R.I.P. Liu Dehai, pipa virtuoso

Sinica Podcast

Kaiser Kuo

Culture, China News, Hangzhou, Chinese, International Relations, Chongqing, Beijing, Sichuan, Currentaffairs, China, Politics, Chengdu, Shanghai, Guangzhou, China Economy, News, China Politics, Business, Film, Shenzhen

4.8 • 676 Ratings

🗓️ 13 April 2020

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Liú Déhǎi 刘德海, master of the pipa, a type of Chinese lute, died at the age of 83 on April 11, 2020.

Liu was born in Shanghai in 1937. He received his early music education there before the Communist victory in 1949, and went on to become one of the idealistic young musicians who tried to form a specifically Chinese orchestral tradition. He learned a number of traditional instruments but became famous for playing the pipa, as well as for arranging and composing for it. Among many other achievements, he went on to play with both the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic.

Liu’s most famous work is “Ambush From All Sides” (十面埋伏 shímiàn máifú), which is featured in this podcast. It’s an ancient tune, but he rearranged it into the intense version you hear on this podcast — perhaps the closest thing to heavy metal that China produced before the 1990s, but played by one man on one acoustic instrument.

In this Sinica Podcast Extra, Jeremy talks to classical composer and avant-garde guzheng performer Wu Fei about Liu, his legacy, and the amazing “Ambush From All Sides.” (Full disclosure: Fei is Jeremy’s wife.)

You can hear Ambush From All Sides on the podcast itself, but you might also want to look at Liu’s amazing technique in this Youtube video. The painting at Mogao Caves in Dunhuang mentioned in the podcast is Playing the pipa behind the head.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	THEIRMANNAN LANDYANT HADONDSON
0:07.0	THEIRMANNANGHAMSENDS HADY HADY HADY HADY HADY HADY HADY HAD. Hi, I'm Jeremy Goldcorn, and this is a Seneca podcast Extra.
0:35.1	It's not about COVID-19, but about a great Chinese musician
0:38.9	who very sadly died yesterday, April 11, 2020. His name is Liu Dehai, and he was a master
0:45.9	of the peeper, a type of Chinese lute that you can find illustrated in the Buddhist cave
0:50.8	paintings at Dunhwang in Guangzhou province. Lodohai was born in Shanghai in 37.
0:58.0	He was one of the idealistic young Chinese musicians
1:01.5	who began trying to form a specifically Chinese orchestral tradition
1:06.6	in the years immediately after the 1949 revolution.
1:11.0	He learned a number of traditional instruments in this pursuit,
1:13.6	including the two-string Aho and the most ancient of Chinese zithers,
1:18.0	the seven-string of guchin.
1:20.0	But he eventually became famous for playing the pipa,
1:24.4	as well as arranging and composing for it.
1:29.7	His most famous work is Ambush from All All Sides or Shumian Maifu, of which you heard an excerpt a minute ago. It's an ancient tune,
1:36.8	but Liu rearranged it into the intense version you just heard. And this arrangement and way of
1:42.9	playing has become the standard in China. In fact, if you
1:46.0	can't play ambush from all sides on the peeper in this style and to this level of proficiency,
1:52.6	you're simply not considered a good peeper player. The song is based on an old war story. In 202 BC,
2:00.3	General Xiang Yu of the Kingdom of Chu was defeated by Liu Bang,
2:04.3	who founded the Han Dynasty, and this describes a battle in that war, a decisive battle.
2:11.1	With me to talk about Liu De Haai is classical composer and avant-garde Gujargoujong performer
	...

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