Konghou

Konghou

Classification	string instrument
Related instruments
Çeng Konghou Harp Lyre Chang (instrument)

Female musician playing 14-string konghou, from ancient Chinese engraving

The konghou (Chinese: 箜篌; pinyin: kōnghóu) is an ancient Chinese harp. The konghou, also known as kanhou,^{[citation needed]} went extinct sometime in the Ming Dynasty, but was revived in the 20th century. The modern instrument does not resemble the ancient one.

The main feature that distinguishes the modern konghou from the Western concert harp is that the modern konghou's strings are folded over to make two rows, which enables players to use advanced playing techniques such as vibrato and bending tones. The two rows of strings also make it suitable for playing swift rhythms and overtones.

History

The wo-konghou, or horizontal konghou, was first mentioned in written texts in the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BC). The su-konghou, or vertical konghou first appeared in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220AD). The phoenix-headed konghou was introduced from India in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420 AD).

The konghou was used to play yayue (court music) in the Kingdom of Chu. During the Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD) the konghou was used in qingshangyue (a music genre). Beginning in the Sui Dynasty (581-618), the konghou was also used in yanyue (banquet music). Konghou playing was most prevalent in the Sui and Tang dynasties. It was generally played in rites and ceremonies and gradually prevailed among the ordinary people.

The konghou in other places

The instrument was adopted in the ancient times in Korea, where it was called gonghu (hangul: 공후; hanja: 箜篌), but it is no longer used there. There were three subtypes according to shape:

• Sogonghu (hangul: 소공후; hanja: 小箜篌; literally "small harp")^photo
• Sugonghu (hangul: 수공후; hanja: 豎箜篌; literally "vertical harp")^photo
• Wagonghu (hangul: 와공후; hanja: 臥箜篌; literally "lying down harp")^photo

Similarly, the kudaragoto (also called kugo, 箜篌) of Japan was in use in some Togaku (Tang music) performances during the Nara period, but seems to have died out by the 10th century. It has recently been revived in Japan, and the Japanese composer Mamoru Fujieda has composed for it.[1]

Notable konghou players

• Cui Junzhi [2]
• Joy Yu Hoffman
• Yue Pingqiu
• Wu Lin

External links

• Konghou from About China site
• "Reflection upon Chinese Recently Unearthed Konghous in Xin Jiang Autonomous Region" by Xie Jin
• Ancient Chinese painting of a konghou (see top left)
• Konghou photo

Video

• Konghou video from The Musical Instruments E-book

Listening

• Konghou audio (click headphones to listen to individual tracks)