Nanyin | 南音

Nanyin, which literally means “Music of the South”, is one of the most ancient musical art forms in China and is regarded as a “living fossil”. Serene and elegant, Nanyin music has soothed and uplifted kings and common folk alike through centuries.

Also known as Xianguan or Nanguan, Nanyin has its roots in China’s imperial courts and later flourished in Fujian’s Quanzhou region. Over the years, it spread to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and further to Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, and beyond.

The chief musical instruments used in Nanyin ensembles are the pipa (a pear-shaped four-string lute), sanxian (a long-necked three-string instrument, whose sound box is covered with python skin), dong xiao (a vertically-held six-hole bamboo flute) and erxian (a two-string fiddle). The music is also performed with a full array of percussion instruments.

Nanyin is sung in the Minnan dialect and is closely tied with the poetic, rhythmic, and dramatic tunes of Central China. The melodies of Nanyin are all noted in Gong Che Pu, a form of traditional Chinese score notation, and researchers have found more than 2,000 pieces of Nanyin repertoires.

In 2009, Nanyin was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.