Mouth organ of various tribal peoples in south-west China and mountainous areas of South-east Asia, notably Miao, Dong, Yao and others in Guizhou, Guangxi and nearby provinces. Chinese sources of the 13th century mention an eight-pipe mouth organ, lusha, played by the Yao people. Lusheng (‘reed mouth organ’) is a Chinese name, first used in the 16th century in reference to the mouth organ used in dance celebrations by the Miao people. Tribal names include geng (Miao), gazheng (Dong) and other cognate terms, kāēng being a common South-East Asian term. Some Chinese sources also refer to the instrument as liusheng (liu: ‘six’, the usual number of pipes).
The lusheng has a relatively narrow wind-chest of carved wood which is wrapped with rattan or other fibre, and a long, straight blow-pipe extending from one end. Passing through the wind-chest (and extending below the bottom) are six bamboo pipes of varying lengths, open at their top ends but (among Chinese types) closed by natural nodes near their bottom ends. Each pipe has a triangular free reed of bamboo or bronze (enclosed within the wind-chest) and a finger-hole (exposed above the wind-chest). On some variants, one pipe has two or three reeds for extra volume. The reed is activated upon closing of its finger-hole and either exhaling or inhaling through the blow-pipe. Tuning is pentatonic in any of several modes (see Yuan, 1986, pp.130–31).
A closely related mouth-organ is the hulu sheng (‘calabash mouth organ’), which is prevalent among other tribal cultures of south-west China, notably the Yi, Lahu and Lisu in Yunnan province. Local names include ang (Yi), nuo or naw (Lahu). The hulu sheng is constructed from a dried calabash gourd (forming both wind-chest and blow-pipe), through which five or more bamboo pipes are inserted. Hulu sheng pipes also protrude through the wind-chest, but unlike lusheng pipes they are open at their bottoms and sit flush with the bottom of the wind-chest, allowing the right thumb to cover selected holes to obtain alternate pitches.
Hulu sheng wind-chests made entirely of bronze have been found in sites in central Yunnan province dating from around the 5th century bce (examples are preserved at the Yunnan Provincial Museum, Kunming, and at the British Museum, London). Because these wind-chests are shaped like gourds, it is apparent that gourd mouth organs were used as models and date to an earlier period – making this one of the oldest instrument types in continuous usage in East Asia. Hulu sheng type mouth organs played by tribal peoples living in and around Yunnan province have been mentioned in Chinese sources from the 9th century to the present day. In traditional practice, both lusheng and hulu sheng are used in accompaniment of festival dances (especially those associated with courtship), played by young men while dancing.
See also China, §IV, 5(i); Sheng.
Li Kunsheng and Qin Xu: ‘Hulu sheng’, Wenwu, viii (1980), 85–7
Yuan Bingchang and Mao Jizeng, eds.: Zhongguo shaoshu minzu yueqi zhi [Dictionary of musical instruments of the Chinese minorities] (Beijing, 1986), 123–33
Liu Dongsheng and others, eds.: Zhongguo yueqi tuzhi [Pictorial record of Chinese musical instruments] (Beijing, 1987)
Liu Dongsheng and Yuan Quanyou, eds.: Zhongguo yinyue shi tujian [Pictorial guide to the history of Chinese music] (Beijing, 1988)
A. Thrasher: La-Li-Luo Dance-Songs of the Chuxiong Yi, Yunnan Province, China (Danbury, 1990)
Liu Dongsheng, ed.: Zhongguo yueqi tujian [Pictorial guide to Chinese instruments] (Ji'nan, 1992), 162–4
ALAN R. THRASHER