非洲的葫芦文化主要表现为葫芦乐器、器皿等，如我们常见的葫芦沙锤，以葫芦为外表覆盖一层玻璃珠或贝壳，底部开孔形成共鸣仓，发出的声音铿锵有力，正如非洲人民头顶的葫芦盛器，彰显非洲人民健壮的体魄和浓厚的葫芦文化。
    Gourd musical instruments and utensils are the major components of African gourd culture. For example, a maraca is a musical instrument made from gourd. A layer of glass beads or shells is inlaid in the surface and holes are cut in the bottom through which loud and powerful sound can be produced that demonstrates the strong physique and profound gourd culture of African people, just like gourd containers on their heads.

    早在2010年上海世博会期间，扈鲁的朋友就从世博会非洲馆收藏了一件肯尼亚的拇指钢琴姆比拉，从此迈出了扈鲁收藏非洲乐葫芦器的第一步。
    As early as in 2010, Hu Lu started collecting African gourd instruments when his friend helped him to collect a Kenyan Mbira at the African Pavilion of  the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.

肯尼亚姆比拉

    2016年4月，扈鲁应邀参加澜沧拉祜族阿朋阿龙尼（葫芦节），恰此时,扈鲁在拉祜葫芦广场看到前来参加葫芦节的非洲朋友正在进行非洲沙锤表演，他动了心，且一心想购买收藏那件非洲葫芦沙锤，遗憾的是非洲那件葫芦沙锤仅是葫芦节展演使用，他们并非出售，即使第二次通过当地领导同志出面协调依然不能如愿。次日的傍晚，葫芦文化节开幕式将在澜沧大剧院举行，就在开幕前这短暂的时间，扈鲁第三次来到葫芦广场，向翻译递上自己的名片，认真并详细的说明了自身研究葫芦文化的需要，特别是对历史悠久的非洲葫芦文化向往，但由于工作等原因又不能前往非洲考察采风，这就更期待从被誉为“天下葫芦之源”的澜沧拉祜族葫芦节上，从非洲朋友手中接过这件珍贵的葫芦艺术品。翻译把扈鲁迫切的心情，扈鲁的学者身份以及他是为了葫芦文化的研究急需告知了非洲友人，经三次艰苦的努力扈鲁方得这一非洲葫芦沙锤。扈鲁得到这一异常珍爱的宝贝后，一路小跑直奔澜沧大剧院参加马上在那里举行的葫芦文化开幕式。在开幕式现场，扈鲁手举沙锤向拉祜族的朋友们快乐的展示着，大家为他的这种执着精神而感动。
    In April 2016, Hu Lu was invited to attend the Gourd Festival, a traditional festival of the Lahu people in Lancang county, Yunnan province, China. The sight of African maraca performance in the gourd square inspired enthusiasm in him for buying and collecting this musical instrument. Unfortunately, it was used only for performance instead of for sale during the festival. Although the organizers of the activity helped him to communicate with the African performers, his wish did not come true. The next evening, the opening ceremony of the Gourd Culture Festival was to be held in the Lancang Grand Theatre. Just before the opening, Hu Lu came to the Gourd Square for the third time. He handed his business card to the interpreter of the African performers and explained that he was an enthusiast for gourd culture who had a special yearning for African gourd culture with a long history, while his busy work made his travel to Africa to collect folk gourd works unavailable. That was why he looked forward to getting this precious gourd work from the African performers at the Lancang Gourd Festival which is known as the “source of gourd in the world.” The interpreter told all about it to the African performers who finally decided to give a maraca to Hu Lu. After getting this precious work, he trotted all the way to the Lancang Grand Theatre for the opening ceremony of the Gourd Culture Festival where he showed the maraca to his friends of the Lahu people happily and they were moved by his persistence.

