sanxian

[Tinker]

sanxian

Plucked on lute,
Chinese folk song,
tones low, hang long.
Made from snake's suit,
picked on three strings,
a sound with wings
consorts with flute. 
Notes soft yet strong,
ancient folk song
plucked on lute.
      ~~Judi Van Gorder

Notes:

[badger11]

Enjoyed Tink (and the poems in the link). Great subject.

best

badge

[tonyv]

Judi, I don't know the instrument, but I can picture the scene. I think it should be taken to the Mongolian folk rock level!

 

[Tinker]

Tony,  This video is AWESOME!    The subject of the poem was inspired by the name of the form.   I found this form over 10 years ago and included it in the Reference Section without an example.  I no longer have the book I found it in so don't have the original poem.   But since it was named for an ancient Chinese lute I decided to research further and create a poem in form about the instrument.  I found it isn't commonly used any more, only a handful of Chinese musicians can play it and it is primarily used for the rhythm at base tones.   Your video of course uses modern instruments that could be descendants, if not inspired by the sanxian.   It is so powerful, raw, masculine and modern yet ancient. I could imagine Genghis Khan leading his troops to conquer the world.     I loved it.   How did you find this?  Who even would guess it existed?   

So many positives have come from this dumb little invented form created in the 50s by some teacher wanting to involve her students in writing.   My research led me to a tiny bit of knowledge of an ancient Chinese instrument and in the process I found those 2 ancient Chinese poems which I just loved and now  you introduce me to this group whom I will want to know more about.   Thank you so much.

~~Judi

[eclipse]

This is beautiful...

[Tinker]

Thanks Barry.