The Tang Emperors - Epic Chinese Music
Music from the historical repertoire of Tang-era music, erhu by Amanda Toh. This is an arrangement of a historical piece of music from the era of Tang-dynasty China using modern Chinese instrumentation, known by the name Cáo Pó. Keep in mind that the melody I selected here is one of the many variations based on reconstructive methods. Described in the poem "Chasing the Past" (追昔遊) by Yuan Zhen (元稹), it was a dance piece. For more information on the melody, I refer you to this video with more exhaustive explanations: • 【復原唐樂合奏】曹婆 -- [Reconstructed Tang-period E...
Tang-era music demarcates itself from modern Chinese traditional music due to the stronger emphasis on heptatonic modes. Whilst modern Chinese traditional music has a tendency to emphasise pentatonicism relative to earlier eras, said earlier eras like the Tang-dynasty's would feature higher occurrences of heptatonic modes like the one heard here. The instrumentation consists of a modern Chinese ensemble of erhu, sheng, yangqin and pipa.
The Tang dynasty ruled from 618 to 907, and it is seen by most historians as a golden of Chinese culture, some considering it the apex of many Chinese arts such as poetry.