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Du Kui 杜夔, courtesy name Gongliang 公良, was a music master of the very late Eastern Han period 東漢 (25-220 CE). He hailed from the commandery of Henan 河南 and was a xxx 雅樂郎 under Emperor Ling 漢靈帝 (r. 167-189) of the Han dynasty 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE).
He was an expert in tuning bells and was particularly interested in the performance of elegant music (yayue 雅樂). Yet he also mastered pipes and string instruments, but was not good in directing dances and choirs. For some time, Du served the warlord Liu Biao 劉表 (142-208) in central China, but after the region was conquered by Cao Cao 曹操 (155-220), the latter made Du Kui xxx 軍謀祭酒, and entrusted him the the performance of xxx 太樂, for which Du composed many new songs and performed them together with Deng Jing 鄧靜, Yin Shang 尹商 (Yin Qi 尹齊), Yin Hu 尹胡 and Feng Su 馮肅.
Under Emperor Wen 魏文帝 (r. 220-226), Du Kui was xxx 太樂令、協律都尉, but was then ordered to perform music with mouth organs, drums, and zithers, which Du found hard to master. Not fulfilling the emperor's expectations, he was dismissed. