The Huobosi (simplified: 火不思;

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 ...

: Huǒbùsī; ) is a

stringed musical instrument String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the st ...

from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. The name is a transliteration into Chinese of a Turkmenian name for the instrument. It has four strings in four courses and is tuned E, A, D, G. Three of the strings are made of silk and the highest is steel. It was developed through a rationalization of an earlier Turkmenian instrument (the

Komuz The komuz or qomuz ( ky, комуз , az, Qopuz, tr, Kopuz) is an ancient fretless string instrument used in Central Asian music, related to certain other Turkic string instruments, the Mongolian tovshuur, and the lute. The instrument can be f ...

), and used the Chinese name for that instrument. The models were developed, soprano alto and tenor.

History

The Huobosi is played by the

Naxi people Naxi may refer to: * Naxi people (), an ethnic group mainly living in southwest provinces of China * Naxi language, the language of the Naxi people * Naxi District Naxi District (Tibetan: Jang; ) is a county-level district of the city of Luzho ...

in China, and was historically a carved lute with a shape similar to the

draynen The dramyin or dranyen (; dz, dramnyen; ) is a traditional Himalayan folk music lute with six strings, used primarily as an accompaniment to singing in the Drukpa Buddhist culture and society in Bhutan, as well as in Tibet, Ladakh, Sikkim and ...

. In modern times, the huobosi is built with a flat back and bent sides (ribs) in a similar shape, but with a generally shorter neck than the historical version.

References

The Stringed Instrument Database

External links

* ttp://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjI4NTU2OTA0.html A video of a duet between a tenor and soprano huobusi
A video of a huobusi recital with introduction

String instruments Chinese musical instruments {{lute-stub