Little Peach Red

Introduction

A traditional Chaozhou tune heard in string ensembles, in the three-instrument xiyue and in su gong-and-drum bands.

Little Peach Red is a traditional tune of Chaozhou music that turns up in several different performing forms. The national intangible heritage listing for Chaozhou music names it as a representative work and labels it xiyue, the refined chamber trio of sanxian, pipa and zheng. Wikipedia counts it among the popular pieces of Chaozhou string music, and the English article lists it as one of that tradition's ten characteristic compositions. The English article adds that each of these string pieces resembles a suite of variations on a stock melody. Cai Songqi's survey of Chaozhou performing forms also lists it in the traditional repertoire of su gong-and-drum bands, which are led by the su gong and su drum. Who first made it, and when, is not recorded in the available sources.