The strings are secured to the neck with red-twisted cotton cords , which end with a gold colored metallic tassel. The sides of the instrument depict scenes from the Ramayana in gold against a black area. Often used to accompany songs, devices like this one had their orgins in historic India and represent one of the oldest surviving harp traditions. Endowed with cosmological and metaphysical significance and empowered to communicate the deepest emotions, this zither , beloved of sages and of Confucius, is the most prestigious instrument in China. Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.) writers state that the qin helped to domesticate character, understand morality, supplicate gods and demons, improve life, and enrich studying. Jacob Schmid (1642–1720) was the founder of a trumpet-making workshop in Nuremberg, which flourished underneath his son Johann Jacob and grandson Paulus for a couple of century.
The music definitely has a Harry Partch-like really feel …
