Quick Answer: What Is Drunken Ecstasy on Guqin?
Drunken Ecstasy (Jiu Kuang, 酒狂, Jiǔ Kuáng), also called Wine Mad, is a traditional guqin (古琴, gǔqín) piece. The 1425 Shenqi Mipu preserves the tablature. The work is traditionally attributed to Ruan Ji (阮籍, Ruǎn Jí).[1][2]
- Version: Yao Bingyan (姚丙炎, Yáo Bǐngyán) made a twentieth-century realization.[1]
- Listen for: His performance groups beats in threes and can place weight away from the expected accent.[1][3]
- Credit: A recording can name the player and the realization separately.[2]
Try counting a steady three underneath the uneven emphasis of the plucks.
The guqin line can feel as though it leans and catches itself again. Listen to which notes sound heavy and which pass quickly. That uneven emphasis is a useful way into the rhythm of the familiar recorded version.[3]
The 1425 Score and Ruan Ji Tradition
The Hong Kong Music Office lists the piece in the Shenqi Mipu, a collection dated 1425. It presents Ruan Ji, one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, as the traditional attribution. That attribution is part of the work’s received history. The score is evidence of a written version centuries after Ruan Ji’s lifetime.[2]
The preface connects wine to a figure withdrawing from worldly affairs. That reading comes from the text associated with the score. Other works in the guqin repertory, such as Guangling San, have different stories attached to their scores.[2][3]
Hear the Three-Beat Sway
Smithsonian Folkways presents a recording by Yao himself and identifies the triple rhythm as a feature of his realization. A Peking University discussion points to weight on weak beats, including low or lengthened sounds. Count one-two-three beneath a short phrase. Notice whether the weighted pluck lands on one or elsewhere.[1][3]
Groups of three can remain audible even when the notes seem to push against the count. Try counting again after a phrase turns back on itself.
What a Dapu Credit Tells You
The term dapu (打谱, dǎpǔ) refers to making a playable rendition from tablature. Older notation guides the fingers, and the player has to shape the timing. The Hong Kong Music Office credits Yao’s realization and a separate performer, Wong Chan-fung, for the silk-string demonstration.[2][4]
The guide to Dialogue Between Fisherman and Woodcutter shows another source and realization credit. The notation examples in the Music Office’s exhibition also use Moon over the Mountain Pass to show how modern scores can add a timing layer.[4]
Identify Related Titles and Arrangements
Renmin University’s program credits a zhongruan adaptation by Liu Xing. Check the instrument before comparing that performance with Yao’s guqin recording.[5]
Tsinghua’s music catalog lists Jiu Kuang separately from Evening Song of the Drunken Fisherman. Search the full Chinese title to distinguish two tracks that both evoke drunkenness.[6]
FAQs About Drunken Ecstasy on Guqin
Who composed Jiu Kuang?
Tradition attributes it to Ruan Ji. A surviving written source is the 1425 Shenqi Mipu.[2]
Does the early tablature specify triple meter?
The early fingering notation does not establish that meter. The triple rhythm is a feature of Yao Bingyan’s realization.[1][4]
Is it the same as Evening Song of the Drunken Fisherman?
They are separate guqin pieces and appear as separate tracks in the Tsinghua catalog.[6]
Sources
[1] Smithsonian Folkways. Jiu Kuang, Wine Mad: Yao Bingyan
[2] Hong Kong Music Office. Guqin Roving Exhibition
[3] Peking University. Calligraphy and Music
[4] Hong Kong Music Office. Guqin Roving Exhibition: Notation and Dapu
[5] Renmin University of China School of Arts. Guqin Summer Gathering Programme
[6] Tsinghua University Library. Masterpieces of the Guqin, Disc 2