Merry Christmas to everyone!
May 2009 be a better year for all of us!
Here's a video of a recent Christmas performance by the electric erhu and a guitar.
Songs include: 'Let's eat snow, let's eat snow', 'gazing at spring wind', rude oaf the red nose rain dear' and 'My whey'.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
National Music Competition 2008 / WNZ Sandalwood Erhus
The National Music Competition 2008 organised by the National Arts Council just concluded.
Congratulations to all the winners!
Special congratulations to Joyce Poh for getting first in the Dizi open category. She happens to be the lead cast in our youtube video: Basic introduction of the Dizi.
And special congratulations to the members Symphonic Percussion for getting first in the Percussion ensemble category. We hoped our gongs, cymbals, drums and mallets have helped you in one way or another.
Congratulations to the members of Toa Payoh West Community Club Chinese Orchestra for bagging the most number of prizes.
You can download the full list of winners here.
Lastly, congratulations to Artssphere Chamber Ensemble for getting first in the instrumental ensemble category. Each one of them are excellent musicians who came together to give a good performance, and scared the hell out of some kid apparently.
Which brings me to the second part of this email - the erhus that they used are supplied by us. Noticed how clean and uniformed the erhus sounded during the performance.
The axe that they use is this baby below:
This erhu is a maker in Tianjin by the initials of WNZ.
If you remember my first blog post I talked about one of the best erhus that I have come across. Well, I met him recently and brought in some of his erhus. His erhus especially the sandalwood erhus are excellent sounding.
If you are thinking of buying a good erhu, this is one instrument you can seriously consider:
http://www.eason.com.sg/products/erhu/heh41.jsp
Congratulations to all the winners!
Special congratulations to Joyce Poh for getting first in the Dizi open category. She happens to be the lead cast in our youtube video: Basic introduction of the Dizi.
And special congratulations to the members Symphonic Percussion for getting first in the Percussion ensemble category. We hoped our gongs, cymbals, drums and mallets have helped you in one way or another.
Congratulations to the members of Toa Payoh West Community Club Chinese Orchestra for bagging the most number of prizes.
You can download the full list of winners here.
Lastly, congratulations to Artssphere Chamber Ensemble for getting first in the instrumental ensemble category. Each one of them are excellent musicians who came together to give a good performance, and scared the hell out of some kid apparently.
Which brings me to the second part of this email - the erhus that they used are supplied by us. Noticed how clean and uniformed the erhus sounded during the performance.
The axe that they use is this baby below:
This erhu is a maker in Tianjin by the initials of WNZ.
If you remember my first blog post I talked about one of the best erhus that I have come across. Well, I met him recently and brought in some of his erhus. His erhus especially the sandalwood erhus are excellent sounding.
If you are thinking of buying a good erhu, this is one instrument you can seriously consider:
http://www.eason.com.sg/products/erhu/heh41.jsp
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Chinese Musical Instruments of Beijing Olympics 2008
Well, back to the Shanghai fair again.
Inside Shanghai Dunhuang's booth(the one with the giant lute - see previous entry), there is a special room where they house the Beijing Olympics 2008 Chinese musical instruments.
I only know that erhus were used in the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. Seems like there are more Chinese musical instruments specially made for that occasion.
The first one is a chime stone. You hit it with the beater as shown.
'No touching' it says, but I touched.
The second is a weird looking erhu.
The headstock looks like a Christmas tree.
The body looks like some prop from the Gladiator movie.
It has a 'no touching' sign as well. Again, I touched.
Here are 2 Beijing Olympic flutes.
Don't know if it was used during the Beijing Olympics, but it has the words 'Olympics flute' in Chinese engraved.
'No touching' again. But again I touched.
A huge drum here.
Noticed the sign says 'You may touch', but I didn't. Not very good at taking orders eh?
Finally, my favourite - the erhu that was used by 67 Chinese babes during the Beijing Olympics closing. It is a collaboration between Shanghai Dunhuang and Roland Music.
It is a traditional electric erhu. Traditional in the sense that the erhu is like any traditional erhu, very similar to this model of erhu that I am selling in my online store. Electric in the sense that there are electronic components attached to it that allows the tone to be amplified and modified.
Here's a body shot of it.
The erhu has a cloud design headstock that symbolises prosperity.
There is an effects pedal affixed on the neck of the erhu. You can add reverb, delay, chorus etc to the tone of your erhu. By fixing it on the neck allows you to toggle the effects easily.
Some knobs in front of the erhu for you to set the parameters of the different effects.
The back is where you insert a 9 volt battery.
The brand names of Shanghai Dunhuang and Roland.
Real python skin was used for the resonator.
Here's where the cable goes.
I have 2 of these sitting in my shop. I haven't decide if I want to sell it yet. The last time I heard, the current market price in China is 30,000rmb, about 6000SGD, or 4000USD.
Feel free to let me know if you want to take a look at it if you ever drop by my shop.
Inside Shanghai Dunhuang's booth(the one with the giant lute - see previous entry), there is a special room where they house the Beijing Olympics 2008 Chinese musical instruments.
I only know that erhus were used in the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. Seems like there are more Chinese musical instruments specially made for that occasion.
The first one is a chime stone. You hit it with the beater as shown.
'No touching' it says, but I touched.
The second is a weird looking erhu.
The headstock looks like a Christmas tree.
The body looks like some prop from the Gladiator movie.
It has a 'no touching' sign as well. Again, I touched.Here are 2 Beijing Olympic flutes.
Don't know if it was used during the Beijing Olympics, but it has the words 'Olympics flute' in Chinese engraved.
'No touching' again. But again I touched.A huge drum here.
Noticed the sign says 'You may touch', but I didn't. Not very good at taking orders eh?
Finally, my favourite - the erhu that was used by 67 Chinese babes during the Beijing Olympics closing. It is a collaboration between Shanghai Dunhuang and Roland Music.
It is a traditional electric erhu. Traditional in the sense that the erhu is like any traditional erhu, very similar to this model of erhu that I am selling in my online store. Electric in the sense that there are electronic components attached to it that allows the tone to be amplified and modified.
Here's a body shot of it.
The erhu has a cloud design headstock that symbolises prosperity.
There is an effects pedal affixed on the neck of the erhu. You can add reverb, delay, chorus etc to the tone of your erhu. By fixing it on the neck allows you to toggle the effects easily.
Some knobs in front of the erhu for you to set the parameters of the different effects.
The back is where you insert a 9 volt battery.
The brand names of Shanghai Dunhuang and Roland.
Real python skin was used for the resonator.
Here's where the cable goes.
I have 2 of these sitting in my shop. I haven't decide if I want to sell it yet. The last time I heard, the current market price in China is 30,000rmb, about 6000SGD, or 4000USD.
Feel free to let me know if you want to take a look at it if you ever drop by my shop.