Chuigushou is a type of traditional percussive

musical ensemble A musical ensemble, also known as a music group or musical group, is a group of people who perform instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely of instrumentalists, ...

most often used at weddings and funerals by the Han Chinese, which usually accompanies a form of oboe called a suona. This type of folk music is diverse, sometimes happy, sometimes sad, and often based on Western Pop music and TV theme songs.

Background

The Han Chinese, who make up some 92% of the population of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, play heterophonic music in which the musicians play versions of a single

melody A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...

line. Percussion accompanies most music, dance and opera. Han folk music thrives at weddings and funerals and usually included a form of oboe called a suona and percussive ensembles called chuigushou. The music is diverse, sometimes jolly, sometimes sad, and often based on Western Pop music and TV theme songs. Instrumental pieces played on an erhu or dizi are popular, and are often available outside of China, but qin,

pipa The pipa, pípá, or p'i-p'a () is a traditional Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets rang ...

and zheng music, which is more traditional, are more popular in China itself. The qin is perhaps the national instrument of China, and its

virtuoso A virtuoso (from Italian ''virtuoso'' or , "virtuous", Late Latin ''virtuosus'', Latin ''virtus'', "virtue", "excellence" or "skill") is an individual who possesses outstanding talent and technical ability in a particular art or field such as ...

s are stars. These include

Zha Fuxi Zha Fuxi (; 1895–1976), also known as Zha Yiping () was a leading player and scholar of the guqin. Born in Jiangxi, he started learning guqin in his childhood. In 1936, he co-founded the Jinyu Qin Society () which later became one of the major ...

, Wu Wen'guang,

Lin Youren Lin Youren (; August 11, 1938 - October 12, 2013 Announcement at guqin.cc) was a noted player of the Chinese musical instrument guqin. He was famous for his unaffected playing style. Lin also taught guqin at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. L ...

, Wu Jinglue, Wu Zhaoji, Guan Pinghu, Zhang Zijian, Li Xiangting, and Gong Yi. The zheng, a form of zither, is most popular in Henan,

Chaozhou Chaozhou (), alternatively Chiuchow, Chaochow or Teochew, is a city in the eastern Guangdong province of China. It borders Shantou to the south, Jieyang to the southwest, Meizhou to the northwest, the province of Fujian to the east, and the Sou ...

, Hakka, and

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

. The

, a kind of

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

, believing introduced from Arab areas during 6th century and improved, is most popular in Shanghai and surrounding areas.

References

{{reflist Chinese music