By Shenzhan Liao /申展
Thanks to Ms. Zhou Yi 周懿 for helping with the creation of this essay.
Cover photo credit: Pipa, Ming Dynasty ( 1368-1644), collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Chat on Chinese Music: Pipa/茶话中国音乐：琵琶，Zhou Yi 周懿/Shenzhan 申展，September 13, 2019, China Institute
On the evening of September 13, 2019, the night of the Moon Festival in Chinese tradition, families are united under the full autumn moon, with snacks, moon cakes, often accompanied by music. At China Institute in downtown Manhattan, Zhou Yi (周懿), a Chinese musician based in New York City, holding a pear-shaped four-string lute-like instrument, asked a roomful audience, “do you know the name of this instrument?”
People laughed. The name of the instrument was on the screen behind Zhou Yi.
“Pipa 琵琶”
Of course everyone answered the question correctly.
Pipa, as a Chinese lute, is a fascinating musical instrument. With an over 2,000-year acclaimed history, Pipa is believed to be introduced to China from the West and Central Asia and appeared in China during the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534), according to the MET Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. It later became popular during the Tang Dynasty (618 - 906), one of the most cosmopolitan periods in ancient China when cultures of worldly origins were thriving and integrated into the Tang culture.
Besides its extremely beautiful and expressive sound, Pipa is deeply embedded in Chinese culture. Some best known stories of Pipa have to do with the two greatest dynasties in China. Wang Zhaojun（王昭君), a court lady of the Emperor Yuan of Han (汉元帝，48 - 33 BC) often appears in Chinese paintings holding a Pipa, as the musical instrument is commonly believed to soothe her longing for homeland when she was married off by the Han emperor to the Chanyu Huhanye of the Xiongnu Empire, for keeping the peace with the northern nomadic neighbor.
During the Tang Dynasty, Pipa became undoubtedly popular, which is captured vividly in the Song of the Lute (琵琶行), by the famous Tang poet Bai Juyi (白居易，772–846) :
“大弦嘈嘈如急雨，The big strings plang-planged like swift-falling rain;
小弦切切如私语。 the little string went buzz-buzz like secret conversations;
嘈嘈切切错杂弹， plang-plang buzz-buzz mixed and mingled in her playing,
大珠小珠落玉盘。 like big pearls and little pearls falling on a plate of jade,
间关莺语花底滑， or the soft call of warbler voices resonant under the blossoms,
幽咽泉流冰下难。 the hidden sobbing of springs and rills barely moving beneath the ice.
冰泉冷涩弦凝绝， Then the ice springs congealed with cold, the strings seemed to freeze,
凝绝不通声暂歇。 freeze till the notes no longer could pass, the sound for a while cut off.
别有幽愁暗恨生，now something different, hidden anguish, dark reproaches taking form——
此时无声胜有声。at such times the silence was finer than any sound.
银瓶乍破水浆迸，Then a silver vase would abruptly break, water came splashing forth,
铁骑突出刀枪鸣。iron-clad horsemen would suddenly charge, swords and halberds clanging.
曲终收拨当心画，As the piece ended, she swept the plectrum in an arc before her breast,
四弦一声如裂帛。and all four strings made a single sound, like the sound of rending silk.”
(《琵琶行》节选，parts of “the Song of the Lute”, English translation by Burton Watson, from “Classical Chinese Literature: Volume I, from Antiquity to the Tang Dynasty, Minford & Lau Editors, 2000 )
However, a little deeper dig into its origin would make the story of Pipa more complex, if not a complete mystery.
As early as late Eastern Han Dynasty (25 - 220), at least two hundred years before the Northern Wei Dynasty, the name of Pipa was already mentioned in A General Account of Customs (《风俗通义》）by Ying Shao (应劭，149-202）：
“批把，谨按近世乐家所作，不知谁也，以手批把，因以为名。”
“Pipa, according to musicians nowadays, names unknown, is named as “pi” and “ba” after its hand plucking technique.” (translation by Shenzhan Liao)
This might be the evidence that Pipa from Central Asia was introduced to China around late Eastern Han Dynasty. However, I also discovered that there was an instrument called Qin Pipa (秦琵琶， or 秦汉子) , evolved from 鼗 （tao）, a kind of raddled drum that existed since the Qin Dynasty (221 - 203 B.C.).
