Hulusi
Hulusi ( Chinese 葫芦丝 , Pinyin húlúsī ) is a mouth organ that is played in Chinese music . The wind chamber of the reed wind instrument consisting of a dried gourd ( gourd ), in which three thin bamboo tubes are plugged. The middle bamboo pipe has seven finger holes, the arrangement of which corresponds to the bawu , which looks like a flute .
Similar to the bagpipes , two pipes attached to the side are switched on as drone sounds. These accompanying notes, which are usually tuned to the fifth and octave , sound constantly. A triangular penetrating brass tongue is blown in the middle melody tube, creating a nasal sound. Hulusi are mostly tuned diatonic , some on the key C, others on F and G.
The hulusi is played in a similar way to the bawu , but requires a strong, steady breath in order not to let the pitch fluctuate. Despite all technical difficulties, the hulusi rewards with a warm tone, the volume of which has enough assertiveness to lead the melody in an ensemble.
Other mouth organs are not played like a flute, but have only one finger hole per pipe, with which they usually only produce one tone. The mouth organs that are related to the hulusi in terms of the arrangement of the wind chamber include the Chinese sheng and the Japanese shō . In other East and Southeast Asian mouth organs, the pipes protrude beyond the wind chamber on the underside. These include the khaen in Laos and northeastern Thailand and the qeej of the Hmong . The north-east Indian state of Tripura, together with the rasem pumpkin mouth organ, forms the western border of today's distribution area of the Asian mouth organs. Constructed in a similar way, the pungi is only a single reed instrument in India after the sound has been generated .
Web links
- Hulusi. patmissin.com
- R. Raine-Reusch: Hulusi or Bilangdao. World Instrument Gallery
- Hulusi (gourd chamber flute with free reed). ( Memento from August 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- Phoenix-tail bamboo under the moon by hulusi. Youtube video