Listening to nearly extinct instruments

The wail of a woman screeching into a microphone made me cringe as I walked through Green Lake Park in Dali (Southwest China).

My sister Grace and I found it difficult to appreciate the traditional Chinese music performance in the park. Grace joined me for traveling in China all the way from the United States a week earlier.

The longer I listened the more I began to appreciate the woman's voice. The musical notes rose and fell completely opposite to the sequences I learned from piano lessons when I was in primary school.

Further on, old men were gathered under a pagoda near a coy pond, full of orange fish of all sizes. I recognized the instruments from a museum. The men strummed a traditional instrument called the erhu.

Off in a corner I spotted one of the Dai traditional instruments played by an old man. Some children played nearby, but many people walked by without a second glance.

The man blew into a Hulusi, a claranet-like instrument is made of a gourd and three hollow bamboo shafts containing free-beating reeds, according to the Connecticut College China Yunnan/Mekong Project.

The Hulusi almost became extinct during the Cultural Revolution.

During the Cultural Revolution under Mao Zedong, many musicians buried their traditional musical instruments in their backyards out of fear of getting arrested. Mao's policies sought to eradicate the parts of China's past to move toward modernization. Only after Mao died did they dig out the instruments and begin playing again, according to journalist Edward A. Gargan in his 2002 book "The River's Tale: A Year on the Mekong".

I sat and listened for awhile, enjoying the harmonious blending of the different sounds.