a lovely day, and that I have inspired you to try some new music. As the Silkroad Ensemble shows us, sharing music is a wonderful way to build bridges and friendships, and to open up our minds to new experiences. Enjoy!
Cheers,
Meghan
Meghan Hawkes
Communications Director
Skidompha Public Library
For some examples of the music suggested above:
In OTHERLANDS: A Global Music Exploration, Casey Driessen and Reisui Ban perform an excerpt from the Heike Monogatari (“Tale of the Heike”). Reisui Ban is playing the biwa and singing. Watch it here.
Silkroad presents an amazing variety of instruments and musical explorations! You can visit their website here, and their YouTube page here to listen to some examples.
Myrkur plays Scandinavian folk music on the nyckelharpa here. You can also hear both the nyckelharpa and the hurdy-gurdy in the much more upbeat “Brighter Days Come” by Patty Gurdy here. To continue with the hurdy-gurdy, listen to it alongside the bouzouki, fiddle, guitar, and Québécois practice of podorythmie in Le Vent du Nord’s “Octobre 1837” here. Many of their other songs also include the accordion, the bombard, and the mandolin, just to add to your enjoyment of less common instruments!