Ryūteki
Ryūteki ( Japanese龍 笛, "dragon flute ", whereby the Kanji '龍' also refers to the Japanese emperor) is a Japanese transverse flute made of bamboo that plays the main melody in courtly Gagaku music together with the double-reed instrument hichiriki . The ryūteki is held horizontally, has 7 holes, a length of 40 cm and an inner diameter of 1.3 cm.
The sound of the flute is supposed to embody dragons who descend between the sky lights - embodied in Gagaku by the harmonious accompaniment of the mouth organ shō - and people from heaven. The latter are represented by the hichiriki . The ryūteki is one of three flutes used in the gagaku, especially on pieces in the Chinese style. Their mood is lower than that of the komabue and higher than that of the kagurabue .
Musician
Ron Korb is a Canadian soloist. He studied ryūteki music in Japan and integrated this style into some of his compositions.
literature
- Allan Marett: Tōgaku: Where Have the Tang Melodies Gone, and Where Have the New Melodies Come from? In: Ethnomusicology, Vol. 29, No. 3, Fall 1985, pp. 409-431
