One of the oldest, most identifiable sounds of traditional Chinese music is enjoying a surge in popularity — internationally, and in the D.C. region.
“This instrument, in Chinese, they call ‘guzheng.’ In America, you can call it Chinese zither,” said Alice Kan, who cofounded the Alice Gu-Zheng Ensemble in 2002 with her husband, Kent, in Fairfax County, Virginia.
“This guzheng is 21 strings,” said Kan, who arrived at the WTOP studio with her husband and a hand truck transporting the large stringed instrument, a portable stool and other equipment to set up for a demonstration.
Over the years, the guzheng — roughly pronounced “goo jhung” — and its seven-stringed cousin, guqin, have ranged in size.
“At the beginning, it just had five strings,” Kan said.
The guzheng traces its roots to China before the 6th century BCE, according to the Guzheng Alive site.
Kan said she first learned to play the instrument when she asked her college roommate in Taiwan to teach her.
Before playing, she wrapped her fingers with tape and attached a tortoise shell plectrum — similar to a guitar pick — around her right thumb. Using an electric tuner, as well as tools to tighten and loosen the pegs holding the metal strings, and adjust movable wooden bridges which hold the strings off the fingerboard, Kan demonstrated some of the playing techniques.
With her right hand picking and strumming, and her left hand pressing and bending the strings and applying vibrato, she sometimes leaned fully forward on the stool to press notes on the lowest string.
The guzheng was traditionally played as a solo instrument, she said, “or duet, or trio, depends on the song.”
Playing more modern guzheng songs, she plucked strongly, and energetically used both hands on either side of the movable bridges that divide the guzheng into left and right sections.
A popular young YouTube creator, Moyun, has posted versions of popular rock songs performed on the guzheng, including “Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Hotel California” by The Eagles and “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC.