Haegeum
The haegeum ( Hangeul 해금 , Hanja 奚 琴 ) is a two-string Korean tubular spit violin .
It consists of a barrel-shaped wooden body, a neck and two silk strings, similar to the Chinese erhu . As with the erhu , the strings run between the rod and the horsehair cover of the bow. It is played like the erhu on your knees.
The haegeum is also related to the ancient Chinese xiqin and today's Chinese erxian , as the Korean, as well as the Japanese culture, was strongly influenced by the Chinese culture. In East Africa there is another distribution area for pipe skewer violins, the best known being the Ugandan endingidi .
In the ceremonial Korean court music, the bowling oboe piri plays the melody and the haegeum , together with the deeper-sounding string zitzer ajaeng, complements the melody.
In the 20th century the sohaegeum ( 소해금 ) was developed. It is a modernized form of the haegeum . It comes from North Korea and is therefore mainly played there.