Sound of vegetables is living music for Chinese brothers

VENDORS at a local market in Beijing could be forgiven for thinking that Nan Weidong and Nan Weiping run a restaurant. But the bags stuffed full of vegetables the brothers lug back home are used for a very different purpose – musical instruments.

The two grew up surrounded by vegetables in China’s central Anhui province, but their music teacher father encouraged them to learn conventional instruments from a young age. As teenagers, they joined a local theatrical troupe. But it wasn’t until two years ago that they thought of making instruments out of vegetables.

They live and work in a Beijing apartment, drilling holes in carrots, marrows, lotus roots and Chinese yams and testing the pitch against an old electronic tuner.

“The deeper the hole, the lower the pitch. The shallower the hole, the higher the pitch,” says ponytailed Nan Weiping, at age 41 the younger by two years. “The size of the holes also matters to guarantee the quality of the sound.”

But controlling the pitch is extremely difficult, he adds, with changes in the air temperature and humidity potentially warping the shape of the holes.

The two have appeared on numerous talent shows in China and often receive payments of 30 000 to 50 000 yuan (R36 000 to R60 000) for a performance – their sole income. Each show requires making a new set of instruments. – Reuters