Bawu
The bawu, a Chinese free-reed bamboo pipe, in five languages — bawu, Bawu, free-reed pipe
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Five languages
| Language | Name |
|---|---|
| Chinese | 巴乌 |
| English | bawu (free-reed bamboo pipe) |
| Italian | — (no settled term; bawu is borrowed) |
| German | Bawu |
| French | bawu |
The bawu is a wind instrument played by the Yi, Hani, Dai and other Yunnan peoples: a single bamboo pipe held transversely, with a metal free reed that produces a soft tone. English writes bawu, a free-reed bamboo pipe; German and French also borrow bawu. Italian has no settled term and writes bawu (a common practice).
Watch out: the bawu and the hulusi both use free reeds, but the bawu is a single pipe played sideways, while the hulusi has a gourd wind chest, is held vertically and carries drone pipes; the bawu is not an ordinary bamboo flute, because its sound comes from a reed rather than an edge.
Read deeper → Bawu
Sources
- 各语种乐器名与形制，参《中国音乐词典》（人民音乐出版社）及 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Bawu"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.