look how in love she is with her instrument. She periodically stares not at her fingers but at it, she also leans her head in close as if to embrace it. Her passion towards this is absolutely lovely.
Everything about Wu Man is so great here - her playing, choice of repertoire and especially her facial and body movements which clearly convey the joy of playing and making music.
I`ve counted the number of strings many times. Only four? How come it sounds like many more? The term virtuoso comes to mind. Great performance. Thanks Wu Man, thanks NPR.
First time I heard Wu Man's extraordinary Pipa playing was on a Water Lilly Acoustics recording, where she played duets with Martin Simpson on guitar. They had only met for the first time the same day they were recorded by Kavi Alexander. The results were mesmerizing and almost hallucinatory. Two musicians of this caliber. from entirely different musical cultures and traditions- and they were able to seamlessly meld together in a ravishing display of virtuosity, the likes of which I don't think I've seen before or since.
The best part of Chinese music is the silence between licks，like the empty part of painting，these are the parts that art take your mind in deep thoughts. We call it 留白
Excellent work on the pipa. I've been enjoying listening to that video for the past few mornings, sitting at my desk at work. Wu Man was a fine choice for a tiny desk performer.
Yes, Chinese music and a lot of Asian music in general like to bend notes to add expression. I've developed somewhat of a sense to differentiate what country the music is coming from (At least differentiate China, Japan, and Korea). China has a lot of intense and expressive music that usually have a strong meaning in it, whether happy, sad, angry, etc. Japan has more of a calming sense of music. Very rarely does the music have fast paced, very happy music. Korean music almost always has a sort of "bounce" to it. I don't know why, but it's very easy to tell if it's a traditional Korean song if you hear a general bouncing sound or rhythm to the song.
Absolutely remarkable !. An honour and privilege to hear this amazing virtuoso !. Fascinating and fantastic. Sending love and good wishes, from Scotland 🏴 x.
This kind of music is the reason why i never doubt the Chinese always respected and fought many real historic wars in the past, historic in the true sense of the word! Every beat from her fingers shoots like clouds of arrows, spears and blade sharp knives from the horseback!
Stephen Zakaria The music and the idea that China fought many real wars have zero correlation. There isn’t a reason at all to doubt China is and has been extremely powerful and respected and involved in wars. They’ve been a power for thousands of years. Music shouldn’t be what you base your info on politics/ war from IN MY OPINION
Heh. Pipa music actually usually is notated in special Pipa tab. Not surprising, considering the instrument is 2000 years old and pre-dates conventional Western staff notation by over 1500 years! "Ambush from all sides" is one of the most famous pieces for the instrument. Its been transcribed, but I think finding a copy might be tricky. If you *do* manage to find one, and can decipher it, good luck playing it. This is a considered a virtuoso level piece and it will probably take you a few years of practice before you can do so.
Although the music sounds familiar to me from film scores, I've never seen the instrument or the musicianship that creates it. Ms. Wu is a virtuoso. Thank you
I have never read so many disgusting comments on NPR Music. They bring us these segments for education and enjoyment. MAKE a choice to broaden your minds: 1) ask the Lord to forgive you for judging, 2) go read a book, 3) learn to like/love yourself FIRST and then extend that love to others.
I keep coming back to this concert. One can hear so much in it - country blues, the Coltranes, math metal & Carnatic music, so much wailing & reverence & movement.
The another reason why a lot of girls learning pipa but not boys is that pipa is traditionally for girls, for boys they practice Erhu, Guqin etc. A lot of pipa masters were males though
What makes Wu Man's virtuosity so much more impressive is that the pipa is actually a notoriously difficult instrument to learn, much less master. One can't just become a self-taught master pipa player, unlike with guitar.
@azrasound "Ambushed from ten sides" is quite a popular traditional repertoire for virtuosos. There's an interesting story behind it, too, if you're into ancient militaristic stuff.
Wouldn't surprise me if you could mail order actual musicians from anywhere on the Silk Road and some enterprising individual would "acquire" and deliver. Please allow 4-6 years delivery.
its important to understand that this is for entertainment, imagine having to entertain an emperor in the time when these pieces originated. I am sure that they would be quite impressed!!
But this pipa is more modern rendition, the ancient one probably resembles more like japanese biwa? Search tang dynasty pipa it is kept in japanese museum
Master of puppets I’m pulling your strings Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams Blinded by me, you can’t see a thing Just call my name, ‘cause I’ll hear you scream Master Master Just call my name, ‘cause I’ll hear you scream Master Master
Fun fact: "Ambush from All Sides", or literally "Ambush from Ten Sides" in Chinese 十面埋伏 is also the name of the Chinese name for the Zhang Yimou film "House of Flying Daggers", where this piece of music is also featured.
