Lament for Ying

Introduction

Played by Zhao Liangshan on a ten-hole xun in 1983, bringing the xun back to public notice

Lament for Ying is a modern solo for the xun, the ancient clay ocarina, and shares its title with a poem in Qu Yuan's Nine Pieces. In the 1980s Zhao Liangshan, a player with the Hubei Song and Dance Troupe, modelled new instruments on prehistoric clay xun and made more than a thousand improved ten-hole xun to widen the instrument's narrow range. When he played Lament for Ying on stage in 1983 it caused a nationwide stir and brought the xun back to public notice. Another report says it was with this piece that he brought the long-silent xun to the Beijing stage. His album for the China Record Corporation is titled after the piece and also includes xun pieces such as Song of Chu and The Mountain Spirit. Zhao later taught in the music department of Xiamen University and went on studying the instrument.

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