The ''sihu'' () (known as a / / ''khuuchir'' in

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

, where this term defines the whole ''

huqin ''Huqin'' () is a family of bowed string instruments, more specifically, a spike fiddle popularly used in Chinese music. The instruments consist of a round, hexagonal, or octagonal sound box at the bottom with a neck attached that protrudes ...

'' family) is a Chinese bowed

string instrument In musical instrument classification, string instruments, or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer strums, plucks, strikes or sounds the strings in varying manners. Musicians play some ...

with four strings. It is a member of the ''

'' family of instruments.

Construction

The instrument's name comes from the words ''sì'' (四, meaning "four" in Chinese, referring to the instrument's number of strings) and ''hú'' (胡, short for ''huqin'', the family of instruments of which the ''sihu'' is a member). Its soundbox and neck are made from

hardwood Hardwood is wood from Flowering plant, angiosperm trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostl ...

and the playing end of the soundbox is covered with python,

cow Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are called co ...

, or sheep skin. There are several sizes of ''sihu''; the lowest of these is generally tuned C, C, G, G; the medium size is tuned G, G, D, D; and the smallest size is tuned D, D, A, A.

Technique

The instrument is held vertically, with its soundbox on the player's lap, and its strings are tuned in pairs. The bow, usually made of horsetail hair, is grouped into two strands to enable both pairs of strings to sound at the same time.

Use

The ''sihu'' is primarily associated with the

n culture, and is played by Mongolians in Mongolia and also in the

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...

Autonomous Region of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. The Mongolians call it the ''Khuurchir''. It is also used as a traditional instrument in the

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Heilongjiang Heilongjiang is a province in northeast China. It is the northernmost and easternmost province of the country and contains China's northernmost point (in Mohe City along the Amur) and easternmost point (at the confluence of the Amur and Us ...

provinces of China. It is also used as an accompanying instrument in various Chinese narrative genres, including Beijing ''dagu'', plum blossom ''dagu'', '' Xihe Dagu'', Tianjin new tunes, Shandong ''qin shu'', Northeast ''dagu'', Hubei song, Shaoxing ''lianhua luo'', Shanxi ''er ren'', Inner Mongolia ''er ren'', northeast dance duet, lucky play, Beijing opera derived drama from ballads, Hebei ''pi ying'' (shadow theater), and Henan ''erjiaxian'' traditional entertainment involving talking, singing, and drama. The sihu, often sometimes called the

tiqin The ''tiqin'' () is a name applied to several two-stringed Chinese bowed string musical instruments in the ''huqin'' family of instruments. Types There are several types of ''tiqin'': *The ''tiqin'' used for ''kunqu'' opera *The ''tiqin'' used f ...

back then, was the premier folk instrument of the Qing Dynasty, used in both folk and court ensembles by Han,

Mongol Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family of M ...

, and

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic peoples, Tungusic East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized Ethnic minorities in China, ethnic minority in China and the people from wh ...

musicians, until

Liu Tianhua Liu Tianhua (; 1895–1932) was a Chinese musician and composer best known for his innovative work for the ''erhu''. Liu's students, such as Jiang Fengzhi and Chen Zhenduo, continued to contribute to the development of the ''erhu''. He was the ...

brought the

erhu The (; ) is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, that is sometimes known in the Western world as the ''Chinese violin'' or a ''Chinese two-stringed fiddle''. It is used as a solo instrument as ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

in the 1920s. Since then, the sihu has mostly fallen into obscurity, even among Mongols. Similar instruments include the

Mongolian Mongolian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Mongolia, a country in Asia * Mongolian people, or Mongols * Bogd Khanate of Mongolia, the government of Mongolia, 1911–1919 and 1921–1924 * Mongolian language * Mongolian alphabet * ...

'' dörvön chikhtei khuur'' (''four eared fiddle'') and the Tuvan '' byzaanchy''. In China, ''dörbön chikhtei khuur'' (Chinese: 胡兀尔 or 都日奔齐和胡尔) is considered an alias of sihu.

References

External links

Sihu article

''Sihu'' photo
{{huqin Mongolian musical instruments Chinese musical instruments Drumhead lutes Bowed instruments Huqin family instruments

Construction

Technique

Use

See also

References

External links