One to make you smile. You see this pretty Chinese lady w/ this somewhat odd-looking (to my Western eyes) stringed instrument, and you are expecting maybe a lullaby. Instead you get something resembling hard rock. Cool. 01/10/2015
pipa is awesome. i wonder, if u use nylon or gut strings, instead of steel, would it sound much softer? i like pipa cause i like idea of 100% hole - less lute(completely flat). & 4 strings gives plenty of finger room, unlike room lost with 6 stringed guitar.
琵琶起原Translated from Wikipedia The origin of the lute is unknown, but its appearance is similar to that of the lute, barbat (lute) and oud, possibly originating from a common ancestor. There are many speculations about its origin in ancient Chinese records. Du Zhi believes that it originated from the end of the Qin Dynasty; Liu Xi believes that this musical instrument originated from nomadic Hu people, which may have been introduced from Central Asia or West Asia; one Said from Wusun . It has become a common musical instrument in China during the Han Dynasty. Before the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the pipa can be used to refer to all plucked instruments. The most common pipa is the straight neck, and now Ruan Xian is born from the pipa. In the Tang Dynasty, the curved-neck pipa was introduced from Qiuci. The modern pipa is the improved Quxiang pipa, which was finalized in the Ming Dynasty.
That´s so Beautiful I am glad with you lady woman the bookering wrigthing love in your fingers flowers every leave crowing deep . Loada Mujer tesoro escribiente poeta de infinta majestad ancestral liberada. una clase genial y anima a comprar una pipa. Bendiciones 6 de agosto desde Bogotá despierta.
look how in love she is with her instrument. She periodically stares not at her fingers but at it, she also leans her head in close as if to embrace it. Her passion towards this is absolutely lovely.
Tiny Desk Concert one of the best places to discover new music. Thank you all!
Everything about Wu Man is so great here - her playing, choice of repertoire and especially her facial and body movements which clearly convey the joy of playing and making music.
Every note, every breath, every moment hard or implied is the telling of a story.
Thank you Wu Man.
I just love hearing her play Pipa, could probably hear it all day and still enjoy it as much!! Thank you Wu Man!!!
she has so much respect for the instrument, you can see it in every note she plays
shreds so hard there's cole slaw everywhere
Hhh
林祝凱 Hhh
😂
She is such a legend. Wu Man introduced me to Chinese music. She's just amazing!
I`ve counted the number of strings many times. Only four? How come it sounds like many more? The term virtuoso comes to mind. Great performance. Thanks Wu Man, thanks NPR.
First time I heard Wu Man's extraordinary Pipa playing was on a Water Lilly Acoustics recording, where she played duets with Martin Simpson on guitar. They had only met for the first time the same day they were recorded by Kavi Alexander. The results were mesmerizing and almost hallucinatory. Two musicians of this caliber. from entirely different musical cultures and traditions- and they were able to seamlessly meld together in a ravishing display of virtuosity, the likes of which I don't think I've seen before or since.
The best part of Chinese music is the silence between licks，like the empty part of painting，these are the parts that art take your mind in deep thoughts. We call it 留白
i am honored to have wu man's music opening the beginning of my film GENERATION RX. She is a master.
A true artist. She is one with her instrument. Compassion in it's most elegant form.
I was lucky enough to see her perform with the kronos quartet in Connecticut in 2013. Amazing.
so much talent across 4 little strings. amazing.
Excellent work on the pipa. I've been enjoying listening to that video for the past few mornings, sitting at my desk at work. Wu Man was a fine choice for a tiny desk performer.
Beautiful and wild Chinese Pipa playing!! She's really impressive!!! Wow!!!
I love how you can bend strings by applying pressure downwards! Makes for very expressive music!
You can do this with a scalloped neck guitar if you like.
Agree - very cool!
Yes, Chinese music and a lot of Asian music in general like to bend notes to add expression. I've developed somewhat of a sense to differentiate what country the music is coming from (At least differentiate China, Japan, and Korea). China has a lot of intense and expressive music that usually have a strong meaning in it, whether happy, sad, angry, etc. Japan has more of a calming sense of music. Very rarely does the music have fast paced, very happy music. Korean music almost always has a sort of "bounce" to it. I don't know why, but it's very easy to tell if it's a traditional Korean song if you hear a general bouncing sound or rhythm to the song.
probably my favorite tiny desk ever
Absolutely remarkable !. An honour and privilege to hear this amazing virtuoso !.
Fascinating and fantastic. Sending love and good wishes, from Scotland 🏴 x.
She is just badass!
