China's chimes and other sounds

An ancient bone flute unearthed in China shows that the Chinese played musical instruments with a seven-step scale as early as 8,000 years ago.

Although Chinese musical instruments sound and look nearly totally different to their Western counterparts, they can be used to play the music of the west.

One such instrument is the Bian Zhong which is a set of bronze bells with each bell providing two different notes.

The Bian Zhong, which is a symbol of that country's musical ritual, is among a collection of 70 fascinating Chinese instruments on show at St James Cavalier in Valletta.

The show runs until September 10.

In a way similar to but completely different from the bronze chimes is the Bian Qing - a set of chime stones - which as the material implies know their origin in the Stone Age and were extremely popular near the Yellow River.

The director of the China Cultural Centre in Valletta, Zheng Hao said there are 56 ethnic groups in China, each having its own distinctive music and musical instruments.

"The exhibition at St James provides a comprehensive view of the cultural and musical heritage of China.

"When the China Cultural Centre organised the Spring Festival in Valletta this year with a concert at the Manoel Theatre which featured Chinese musical instruments, the audience was astounded with the exquisite sounds these instruments produced," Mr Zheng said. At St James one can listen to each of the instruments being displayed through a monitor in the atrium, next door to the exhibition.

China's rich musical tradition can also be gauged by the number of pottery figurines showing dancers, musicians and acrobats that were found at Sichuan Province.

It was customary to bury such figurines with the dead during the Han (206 BC-220 AD) and Tang (618-907AD) dynasties.

"These figurines show also the extent of the trade that flowed through the Silk Road," Mr Zheng said.

An intriguing instrument is the Ma Tou Qin or horse head fiddle from the grassland of inner Mongolia which is an autonomous region of China where the horse is very popular. In fact, Ma Tou means head of horse. The bow strings are made of horse hair.

The Da Gu is a drum made of wood, covered in cowhide on both the top and the bottom and used in traditional festivals and other parties.

The exhibition is on a European tour and has just been to France and Poland.