Pipa player Wen Zhao (Photo: Sian Richards)
Fake fingernails don’t only come in handy when dressing up as the Wicked Witch of the West, or when inflicted with chicken pox. They’re also an essential accessory for playing the pipa.
The pipa (pronounced pea-pah, not pie-pah) is a four-stringed lute-like instrument that’s as popular in China as the guitar is in Nashville, or Toronto. It’s shaped like a pear, though it’s bigger than the fruit, and flatter – and inedible, obviously. Unlike a guitar, pipa players play the instrument vertically, with the fat, round end resting on their laps and the pipa’s neck pointing upward.
While the earliest extant reference to the pipa dates back to China’s Han Dynasty (206 BC — 220 AD), it didn’t become popular until several hundred years later, during the Tang Dynasty (618 — 907). Back then, pipa music was in high demand in the imperial court. The pipa didn’t originate in China, but arrived from the Middle East, morphing from that region’s own stringed instrument, the oud. It was an exchange made possible by the Silk Road – the trade route that established connections between Europe and Asia, allowing for dialogues like this one: “I’ll trade you a scrap of silk, an ounce of gun powder, and some tea leaves for one thirty-minute lesson on your lute-like instrument.”
The pipa of centuries past differs from its current incarnation. At one time, it had five or six frets and silk strings that were plucked with a plectrum (pick). Musicians held the instrument horizontally, and most pipa masters were men. These days pipas have up to thirty frets and nylon-wound steel strings that players pluck with five fake fingernails, and pipa players, the majority being female, hold the instrument in an upright position.
On the other side of the world, the girls in 12 Girls Band play various Chinese instruments, including the pipa. This Chinese band consists of thirteen classically-trained girls – they opted not to change the name of the band when they added their thirteenth band member – who wear matching outfits, always smile, and have made it huge in Asia, especially in Japan. In their repertoire, they include cover tunes such as “El Cóndor Pasa” by the Peruvian composer Daniel AlomÃa Robles, popularized by Simon and Garfunkel.
Most pipa players in Canada and the U.S. are of Chinese heritage, many having moved here from overseas. New York-based musician Min Xiaofen lent one to Björk’s “I See Who You Are,” but the most prominent pipa player in the States is Wu Man. She has brought her Chinese music to Yo-Yo Ma’s world music group, the Silk Road Ensemble, as well as to one of NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts. To add something unusual to their whiny rock music, Incubus guitarist Mike Einziger plucks the pipa on their tune “Aqueous Transmission,” though he plays with a plectrum rather than with the proper five-finger plucking technique.
Most pipa players in Toronto only play their music within the Chinese community, which is why the instrument doesn’t make regular appearances at the Tranzac’s open mic nights. Wen Zhao is a local pipa player who, since moving to Toronto from Beijing in 1997, has been intent on disseminating the music of her heritage as well as playing music from other cultures. Her pipa education began at the age of six, and like many others, she had parents who wanted their daughter to be versed in Chinese musical and cultural traditions. Zhao loves her lute’s expressive capabilities, which allow her to play gentle, lyrical music as well as intense battle pieces.
Apart from playing traditional Chinese music on the pipa, either solo or with her group China Court Trio, she performs music from other parts of the world too. Her cross-cultural exploration began as a student in London, when she studied under an Irish guitar player, who suggested that she play the music from Riverdance. These days, she performs with classical and flamenco guitarist Roman Smirnov, and with the Lute Legends Ensemble, where Zhao plays Baroque and Middle Eastern music alongside lute player Lucas Harris and oud player Bassam Bishara. The three of them met thanks to Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. Zhao often performs with Tafelmusik, and she was involved in their documentary Four Seasons Mosaic – a film that had cameras follow her to Beijing, where she visited former teacher and pipa master Wang Fan Di.
Zhao’s teenaged daughter Cecilia is mastering the instrument as well. In an adorable segment on TVO’s multiethnic musical instrument show Jay Jay’s Jams, she chats about the pipa with a blue jay.
How to Play the Pipa
Learning to play the pipa isn’t like playing guitar, where you might get a friend to show you three chords, enabling you to play the entire Bob Dylan songbook. Sitting very straight is both crucial and simple to understand, as is taping five fake fingernails to the fingertips of your right hand. The rest of playing the pipa – the part where you’d generate sound – is a challenge, since plucking the strings with all five fingers, especially when creating a tremolo (rapid alternation between notes), doesn’t come easy. Beginners should start by plucking with just one finger. While the right hand plucks, the left hand presses the strings (tuned A-D-E-A) to create varying pitches. For a bit of instruction, start with this mini-lesson from Montreal-based pipa player Liu Fang. To learn a less difficult Chinese instrument, try the ghuzeng (Chinese harp) or the bowed two-string erhu. Or, for something even simpler, construct your own pipa from a cardboard tube, fishing wire, small block of wood, and empty can of dog food.
Wen Zhao will perform with the Lute Legends Ensemble at Harbourfront Centre’s Redpath Stage on July 28 at 3:30 p.m.
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Shari Kasman’s writing has appeared on paper, on computer screens, and on many, many Post-it Notes. Follow her on Twitter at @smkasman.
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