Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
This is a piece of Tang-era music reconstructed from extant manuscripts, the restoration process and melodies being explored in more depth in this excellent video: youtube.com/watch?v=ssg1o0adFBM
I wanted to have this piece of music arranged in a modern Chinese soundscape, therefore it is played on modern instruments such as the suona played suona by@_piaosanyes, guzheng, yangqin, as well as Chinese opera percussions.
Water Deer is an extant musical composition of the Táng dynasty era, part of the “strong dance" genre, a performance style marked by strong martial movements and a brisk tempo, contrasting with the more graceful and feminine “soft dances" genre. The piece was created during the reign of Empress Wǔ Zétiān to honor the valor and loyalty of the soldiers who perished in the Battle of the Water Deer Valley in 696 AD, where the imperial forces, ambushed by the Khitans suffered a devastating defeat while attempting to quell their rebellion.
Tang-era music is notable for its contrast with modern Chinese music, as whilst modern Chinese music of the recent centuries tended towards pentatonic structures as the norm, Tang-era music was primarily constituted of heptatonic diatonic modes, such as the Dorian-like mode heard here.
This is a piece of Tang-era music reconstructed from extant manuscripts, the restoration process and melodies being explored in more depth in this excellent video: youtube.com/watch?v=ssg1o0adFBM
I wanted to have this piece of music arranged in a modern Chinese soundscape, therefore it is played on modern instruments such as the suona played suona by@_piaosanyes, guzheng, yangqin, as well as Chinese opera percussions.
Water Deer is an extant musical composition of the Táng dynasty era, part of the “strong dance" genre, a performance style marked by strong martial movements and a brisk tempo, contrasting with the more graceful and feminine “soft dances" genre. The piece was created during the reign of Empress Wǔ Zétiān to honor the valor and loyalty of the soldiers who perished in the Battle of the Water Deer Valley in 696 AD, where the imperial forces, ambushed by the Khitans suffered a devastating defeat while attempting to quell their rebellion.
Tang-era music is notable for its contrast with modern Chinese music, as whilst modern Chinese music of the recent centuries tended towards pentatonic structures as the norm, Tang-era music was primarily constituted of heptatonic diatonic modes, such as the Dorian-like mode heard here.
