Ling Lun
| Ling Lun | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 伶倫 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 伶伦 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Ling Lun (Chinese: 伶倫 or 泠倫, Linglun) is the legendary founder of music in ancient China.[1] In Chinese mythology, as described in the Lüshi Chunqiu (in Chinese: 吕氏春秋), Ling Lun is said to have created bamboo flutes which made the sounds of many birds, including the mythical phoenix.[citation needed] "In this way, Ling Lun invented the five notes of the ancient Chinese five-tone scale (gong, shang, jiao, zhi, and yu, which is equivalent to 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 in numbered musical notation or do, re, mi, sol, and la in western solfeggio) and the eight sounds made by eight musical instruments.[2] The "Yellow Emperor" (Huangdi) is said to have ordered the casting of bells in tune with those flutes.
An alternative text, the Lushi Chunqiu (English: Annals of Master Lu), from the third century BC credits another culture hero, Kui, (who is often confused with a one-legged mythical monster bearing the same name, Kui) with the invention of music. In one version of the story, Kui makes a drum by stretching animal skin over an earthen jar that defeats another monster.[3][4]
In the computer games Civilization IV and Civilization V, Ling Lun appears as a great artist. The 2020 film Bill & Ted Face the Music features Ling Lun as one of musicans in the titular characters' band, portrayed by Sharon Gee, with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart being a great fan of her work.[5]
References
- ^ Lihui Yang and Deming An, with Jessica Anderson Turner, Handbook of Chinese Mythology. Santa Barbara, California: ABC CLIO, 2005, p. 73 and pp. 169-170
- ^ Lihui Yang and Deming An, with Jessica Anderson Turner, Handbook of Chinese Mythology. Santa Barbara, California: ABC CLIO, 2005, p. 73.
- ^ Lihui Yang and Deming An, with Jessica Anderson Turner, Handbook of Chinese Mythology. Santa Barbara, California: ABC CLIO, 2005, p. 159.
- ^ In another version, Yellow Emperor fashions a drum from the skin of a kui monster. For a discussion of the hui/kui confusion, see Richard von Glahn, The Sinister Way: The Divine and the Demonic in Chinese Religious Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004, pp. 90 ff.
- ^ Rottenberg, Josh (August 29, 2020). "How the team behind 'Bill & Ted Face the Music' assembled a band that could save the universe". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 29, 2020.