Yangqins, cimbaloms, hackbretts – the world’s dulcimers celebrate Hong Kong

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Thus wrote William Shakespeare in Romeo & Juliet, his famous tragedy in which it does matter quite a bit whether one’s name is Montague or Capulet. But while the trapezoidal Chinese musical instrument known as the yangqin produces sweet sounds regardless of whether its ‘yang’ is written as the Chinese character for ‘foreign’(洋) – as it was before 1910 – or ‘acclaimed’ (揚) as it is now, the original way the name was written gives much more of a hint that it originated, like many of its relatives, in ancient Persia.

The Hungarian cimbalom’s similarity to the yangqin has been ascribed to parallel evolution rather than a traceable common ancestry, but it too is a member of the family of percussion instruments known in English as the hammered dulcimer. On August 1 and 2, both the cimbalom and yangqin can be heard at the HK City Hall’s Concert Hall when the HK Chinese Orchestra and guest artists like cimbalom virtuoso Viktoria Herenscar present Discovery: Dulcimers around the World as part of the 2008 HK Dulcimer Festival.

Herenscar, who has been the President of the Cimbalom World Association since it was established in 1991, is no stranger to the world of Chinese music, having previously performed with Chinese orchestras in Taiwan and Singapore. Matching her belief that a professional artist should know every kind of music to the wide musical range of the cimbalom, she says “I play everything: solo, chamber music, with a large symphony [orchestra], classical, folk, world music, jazz.”

For her Hong Kong debut, however, Herenscar – who was introduced to the cimbalom when three and a half years old – will stick to what she knows best and has been enthralled by for over 50 years: the music of her native Hungary. “I will play two Hungarian compositions (Hungarian Dances from the Collection of Pannonhalma and Zoltan Gyore’s SZ 1975) on the Hungarian type of cimbalom, the most modern cimbalom in the world with legs, pedals, stronger strings and so on.”

Herenscar’s love affair with the instrument began when her parents bought her sister one for Christmas. Although it wasn’t meant for her, the then very young lass was unable to leave the cimbalom alone for whole days at a time. She discovered that she could play songs her grandmother sang to her but her fascination infuriated her mother as it meant Herenscar regularly forgot to eat – or do anything else except play the instrument. “Also, my sister couldn’t practise because of me!”

Still, when her sister told her cimbalom teacher about Herenscar’s obsession, the teacher, Ida Tarjini Toth, became intrigued and, on learning that Herenscar could already play some 90 melodies, took her on as a student as well. “So,” the now acknowledged master of the cimbalom recalls, “I began to study to play on the cimbalom in the music school in my fifth year.”

Even with over half a century of playing behind her, Herenscar still never tires of the sound of the cimbalom. Perhaps that is why she has fulfilled her own demanding conditions for mastering any instrument: “You need much patience, training and practice, and you must love your instrument. Your instrument must be the first in your life,” she states.

Viktoria Herenscar will perform two pieces in the programme of the HK Chinese Orchestra’s Discovery: Dulcimers around the World concerts at the HK City Hall’s Concert Hall on August 1 and 2. A part of the 2008 HK Dulcimer Festival, the concerts will also feature Switzerland’s Johannes Fuchs playing two pieces on the hackbrett. Showtime is 8pm and tickets are $250, $180 and $100 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.