The ''bipa'' is a pear-shaped

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

that is a

traditional Korean musical instrument Traditional Korean musical instruments comprise a wide range of string, wind, and percussion instruments. Many traditional Korean musical instruments (especially those used in Confucian ceremonies) derive from Chinese musical instruments. String K ...

. It is derived from

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

pipa The pipa, pípá, or p'i-p'a () is a traditional Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets rang ...

'' and was introduced through the

Silk Road The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and reli ...

Goguryeo Goguryeo (37 BC–668 AD) ( ) also called Goryeo (), was a Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula and the southern and central parts of Northeast China. At its peak of power, Goguryeo controlled most ...

and

Silla Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms of K ...

. There are two major types of ''bipa'': the four stringed ''dang-bipa'' (당비파 / 唐琵琶) and the five stringed ''hyang-bipa'' (향비파 / 鄕琵琶). While ''dang-bipa'' was a Tang-style pipa first introduced from the Chinese

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

and localized over time to have Korean characteristics, ''hyang-bipa'' was created in the Korean Kingdom of

. The instrument is also related to other derivatives such as

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

ese '' đàn tỳ bà'' and the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

biwa The is a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling. The is a plucked string instrument that first gained popularity in China before spreading throughout East Asia, eventually reaching Japan sometime duri ...

''.

The bipa was popular in court music until it fell out of use in the early 20th century during the Japanese Colonial period. In 1988–1989, there was the first attempt to revive the two ''bipa'' that was unsuccessful in commercialization. This revived ''bipa'' used the existing modern Chinese pipa as a basis but was modified to the Korean form, and followed

Joseon Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...

style and Chinese style use of fake nails and Chinese techniques. It also reintroduced the two sound holes on the front characteristic of the two Korean ''bipa'' as well as the five strings characteristic of the ''hyang''-''bipa''. The strings used are of twisted silk, rather than the metal-nylon used for the Chinese pipa. Following this recreation, there were many reinvented modern ''bipa''. A more faithful restoration of the two ''bipa'' is used in contemporary traditional music. In 2007, restoration by National Gugak Center of South Korea followed closely to the two original ''bipa'' from Akhak- Gwebeombr>
not made like the Chinese pipa. This recreation uses silk strings and is plucked with fake nails (formerly used bare fingers) or with a plectrum, stick. This is used for traditional music and Sanjo (music), sanjo.

Structure and playing method

Both the traditional Dang Bipa and Hyang Bipa had double crescent moons on body and had from 8 to 13 monolithic old bamboo frets (there are types up to 19 frets), especially the Hyang Bipa is painted with floral motifs on the top. The modern multi-frets Hyang Bipa is mostly influenced by the Chinese Pipa frets. In the past, two types of Bipa used twisted silk strings, but nowadays they are rarely used, but instead are made from chemical silk or polyester strings.

''Hyang bipa''

The ''Hyang bipa'' is a five-stringed pipa, played with a plectrum – the standard type from the

dynasty (고구려, 37–668) to the

Silla dynasty Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms of Ko ...

(신라, −935). It is one of the three types of stringed lutes of the Silla dynasty (besides the

geomungo The geomungo (also spelled ''komungo'' or ''kŏmun'go'') or ''hyeongeum'' (literally "black zither", also spelled ''hyongum'' or ''hyŏn'gŭm'') is a traditional Korean plucked zither with both bridges and frets. ''Geomungo'' is a representative ...

and the

gayageum The ''gayageum'' or ''kayagum'' (in Korean 가야금, 伽倻琴 in Chinese characters) is a traditional Korean plucked zither with 12 strings, though some more recent variants have 18, 21 or 25 strings. It is probably the best known traditional ...

). Apart from the five-stringed, straight-necked and had five pegs; the front side is made of

paulownia ''Paulownia'' ( ) is a genus of seven to 17 species of hardwood tree (depending on taxonomic authority) in the family Paulowniaceae, the order Lamiales. They are present in much of China, south to northern Laos and Vietnam and are long cultivat ...

, the back side is chestnut. Until the

dynasty (조선, 1392–1897), it increased to 10 frets, but modern versions can have up to 12 frets (voice close to three

octaves In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...

). When performing, musician usually sit, put the lute on their lap in an upright position (slightly leaning to the left), the left hand holds the neck or the body and presses the strings, the right hand uses five fake nails (''gajogak'') (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...

: 가조각,

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...

: 假爪角) to pluck the strings. In the past, people plucked the lute with a ''suldae'' – a bamboo stick (influenced from the geomungo), but today the person who preserves the Hyang bipa way of playing is the female musician Go Boseok (고보석) – who can also play Hyang bipa, wolgeum (moon lute) and geomungo. Today, most hyang bipa players use the improved hyang bipa from the Chinese pipa, and most of them use techniques from the Chinese pipa, had more frets and especially in new musical compositions.

''Dang bipa''

The ''Dang bipa'' is a four-stringed lute, with a curved neck with 12 frets, the modern version has a wider range of three octaves. According to the Chinese character ''Dang'' (Hangul:唐,

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: ''táng'') is a word referring to the

, which means that this type of instrument originated in China and was introduced to Korea during the Tang dynasty. During the Goryeo period (918–1392), it was used in

Dangak ''Dangak'' (syllables: ''dang-ak'') is a genre of traditional Korean court music. The name means " Tang music", and the style was first adapted from Tang Dynasty Chinese music during the Unified Silla period in the late first millennium. It was ...

music. However, since the Korean era, it has also been used in

Hyangak ''Hyangak'', literally "indigenous/native music, folks music" is a traditional form of Korean court music with origins in the Three Kingdoms period (57 BC – 668 AD). It is often accompanied by traditional folk dances of Korea, known as ''hyan ...

. The name ''Hyangak'' means "village music", a form of traditional Korean court music that originated during the

Three Kingdoms period The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and was followed by the West ...

(삼국시대). In the past, people have tried to restore the way to play Dang-bipa, but it seems to have failed because there are no professional musicians for this type of instrument. Currently, the Dang Bipa is restored in both shape and play. It is plucked with the ''mokbal'' plectrum (Hangul:목발, Hanja: 木撥) (small than ''bachi'' – plectrum of

) or play with ''gajogak'' like Hyang Bipa.

Notes

External links

Traditional Korean Music
with pictures and descriptions of bipa Korean musical instruments Necked lutes {{Lute-stub