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Erhu -- Queen of Chinese Folk Orchestra
 The erhu is featured regularly in "silk and
bamboo" ensembles -- an elaborate but quite accessible form of Chinese folk
music, alongside various bamboo wind instruments and
plucked strings such as the pipa
(lute) and yangqin (dulcimer). Such music is played at village
ceremonies and informal "jam sessions" in teahouses. It is also an accompanying
instrument in Chinese Opera -- an ancient form of highly stylized musical
dramas, and classical music. There are around a dozen close relatives of the
erhu within China and in other parts of the East. The banhu,
for example, has a wooden top rather than a snakeskin membrane, and the
sihu , from Mongolia, has two pairs of strings with a remarkable double
bow with two tiers of hair. The morin khur, also from Mongolia, is a rectangular
fiddle with a carved horse head and strings made of thick strands of silk; it
produces a deep, guttural sound.
The erhu is almost always a must in national orchestras. In smaller
orchestras, there are usually two to 6 erhu; in larger ones there are
l0-12. In fact, the erhu plays the same role as the violin in Western
orchestras.
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