Ruan
Origin: China
China has a long history
of music instruments. One of the oldest families of instruments are the Ruan dating
back over 2,000 years. Ruan are plucked string instruments and members of the
lute family. Ruan feature round bodies, fretted necks and typically four strings
and come in five basic sizes including soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass and Contrabass.
In RainInEden we play two members of the Ruan family. Zhong Ruan (lit."Medium Ruan"; Tuning: G2-D3-G3-D4)
Tenor This instrument has a wonderfully warm sound that is very unique thought it has tones similar to nylon string classical acoustic guitar. The high frets and wide spacing of the strings allows for a great deal of expression.
The instrument can be played with a pick similar to a guitar, with finger picks similar to Pipa players or may be played with fingers like a classical guitar. Each method can bring very different sounds making the instrument very adaptable to a wide range of music.
Xiaoruan (lit. "Small Ruan"; Tuning: D3-A3-D4-A4)
Alto The first time we heard this instrument it was love at first listen. It has the most amazing range of sound with the high end reminding of Madola or Mandolin while the lower end is easily in the range of acoustic guitar. The Xiaoruan can easily take a higher lead melody with bright but gentle tones or slip into midrange with great low resonance and tone. It is smaller than the Zhongruan by about 40% and both light and easy to play. Like the bigger brother it is also very flexible thanks to the warm and gentle tone and the variety of ways that it can be played.
Sadly there isn't a lot of information or resources available in English for these instruments. And they remain largely undiscovered outside China. But the sound and flexibility, in our opinion, rivals any other family of lute or guitar like instruments. As more people discover them, we hope others will fall in love with their sound too.