依依不舍葫芦沙锤

非洲葫芦沙锤

扈鲁终于收藏到了这件喜爱的葫芦沙锤

    2017年，扈鲁曲阜的朋友刘龙随其在中资企业做翻译的姐姐出访非洲，扈鲁欲收藏一件非洲葫芦乐器，便拜托刘龙在非洲寻找，刘龙请其姐姐帮助实现扈鲁的心愿，他姐姐又委托中国驻马里大使馆的官员通过当地的文旅部门搜集扈鲁所要的葫芦乐器，一个人托付另一个人，从对非洲陌生的人，到寻找到非洲当地的专业人，一天，一个月，一年，经过不懈努力终于收藏到了扈鲁所需要的非洲木琴、非洲竖琴、非洲鼓和弹拨乐器姆比拉，这四件器乐均以葫芦为主要构件，依赖葫芦的天然形状形成共鸣，从而发出天籁之音。扈鲁把葫芦乐器费用支给了非方，因担心邮寄过程中出现意外，因此又劳烦中国驻马里大使馆人员从遥远的非洲随身带回中国，当那些葫芦乐器到达北京国际机场时，扈鲁兴奋的欲到机场接机，因种种原因不能如愿，此后通过其北京的朋友带到了曲阜，扈鲁得以圆了收藏非洲葫芦的葫芦梦，从此葫芦博物馆又增加了多件非洲葫芦乐器。
    In 2017, Hu Lu asked his friend Liu Long to search for African gourd instruments during his visit to Africa with his sister who was a translator at a Chinese-funded enterprise. In order to realize Hu Lu’s wish he told his sister to lend him a hand. At this, his sister asked officials at the Chinese embassy in Mali to help her collect the gourd instruments through the local cultural and tourism departments. With everyone’s unremitting efforts for one year, including those who knew nothing about Africa and those who were expert in African musical instruments, the musical instruments which Hu Lu was eager to collect were found. They are xylophone, kora, djembe and mbira which take the gourd as the main component and produce wonderful sound with the aid of the natural shape of the gourd to form resonance. Hu Lu paid the African friends for the gourd musical instruments. For fear of damage to the instruments in the mail, he entrusted an official of Chinese Embassy in Mali to bring them to China. When those gourd instruments arrived at Beijing International Airport, he was so excited that he wanted to pick them up at the airport, but for various reasons, he failed to make the trip and had to entrust one of his friends in Beijing to bring them to Qufu. In this way he fulfilled his dream of collecting African gourds, with more African gourd musical instruments on display in the gourd museum.

非洲木琴

非洲竖琴、鼓

弹拨乐器姆比拉

    2017年是扈鲁收藏非洲葫芦的丰收之年，扈鲁还通过驻非中油物流好友，在非洲寻找到了刻有苏丹地图的亚腰葫芦，此葫芦通体圆润，刻画的绿色苏丹地图栩栩如生。
    2017 witnessed Hu Lu’s harvest of the collection of African gourds. In this year, with the help of his friend at CPTDC logistics company in Africa he also found a sub-waist gourd on whose surface a map of Sudan was carved.

苏丹地图

    据扈鲁讲，世界上的葫芦乐器有几百种，扈鲁欲将中国的葫芦乐器同所收藏的来自不同地域、不同国家、不同民族的葫芦乐器，通过“最葫芦·葫芦文化丝路行”展演的方式呈现给大家，可以看出这些葫芦乐器已超越了音乐艺术的范畴，深刻阐释了葫芦乐器植根的葫芦文化背景，它不只是一个国家葫芦乐器的独奏，而是世界各国、各民族葫芦乐器的交响大合奏。
    According to Hu Lu, there are hundreds of kinds of gourd musical instruments in the world. He wants to show people gourd musical instruments collected in China and other countries through the exhibition of “Glamour of the Gourd — Gourd Culture Tour along the Silk Road.” It is obvious that these gourd instruments have gone beyond the scope of music and vividly explain the gourd culture which they symbolize. The exhibition is not only a solo of gourd instruments of one country, but also a symphony ensemble of gourd instruments of all countries and nationalities in the world.

葫芦乐队