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HulusiShengPaixiao (Chinese panpipes)DiziXiao

The bawu shares its reed, its land and its tone with the hulusi — the difference is one sentence:

the hulusi sounds several notes (it carries its own backup); the bawu sounds one (it sings alone). And its name and its legends are better than its mechanism: "Bawu" = the *ba* of "Bachong" ＋ the *wu* of "Meiwu" — two lovers' names, spliced head to tail, became an instrument.

⚠️ Better still: one legend tells its own structure — the girl's tongue is cut out; a magic bird brings her tongue and a length of bamboo, saying: "The bamboo will help you speak." ⭐⭐ Rule ㉞: the legend gives away the structure — the bawu's very heart is called the "reed tongue." The tongue that went into the bamboo in the story is the triangular bronze reed in the object; from "cannot speak" to "speaks through a pipe" — in the bawu, "the talking instrument" is not a metaphor but literal.

One bamboo, one bronze reed

Three points:

1. One bamboo is the whole body. A pipe about 26–28 cm long: top closed by a node or plug, bottom open — and that one-ended shape is exactly the cavity a reed needs to couple with. 2. A triangular bronze reed, set near the top node. Tiny and thin, it is the instrument's heart — "the airflow sets the reed's tongue vibrating and excites the air column." ⭐ Keep that word: reed tongue (簧舌) — the next section needs it. 3. ⭐ Two ways to hold it, two gauges. "Short and thin, blown vertically; thick and long, blown across": vertically, the lips cover the reed; across, the reed sits between the lips. The small pipe is the common one (treble/mid, 30–50 cm); the bass bawu (60–80 cm) is carried sideways.

Three origins

Three stories, explaining three things:

⭐ And the first legend holds the line worth keeping — the bird tells the tongueless girl: "The bamboo will help you speak." Now note the coincidence: the bawu's reed is called, in technical Chinese, the "reed *tongue*." The story's tongue entered a bamboo; the object's "reed tongue" is set into a bamboo. A story told to children spells out the mechanics of an instrument. (This site's observation: the legend's three layers — name, purpose, structure — are exactly the three doors into understanding any instrument.)

The name: spliced from two people

The bawu is this batch's first person-named instrument — (names-history item ⑭: named after people — its companion being the ruan, named for Ruan Xian who played it.)

And what is more curious: it has no single formula across languages — compare the hulusi:

⭐ The hulusi is "one formula written out five times" (⑬); the bawu is "everyone for themselves, and the Chinese name invented separately" — two Yunnanese "talking instruments," opposite naming logics.

Range

巴乌属气鸣乐器（自由簧 · 簧管耦合）。传统巴乌「8 个按音孔，能发出 6 到 9 个的音」；有资料记它与葫芦丝「音域通常是一样的」，故此处以约一个八度（G3–G4）示意；20 世纪 50 年代以来研制的加键 · 双管巴乌扩大了音域（能转四个调）。实际音高随高 · 中 · 低音规格而变，本图不代表所有巴乌。记谱即实音。

From the hills to the stage

• It used to talk. Young men "play love songs on the bawu, talking to the girls"; Hani elders and youths carry it everywhere. The Yi even love "two bawus in the same key, in unison or in dialogue" — a one-note instrument borrowing a second player to hold a conversation.
• It sits in bands. In Yi song-and-dance gatherings along the south bank of the Red River, the bawu plays alongside dizi, small sanxian, yueqin and leaf-whistles — a whole village orchestra on its own.
• Since the 1950s it has been re-fitted. Makers developed the keyed bawu and the double bawu: the keyed one "modulates into four keys" with a wider range and more power; the double one pairs two identical pipes, brighter and louder. The reformed bawu "can play not only traditional regional pieces but transplanted foreign music — Japan's *Kitano Haru* among others."
• ⭐ And so it left the hills for the stage — English-language sources say its sound is instantly recognisable in film scores such as *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon*, laying a southwestern undercoat beneath Western orchestration.

Common misconceptions

• "The bawu is just the hulusi." Same technology, different instrument: one pipe → one note versus the hulusi's several; the bawu's reed is bare, the hulusi's hides in its gourd; the ranges are "usually the same," but one sings alone and the other keeps backup.
• "Its 'talking' is a figure of speech." ⚠️ In the legend it is literal — a tongueless girl, a bamboo that speaks for her; and the reed's technical name really is "reed tongue."
• "The name is a transliteration." The Chinese name "bawu" is spliced from two people's names (Bachong · Meiwu); the ethnic names (meiba, bilu, gebi…) are all different again.
• "One pipe cannot do two parts." ⚠️ The Yi tradition of "two bawus, unison or dialogue" says otherwise — the second voice comes from a second person.
• "It is a single-reed instrument." The same terminology trap as the hulusi: that phrase means "one reed per pipe"; by classification it stands with the sheng among free reeds.

Timbre, and how to hear it

Three cues:

1. Hear the hazy brightness. One pipe makes it more direct and closer than the hulusi, but the reed's faint rasp remains — the "weeping" undercoat. 2. Hear the speech-rhythm. Taps, vibrato and slides are its tone of voice: a bawu phrase rises and falls like a sentence — it talks rather than sings. 3. Hear the pair. If two bawus answer each other high and low, that is the Yi dialogue: one instrument's way to hold a conversation is to find a second player.

The family

⭐ Read the last two columns: both are single pipes — but the dizi cuts the air, the bawu opens and closes a reed. The woodwind page's three layers once more: the driver comes before everything.

Next

After the bawu, one "guest from outside" remains among the winds:

it brings a third driver — the double reed. Its ancestor came from Kucha in the Western Regions under the ancient name bili; its modern name is plainer: guanzi.

