On the Scene with Tsun-Hui Hung

Tsun-Hui Hung wasn’t planning to become an erhu player when she started music lessons as a second-grader in Taiwan. The two-stringed Chinese fiddle was considered a “low-class” folk instrument, and the typical erhu musician was an old man playing for tips outside a temple. Girls usually played instruments like the pipa (Chinese lute) and guzheng (Chinese zither), but those had already been claimed.

That left her the erhu. The little fiddle became part of Hung’s life and eventually her “best companion.”

Hung, 35, became an award-winning virtuoso. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Chinese music at Chinese Culture University in Taiwan in 2005 and her doctorate at Ohio State University in 2011.

Hung moved to Hawaii several months ago and is busy teaching Chinese, doing translation work and promoting the erhu.

JOHN BERGER: You were one of the judges at the Jan. 7 Narcissus Pageant. What’s next on your schedule?

TSUN-HUI HUNG: I will be playing for the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office for Chinese New Year’s and at the Narcissus Festival Coronation Ball Feb. 4. On Monday, Feb. 13, I’ll be playing with Jeff Peterson and John Kolivas at the Blue Note Hawaii.

This concert will be very different from any concert that I have played. We are going to play Hawaiian music, Taiwanese pop songs, Chinese pop songs, maybe some jazz and Beatles songs. I was told that this is the first time Blue Note will have Chinese music, and I am honored and excited.

JB: Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

TH: I want to make a recording. I just moved to Honolulu four months ago so my goal and my dream is to be able to make music my professional life and my main income.

JB: How do you relax after a busy day?

TH: I practice martial arts. When I was in college there was a period of time I couldn’t really get better in terms of erhu so my teacher suggested I learn something else. I decided to study martial art. I found my master and he said, “If you want to come I will teach you — every day at 4:30 a.m. If you miss one day, don’t come any more.” So I did that every day for two years until I had to come to the United States. I did a lot of competitions and I am a nationally certified judge in Taiwan. Wushu is my specialty.

JB: Tell me something about yourself that might surprise people who see you playing erhu.

TH: When I was attending Chinese Culture University in Taiwan there was a beauty pageant, Miss University. I won the talent show. I did one minute erhu, one minute martial arts, and I won the title.

“On the Scene” appears weekly in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Sunday Magazine. Reach John Berger at jberger@staradvertiser.com.