Conserving Lusheng Cadences
But now it is different. Better incomes have led to more time and growing appetite for recreation among local communities. Meanwhile, the musical instrument of ethnic minorities is appealing to a growing number of music lovers in China. Demand for Lusheng is expanding, and the village receives orders from cities and even abroad. Mo has leased his farmland to others so that his family can dedicate their energies to Lusheng business.
Like all other cultural heritage objects, making a Lusheng involves time-consuming procedures. “The process consists of more than 60 steps, the most tiring polishing bamboo and the most essential technique that of making reeds,” said Mo. His two sons and daughter-in-law are responsible for making the bamboo pipes and blowing tube, and Mo handles the core part of the process – making and tuning reeds.
Mo is very picky about the raw materials he uses for his reeds. He collects brass gongs, breaking up, smelting and remolding them into thin strips. “A good reed should vibrate 50 times with a single flick. If it falls short of this, it has to be remade,” said Mo. Each day Mo sits beside the window and polishes every reed in the traditional way. The wooden stick in front of him that he uses as a support has been so well polished that it has a glacial gleam. Mo said he has worn through four such sticks over the past 40 years.
Mo is the fourth generation of his family to enter the Lusheng trade. For the past few decades he has formed an emotional attachment to this instrument, and thinks all the pains and toils in the course of learning the craft are worthwhile. “It is tough for beginners,” Mo explained. “Even what seems a simple task, like chopping the bamboo, is not that easy as every cut has to be made with the right amount of force. Making reeds is trickier as they are very thin and easily broken. I wasted a lot of materials when I first started.”
It takes long years of learning and practice to make Lusheng, but in the past when the market demand was low such efforts were not rewarded with appropriate remuneration. Young people were reluctant to learn the skill and instead sought work in urban areas. Even Mo’s own sons left the village for the cities. At that time Mo started to worry about the possible extinction of the craft. He wanted his children to learn and pass on the tradition. That was how he started thinking about how to make Lusheng-making a profitable business.
The traditional Lusheng has six long unwieldy pipes and features relatively rough handiwork. Mo thought of making improvements. First he tried to make the pipes smaller and more refined. His products soon became popular among tourists visiting the Miao village. After securing a market, Mo expanded the traditional six pipes to 15 and then to 24. These designs have a bigger range and produce a more sonorous tone.
Mo’s innovation received recognition from Lusheng fans and folk music experts, including a professor in the Central Conservatory of Music. His fame attracts more and more customers to Paika to buy his Lusheng. Mo’s sons have quit their jobs in the city and returned to help. “At first my boys refused to learn the trade, but now they are better at it than me. I feel relieved because finally I have qualified successors,” Mo said.
He also taught his daughters the skill, breaking away from the tradition whereby it is only passed down to male family members. Since then they have brought their husbands’ families into the Lusheng business and helped them profit from increasing demand.
Thanks to Mo’s efforts, the fortunes of not only Mo’s family but also his village have turned around. He has taught over 10 apprentices, who in turn took on their own apprentices. Soon over 20 households in Paika Village improved their incomes through Lusheng making.
A major event that improved the village’s burgeoning business was the opening of Longdongbao International Airport in Guiyang, the provincial capital, in 1997. That year it received an order for 7,000 Lusheng. “In order to guarantee the delivery,” said Mo, “I rallied the whole village to join in with the production, and shared my expertise with every Lusheng craftsperson. In the end everyone took a share of the earnings. More and more people have since joined the Lusheng-making business.”
After he was appointed a national intangible cultural heritage custodian, Mo received more publicity. TV stations, newspapers and other organizations often invite him for interviews or to contribute to exhibitions. He is now a local celebrity, and often referred to by other villagers as “the guy who makes great Lusheng and has flown to faraway places.”
The attention Mo has received from the public helps him better promote the time-honored musical instrument of his ethnic group. In April of 2012, Mo was invited to an intangible cultural heritage expo in Macao. “Many visitors to the expo knew nothing about Lusheng, so I played for them and showed them how it worked,” Mo recalled. “Such an immediate way of introducing Miao culture to other people is very effective. The cultural departments of Macao bought some Lusheng from me with the intention of teaching local students how to play it.”
As his instruments are increasingly heard outside their origins, people still catch the tones of Lusheng played as they pass Mo’s house. The energetic inheritor never ceases his efforts to pass down the Miao’s Lusheng to future generations.
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Lusheng consists of a blowing tube, pipes, reeds and resonance tubes. Its sizes vary according to the traditions and preferences of different ethnic groups.
The most common is the Miao six-pipe Lusheng. Single-, double-, five- and eight-pipe Lusheng are also popular. Thanks to recent innovations and improvements, one can also find models with 15, 20 or even 26 pipes. With more pitches and notes, these Lusheng can be used for playing more complicated melodies.
Lusheng is a symbol of Miao culture. In Miao communities Lu-sheng bands playing their traditional songs are accompanied by traditional dances. The knowledge of making Lusheng has been passed down personally between individuals and no written documents exist, making it difficult to preserve the craft.
