CHENG YU
Soas

Cheng Yu with her five-string pipa

IMAGINE if Yehudi Menuhin had said: “I like my violin, but I just wish it had one more string. Four isn’t enough for me.”
Well Cheng Yu, of Sandwich Street in King’s Cross, has had similarly heretical ideas. She has squared up to 1,000 years of tradition and added an extra string to the pipa, an ancient Chinese lute-like instrument.
It sounds like it should be an easy thing to do in principle, but it took six attempts before she got it right.
It’s encouraging news in classical music’s sometimes staid world where the usual mentality seems to run: “We’ve made enough instruments to fill an orchestra pit – let’s leave it there.”
But Cheng isn’t completely re-inventing the wheel. Five-string pipas were as common as their four-stringed brothers back when the years only had three digits, and were the instruments to be seen with in the courts of the Tang dynasty (AD 618-907).
Though born in Beijing, Cheng has lived in London since 1990, and studies and teaches at the School of Oriental and African Studies (Soas) when not touring extensively or recording for Hollywood soundtracks (she appears on the scores for several Jackie Chan blockbusters). As part of her research into traditional and contemporary Chinese music, the virtuoso pipa-player became obsessed with bringing the five-string back to life.
After securing funding from Women in Music, the Arts and Humanities Research Board and the Arts Council she travelled across China and Korea, visited guitar and violin makers across the UK, tried out a variety of strings (pipas were originally strung with silk) and experimented with soundholes (normally lacking in pipas).
Two years later, the new pipa, updated for the 21st century, is ready for its premiere on Wednesday at Soas.
“I don’t want it to be a museum piece,” says Cheng, “and I don’t want it to replace the four-string.”
To mark the occasion, she has commissioned works from four composers. Cheng says: “They all sound completely different. It’s been a very cross-cultural project.”
Only one of the composers has Chinese roots: Xu Yi is French-Chinese, and has written the piece bearing the most resemblance to the pipa tradition. New Yorker Stephen Dydo has fitted in composing Wind Chimes around his doctorate studies at Columbia University, and will be joining Cheng on the night to accompany her on his western guitar.
Cheng says Gyewon Byeon, born in Korea, has written “an avant-garde, postmodern piece”.
Finally, British composer Gillian Carcas has written music inspired by the Arabic classical tradition, incorporating the ney – an Arabic flute.
The rest of the ensemble is made up of musicians from the Guildhall School of Music.
Once her patent rights have been established, Cheng plans to make the first ever recording of a five-string pipa and to begin teaching others the instrument.
Sheet music dating from the five-string’s original incarnation also fascinates her.
“There are 1,300-year-old scores written in strange symbols. Scholars are trying to recreate the music from that time and I’d love to try and play it.”

• There will be a pre-concert discussion on February 16 at 2.30pm to 5pm at the Brunei Gallery at SOAS. The concert begins at 7.30pm.
The concert is repeated on Friday, February 25 at the Concert Hall at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in Silk Street, Barbican. See listings or call 020 7898 4515 for more information.