PIPA XING
(1999)

Chinese woman playing a pipa

Pipa Xing is a composition for the 25-string koto. It was commissioned in 1999 by the inventor of that instrument, the virtuoso Keiko Nosaka.

Ifukube's inspiration to write this piece came from the poem Pipa Xing by the Chinese Tang dynasty poet Bai Juyi (772-846). Bai Juyi is said to have written the poem after hearing a young woman on a distant boat playing a pipa, the traditional 4-string Chinese lute.

Bai Juyi

Wanting to evoke the sounds of ancient China, Ifukube thought of another Chinese instrument, the se. The se was a 25-string zither sharing many similarities with Nosaka's own 25-string koto. Thus, with Pipa Xing, Ifukube treats the listener, by means of the 25-string koto, to what he thinks the ancient se might have sounded like.

Ifukube based the over-all form of his composition on the structure of Bai Juyi's poem.

To read an English translation of Bai Juyi's complete poem, Song of the Pipa Player (Pipa Xing), click on the button below.

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Copyright 2008 Erik Homenick. All rights reserved.