Erhu -- Queen of Chinese Folk Orchestra

[jorgeanna]

Producing one of the most beautiful and haunting sounds in Chinese music, theerhuis one of the most popular Chinese bowed-string instruments.

The two-stringed, vertical fiddle -- China's answer to the western violin -- has a history of more than 1,000 years. It became popular in southern China during the Song Dynasty (960-1279) when it was callednanhu. Capable of producing music with a flexibility approaching that of the human voice, theerhuis extremely popular in China today as a medium for both traditional and contemporary music and plays an important role in both solo and orchestral performances.