An image of Tao (鼗）
Source: 百度/百科 https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%BC%97
(BTW: Don’t be scared by the rare character “鼗”。 A similar instrument today is known as “拨浪鼓”! )
Placed upside down and stringed, 鼗 evolved into Qin Pipa （秦琵琶）, and gradually renamed as 阮（ruan), a round shaped string instrument with a straight neck, owing to 阮咸(Ruan Xian), one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove (竹林七贤）during the Eastern Jin Dynasty (266–420). Ruan Xian improved Qin Pipa and made it popular to such an extent that the instrument was named after his name ever since.
Ruan Xian (阮咸, left, 234 - 305) playing Ruan (阮) in a rubbing of a brick carving from Southern Dynasties (420 - 589 ）
An image of a modern Ruan (阮）
Today Ruan and Pipa are two distinctively different instruments, which suggests Pipa does have its own path. Modern scholars often trace its origin to a Persian instrument “Barbat”, invented around 1st Century BC and introduced to China through the Silk Road. Most scholars draw the conclusion according to a literary record by Liu Xi (刘熙 ) in late Eastern Han Dynasty (about 200 AD), who wrote,
“批把，本出于胡中，马上所鼓也。推手前曰批，引手却曰把。象其鼓时，因以为名也。”（《释名 释乐器》）
“Pipa, originally from among the barbarians, is played on horse back. Plucking forward is “pi”, backward is “pa”. To sound like when it’s played, thus named as such.” (Explaining Names: Names of Musical Instruments)
a modern recreation of a Barbat
Pear-shaped with a bent neck, Pipa in Tang Dynasty clearly showed similarities to the Barbat. It’s also worth noting that Pipa was first played horizontally, like Barbat, and with a plectrum. Only until the 15th century during the Ming Dynasty, Pipa was held up straight and played by fingers with artificial nails, technical improvements that allowed musicians to play Pipa with more flexibility and complexity.
Seated Female Musicians, Tang Dynasty (618 - 906), China, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
To wrap my mind around the origin of Pipa, I have two theories. One theory is by the time the Barbat-like instrument introduced to China, Qin Pipa was already on its way to be renamed as Ruan. Then, Pipa, as a name originated from China, was used for a Persian instrument that eventually took its root in China and became one of the most quintessential instruments throughout its history since.
The other theory is the name Pipa was invented for the Barbat-like instrument, though the Chinese record in late Eastern Han Dynasty indicates an earlier introduction than the MET. The Chinese indigenous instrument, which later became Ruan, was referred as Qin Pipa due to its similarity to Pipa, and for the purpose of differentiating from the Pipa with a foreign origin.
Regardless of its origin, Pipa is still popular in China. Like Middle Eastern Oud and Japanese Biwa, sharing ancestral connections to Barbat, Pipa continues to tell a story of how cultures travel, evolve and influence each other, over time and geographic borders. The instrument itself may have a “foreign” origin, but Pipa is completely Chinese now.
While the intellectual quest for Pipa’s origin might not have an absolute answer, it’s absolutely enchanting when Zhou Yi started playing a twist-necked Pipa while singing 西江月 (West River Moon, See Appendix)，a Tang Dynasty song with music reconstructed from scores discovered in the Dunhuang caves. In the end, music transcends language, time and space, perfect for a night of Pipa in New York City.
Astoria, New York
9/22/2019
The full video of the program by Zhou Yi, moderated by Shenzhan Liao:
Appendix:
西江月. 敦煌曲子词
女伴同寻烟水，今宵江月分明。柁头无力别，一舡横。波面微风暗起。
懒棹乘舡无定止。拜词处处闻声。连天红浪侵秋星，误入蓼花丛里。
Girl friends go out together, among misty water;
Tonight the river and the moon, so bright and clear.
No strength to turn the boat head; let it be sideways.
Above the gentle ripples, arisen the silent breeze.
***
So lazy with the paddle, let the oar float nonstop.
Singing followed by singing, all around to be heard.
Why endless pink waves mix with the autumn stars?
Bushes of flowers, entered by mistakes.
Translation by Shenzhan Liao