Episode 36 Guqin Makers

Guqin Makers

Father and Daughter crafting one of China's oldest and most sacred instruments

📍Hsinchu, Taiwan

Their Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61559098567050

Thoughts and Reflections

For being ethnically Chinese and Taiwanese, I embarrassingly knew little about the Guqin. I even owned one, having bought one from Taiwan 2.5 years ago. Personally, the music is difficult to get into, as it is incredibly meditative and expressive, but also very slow. In no way can you listen to these traditional songs and be able to pick out a hummable earworm or bop to a repetitive beat. But, this is due to my own upbringing and what I (and most other people) was trained to play and listen. There is an increasing divide between the old traditional way and its relevance in a modern fast world. Some of my questions focused on this aspect. 

Though to prepare, I did actually take my Guqin to a local master for a lesson to understand the basics. As you can see in my video, this is the first episode in which I speak Chinese (my second language), which is barely conversational at best of times. I was lucky that Darcy was there, who spoke English very well, but also translated a bit for her father (Shan Chih Yaun). Now, something that many will not know is that Chinese has many accents. I grew up mostly listening to more traditional old (Taiwanese-accent leaning) Chinese accents, so while I can understand a good 80-90% of what Mr. Shan Chih Yaun said, my Guqin master, a young man from the Shanghai area, I could only understand 20-40%. It was a good lesson in understanding a bit of the technique and how to read, but of course, not coming close to understanding the music. Regardless, you'll notice that this is the first episode where I interview in Chinese, but not my last, because I have a few more Taiwan episodes coming up. On a personal note, I hope to do more episodes in other languages too (I have surprises hopefully up my sleeve). 

I also searched high and low for the Guqin being used in contexts I'm more familiar with, perhaps playing more rhythmically, pieces I know, or together with others. However, this type of playing is rare and not really an instrument that inherently lends itself to such things. 

The Guqin is nice, but I need to stop buying instruments that will take a lifetime of commitment to understand or play. (Similar to the oud I have) haha...

Anyways, these Guqin makers were a pleasure to visit!

I should also mention two things!

1. I was connected to Darcy, through CJ, an incredibly creative instrument maker and ethnomusicologist in  Taiwan. Darcy and CJ are good friends and former ethnomusicology classmates. CJ was maybe supposed to come visit too, but couldn't make it on the day. However, we did manage to collaborate on a fun mystery Christmas instrument swap.

2. When I came to Taiwan 2.5 years, the same trip when I bought my Guqin, I actually coincidentally almost visited Darcy and her father. I happened to be in Hsinchu looking for instrument to buy, I attempted to go to their store, but I couldn't find it. I was later told that the Google Maps pin was slightly misleading. At the time of this posting, they currently don't have an actual storefront or a permanent workshop for that matter.