In ancient times, Chinese instruments were usually divided into eight groups, depending on what they were made from, including stone, wood, silk, metal, bronze, soil, leather and gourd.
In this episode, we will get some insight into a representative instrument of the gourd type, the sheng, one of the oldest free-reed instruments in the world.
After the i ... Show More
Sep 26
Mustafa Alim: Choosing rhythm over the pulse
This episode follows Mustafa Alim, a musician from Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China, who fell in love with the accordion. Actively promoting accordion culture, he has engaged in cross-cultural exchanges through domestic and international accordion festivals and ... Show More
22m 34s
Apr 2025
Encore: Music strings a bridge cross the border
Over the past decade, Liu Yuening, a Chinese dulcimer professor with the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, has committed herself to using music as a bridge to enhance intercultural communication between China and India.
She believes cultural exchanges between the two g ... Show More
28m 51s
Apr 2023
Heart and Soul: Sikhism’s lost song
In the heyday of the Sikh Empire, Kirtan (Sikh hymns) were performed using stringed instruments such as the sarangi, rabab and taus. The rich, complex tones these instruments create are said to evoke a deeper connection to Waheguru (God). But in the late 19th Century, these tradi ... Show More
26m 29s
Feb 2024
Maslanka's Symphony No. 4
Synopsis
What do you see when you hear music? That’s an odd question, perhaps, but sometimes composers confess that particular places, persons and scenes play a role in how music is created.
On today’s date in 1994, in San Antonio, Texas, for example, a new symphony for wind ense ... Show More
2 m
Apr 2024
Violin Concerto No. 2 by George Tsontakis
Synopsis
A concerto, according to Webster’s Dictionary, is “a piece for one or more soloists and orchestra with three contrasting movements.” And for most classical music fans, “concerto” means one of big romantic ones by Beethoven or Tchaikovsky, works in which there is a kind o ... Show More
2 m