This kind of music is the reason why i never doubt the Chinese always respected and fought many real historic wars in the past, historic in the true sense of the word! Every beat from her fingers shoots like clouds of arrows, spears and blade sharp knives from the horseback!
Stephen Zakaria The music and the idea that China fought many real wars have zero correlation. There isn’t a reason at all to doubt China is and has been extremely powerful and respected and involved in wars. They’ve been a power for thousands of years. Music shouldn’t be what you base your info on politics/ war from IN MY OPINION
looks and sounds like 40 years of training.
She must’ve practiced 40 hours a day when she was young.
Ling Ling I only play for 10 min-1 hour and feel like I’ll never reach this level
@@user-xv4he4mt4x wait ur ling ling?!
U PRACTICE 40 HOURS?!?!
tabs?
Sam Braverman lol
+CFH Sambo yeah, right. lol.
Heh. Pipa music actually usually is notated in special Pipa tab. Not surprising, considering the instrument is 2000 years old and pre-dates conventional Western staff notation by over 1500 years! "Ambush from all sides" is one of the most famous pieces for the instrument. Its been transcribed, but I think finding a copy might be tricky. If you *do* manage to find one, and can decipher it, good luck playing it. This is a considered a virtuoso level piece and it will probably take you a few years of practice before you can do so.
Wu man, that was crazy!
I loved it! The video's description is accurate, and it's amazing seeing her play so delicately and passionately.
the bendings, the vibratos, the phrasing that she does... fantastic to say the least.. =)
i love these sorts of 'down to earth' performances the BEST ! thank you ! luv u Wu Man !
I lack the background to judge this artistically, but it looks like a very impressive technical achievement. And I like what I'm hearing.
This level of prowess on an instrument is other-worldly. WOW! Beyond amazing.
i love npr because they show me music I would never listen to, and it just gives me such a good experience. Thanks so much
We were wrong all along. Looks like the Chinese invented rock.
It all started somewhere.
Shit look at some African Tribes drumming and tell me we invented Metal...
Chinese invented everything
@@郑凤涛 Cultural delusions no no limits.
@@Aerational Every culture uses drums lol
CONGRATULATION!!!!! it was INCREDIBLE...we are witnessing here in BRAZIL!!! very good sound!!!
When ping mom played for us in elementary school, I fell in love, reminded me of grandma on her harp
Wow never seen/heard this instrument before. Brilliant introduction. Thank you wu man.
Night Thoughts is probably the most beautiful pipa music ever...
Great musician, unique music.
Beautiful traditional Chinese music!
Wild sounds! Wu Man, you are a force of nature.
WOW - I'm impressed ...!!! - Such a wonderful music and playin': Thanks a lot, dear Mrs. Wu Man. Best wishes from my heart ...
Man, this is intense. I want a pipa!
put some emgs on that and put it through a dual rec. that'd be metal as fuck.
Ancient Chinese poets used the sound of pearls falling on a jade dish to describe the sound of the pipa.
Although the music sounds familiar to me from film scores, I've never seen the instrument or the musicianship that creates it. Ms. Wu is a virtuoso. Thank you
haha, well the first piece she played is a very ancient chinese tune that existed way before van halen!!
But this form of 十面埋伏 is the modern one though....
I have never read so many disgusting comments on NPR Music. They bring us these segments for education and enjoyment. MAKE a choice to broaden your minds: 1) ask the Lord to forgive you for judging, 2) go read a book, 3) learn to like/love yourself FIRST and then extend that love to others.
Acoustic shredding since the 9th century! This is cool : )
It actually.... Dates back pretty much farther....
The earliest mention of pipa in Chinese texts appeared late in the Han dynasty around the 2nd century AD, so you're just wrong by 7 centuries.
love these virtuosos coming through.
She went to our school today!!!! She was sssooo cool
Monzy C cool! I would have wanted to show her my pipa
I keep coming back to this concert. One can hear so much in it - country blues, the Coltranes, math metal & Carnatic music, so much wailing & reverence & movement.
Simply, I love it!!!
She plays so gracefully!
amazing, pure treasury, thank you Wu Man, keep it up!!
Wow! Beautiful instrument! And she plays it amazingly!
The another reason why a lot of girls learning pipa but not boys is that pipa is traditionally for girls, for boys they practice Erhu, Guqin etc. A lot of pipa masters were males though
I love Guqin it's so pretty.
@@KapkztAnimates I said "traditionally"
@@MegalopsykhiaLIN oh ok sorry
What makes Wu Man's virtuosity so much more impressive is that the pipa is actually a notoriously difficult instrument to learn, much less master. One can't just become a self-taught master pipa player, unlike with guitar.
so fukin metal
Would have sounded great on my old Les Paul lolol
night thoughts is amazing
I very much enjoyed this! You don't see or hear this too much nowadays. Quite refreshing. :DDD
@azrasound "Ambushed from ten sides" is quite a popular traditional repertoire for virtuosos. There's an interesting story behind it, too, if you're into ancient militaristic stuff.
