Posted on 04/20/2009 8:03:09 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Traditional Chinese musical instruments are believed to have originated from the reign of Huangdi, or the Yellow Emperor, some two thousand years ago. But a recent discovery by the Chifeng Cultural Academy in Inner Mongolia suggests that Chinese musical instruments could be 3-thousand years older than previously calculated... The ancient flute has long been kept at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. It wasn't until recently that the flute was shown to the public. The ancient flute was made from the bones of bustard, a kind of bird usually seen in Northeast China. The tube is 18 centimeters long, with finger holes still evident. But it's main structure has partially eroded. Experts have restored the piece and professional musicians have been invited to play the flute. The Xinglongwa Site, where the ancient flute was unearthed, is the birthplace of the Xinglongwa Culture, a Neolithic culture in Northeast China found mainly around the border of Inner Mongolia and Liaoning Province. It is the earliest archeological culture in China to feature jade artifacts and to depict dragons. Apart from the flute, archeologists have also discovered graves at the site. It is thought that the owner of the grave site was male, who was probably the owner of the flute.
(Excerpt) Read more at cctv.com ...
Archeologists from the Chifeng Cultural Academy have scrutinized a flute made of bones, which was unearthed at the Xinglongwa Site in Inner Mongolian in 1986. The ancient flute has long been kept at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. It wasn't until recently that the flute was shown to the public.
One man's bid to keep China's ancient music aliveAn obsessive passion to revive a nearly forgotten music enjoyed by China's elite more than a thousand years ago has cost Li Kai his wife, his job and most of his savings. But the energetic, ever-smiling 57-year-old insists he has no regrets... The group plays every week in a pagoda in Xian in the northern province of Shaanxi, once known as Chang'an, grand capital of China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), which is widely regarded as a high point in Chinese civilisation... Li's 18-member group is a mixed bunch, including a fashionable 22-year-old tourism student and a 59-year-old policeman nearing retirement. Li said that 60 years ago, when the People's Republic was founded following decades of civil war and revolution, there were 50 groups practising this music in Shaanxi. Now, after the ravages of the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s which sought to wipe out China's ancient traditions, only 12 groups remain throughout the country, totalling 200 people. Li says Tang music is the earliest form of written music. While some academics believe it originated later than the seventh century, there is a general consensus that the music is among China's oldest. It blends drums, bells, flutes and pipes, and during the Tang Dynasty performances were for the elite only, something Li finds amusing as he points to the pedestrians who stop and listen as his group plays... His passion has cost him more than money -- his wife left him seven years ago, saying he was putting the music before her.
AFP
Monday, April 20, 2009
|
|
|||
Gods |
To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. |
||
|
· Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · Google · · The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists · |
|||
There are just too many possible replies to that photo. But, nah, not going there.
you have lost your flute, Grasshopper.
I woodwind say that too loud, the blind guy’s hearing is sensitive.
A distant relative, apparently.
BTW, “Bones of Bustard” would be a heck of a name for a band.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