One instrument, two names, two lives — next: the guanzi. :::

Sources

• ⭐⭐ 分布与家族：「巴乌是彝 · 哈尼 · 傣 · 佤 · 布朗 · 苗等民族的单簧吹管乐器（属簧管乐器）」，流行于「云南省红河 · 文山 · 思茅 · 西双版纳 · 临沧 · 德宏，广西壮族自治区融水，贵州省黔东南和黔南等地」；「主要流行于红河州彝族 · 哈尼族民间」；「与葫芦丝同是簧管配合系的乐器，但簧片不同……一管一簧发九个音，簧舌是锐三角形的，并且舌尖翘起」；「葫芦丝有多个管，发的是复音，而巴乌是单音」依通行乐器资料
• ⭐ 结构：「取一段长约 26 到 28 公分的竹管，在上端近节处的一侧嵌上一片三角形的铜质簧片，竹管上钻开 8 个按音孔，能发出 6 个到 9 个的音」；「管身上端由竹节或木塞封闭，中间竹节打通，管身下端敞口」；「哈尼族人民多使用青竹制作……彝族人民常用细毛竹管制作」；规格「可分为高音 · 中音 · 低音巴乌三种：高音 · 中音管长 30–50 厘米 · 内径 0.8–1.4 厘米；低音管长 60–80 厘米 · 内径 1.6–2 厘米」；另有制作师杨声制木管巴乌（紫油木 · 铜插口）依通行乐器资料
• ⭐ 奏法：「管身细而短者竖吹，粗而长者横吹。竖吹时，用嘴含住近顶端的簧片；横吹则将簧片部分放在两唇之间，气流使簧舌部分振动并激发管内空气柱共鸣而发音」；「当手指按闭全部音孔时，管中形成的空气柱最长，发出的是基音，但演奏时一般不使用」；技巧有「滑音 · 打音 · 颤音 · 抹音 · 琶音 · 飞指等，可用循环换气法吹奏长时值音符」依通行乐器资料
• ⭐⭐ 传说（三则）：哈尼族：「哀牢山区……姑娘梅乌与小伙子巴冲相爱……魔鬼割去了她的舌头……仙鸟衔来了姑娘的舌头和一截竹子，让她把舌头放进竹管里，告诉她『竹子会帮助你说话』……后来人们用二人的名字撷首去尾，给这件会说话的乐器取名为巴乌」；哈尼族（另一则）：开天辟地后只剩莫龙 · 莫婆兄妹，莫龙砍芦苇做成「嘀母嘀哩」说出难以启齿的话，「这种乐器便被称为『媒人乐器』，也就是后来的巴乌」；彝族聂苏人：「有个聋哑人死了母亲……发现一截带有虫眼的竹子，放在嘴里一吹，发出了低沉悲凉的声音……用尖刀在竹管上挖了几个小孔……彝语称非里」依民间传说资料
• ⭐⭐ 名称（各族）：「彝族称『吉非里 · 比鲁 · 乌勒』（又作及菲里莫 / 尔吉非里 / 非里），哈尼族称『梅巴 · 妞巴 · 各比』，傣族称『筚 · 毕姑』，侗族称『拜』，汉语称巴乌」；「当地彝语叫『及菲里莫』，哈尼语叫『梅巴』」依通行乐器资料
• ⭐ 考古线索：「从其形制结构来看，（巴乌）与先秦时期的曾侯乙墓及汉代马王堆汉墓出土的横吹管乐有明显的传承关系 —— 这些古代乐器的吹孔与按音孔均呈 90 度直角排列，与现代巴乌的音孔设计高度相似」（此说系一家之言，此处转述）依乐器资料
• ⭐ 传统用途：「彝族喜欢用两支同调的巴乌齐奏或对奏」；红河南岸彝族「常在集体歌舞活动中，用巴乌与竹笛 · 小三弦 · 月琴和木叶等乐器一起合奏……特别是未婚青年小伙子，常用巴乌来演奏情歌，和姑娘『说话』」；「既是青年男女传递爱意的『媒人乐器』，也是民族歌舞 · 说唱艺术不可或缺的伴奏乐器」依通行乐器资料
• ⭐⭐ 近现代改革：「20 世纪 50 年代以来，音乐工作者对巴乌进行了一系列改良，研制出了加键巴乌和双管巴乌。加键巴乌扩大了音域和音量，能转四个调；双管巴乌则由两支形制 · 音高完全相同的巴乌并排组成，音域更宽，音色清脆明亮，音量也更大」；改革后的巴乌「还能调微……能奏出各种滑音 · 打音 · 吐音 · 颤音 · 飞指 · 抹音等技巧音」，「不仅可以演奏传统的地方风格曲目，还可移植外国乐曲，如日本的《北国之春》等」依乐器资料与云南乐器资料
• ⭐ 簧片归类：按簧管三分法（单簧 / 双簧 / 自由簧），巴乌与笙同列自由簧；「巴乌的簧片虽为硬质铜簧，由于做得很薄和舌端渐窄，振动受空气柱影响，兼具软簧性质。笙的铜簧也很薄，须与空气柱耦合振动。这两种乐器均为世所鲜见的特例」；「自体簧的簧舌是从座板或管体本身割出，如巴乌 · 中国笙」依乐器分类资料
• ⚠️ 术语口径：部分资料将巴乌写作「单簧气鸣乐器」—— 此处「单簧」指一管一枚簧片；按乐器分类的簧管三分法，它与笙同列自由簧依分类资料
• 「巴乌属于八音中的竹 —— 以竹管制成」依通行资料

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.