What's the story?
Joelle Hamilton search up maybe battle of gaixia
She played at my school today and blew me away
the last one sounds like banjo and country. super cool perfomance
I love how she cracks the audience up by poking fun at lazy boys.
Don't think you can get much more dramatic than that first part.
Holy finger rolls, batman!
This shit is tight as hell
Wow you had this lady on so long ago. Amazing ❤
Last piece sounds very similar to music from the Sahel (deserts of West Africa). Like something a griot would play.
+Okal Otieno I love the music from the western Africa, especially from Senegal!
Okal Otieno the Silk Road ran from Timbuktu to China...it's not a stretch to imagine the African influence on the Far East.
And visa versa.
Wouldn't surprise me if you could mail order actual musicians from anywhere on the Silk Road and some enterprising individual would "acquire" and deliver. Please allow 4-6 years delivery.
Pure artistic beauty
Woah... dude...its like music or somethin..
Whoo, man! That woman in Wu Man is incredible.
Damn.... ancient Chinese music school musta been the shit back in the day lol.
It was also really hard back then. I've read that they spent hundreds of hours to get in and thousands perfecting their art.
We do that now too.
That is true.
Que belleza, la musicalidad que lleva como si contara mil historia con su sonido.
LOVE THIS SET
Hot damn this is beautiful!
My brain could barely handle the intensity of the first song.
its important to understand that this is for entertainment, imagine having to entertain an emperor in the time when these pieces originated. I am sure that they would be quite impressed!!
Pipa is an old Chinese instrument. Even one of the Chinese immortal deity has one with her.
But this pipa is more modern rendition, the ancient one probably resembles more like japanese biwa? Search tang dynasty pipa it is kept in japanese museum
@@angelabby2379 The Chinese introduced it to the Japanese.
These are folk music not court music.
Dueling Pipas
Chinese Food Deliverance
Fantastic.
holy shit is this intense. i am completely captivated. never heard nothing like this. how wonderful :)
Bravo !
Great.
Master of puppets I’m pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can’t see a thing
Just call my name, ‘cause I’ll hear you scream
Master
Master
Just call my name, ‘cause I’ll hear you scream
Master
Master
Fun fact: "Ambush from All Sides", or literally "Ambush from Ten Sides" in Chinese 十面埋伏 is also the name of the Chinese name for the Zhang Yimou film "House of Flying Daggers", where this piece of music is also featured.
Magnificent.
Amazing!❤
One to make you smile. You see this pretty Chinese lady w/ this somewhat odd-looking (to my Western eyes) stringed instrument, and you are expecting maybe a lullaby. Instead you get something resembling hard rock. Cool. 01/10/2015
AMAZING!!!
pipa is awesome. i wonder, if u use nylon or gut strings, instead of steel, would it sound much softer? i like pipa cause i like idea of 100% hole - less lute(completely flat). & 4 strings gives plenty of finger room, unlike room lost with 6 stringed guitar.
YAY I love these concerts so much - thank you. Love - Vi An
Beautiful woman; beautiful music
琵琶起原Translated from Wikipedia
The origin of the lute is unknown, but its appearance is similar to that of the lute, barbat (lute) and oud, possibly originating from a common ancestor. There are many speculations about its origin in ancient Chinese records. Du Zhi believes that it originated from the end of the Qin Dynasty; Liu Xi believes that this musical instrument originated from nomadic Hu people, which may have been introduced from Central Asia or West Asia; one Said from Wusun . It has become a common musical instrument in China during the Han Dynasty. Before the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the pipa can be used to refer to all plucked instruments. The most common pipa is the straight neck, and now Ruan Xian is born from the pipa. In the Tang Dynasty, the curved-neck pipa was introduced from Qiuci. The modern pipa is the improved Quxiang pipa, which was finalized in the Ming Dynasty.
I am deeply touched
Amazing! Pure and simple.
it is very old and classical Chinese instrument, I think maybe guitar is originally from this, and Marco Polo took it to Italy.
love the use of silence
A lot of golf fans must listen to her. They're always shouting, "Wu da Man."
we are not worthy! we are not worthy!
chills, everywhere.
That´s so Beautiful I am glad with you lady woman the bookering wrigthing love in your fingers flowers every leave crowing deep . Loada Mujer tesoro escribiente poeta de infinta majestad ancestral liberada. una clase genial y anima a comprar una pipa. Bendiciones 6 de agosto desde Bogotá despierta.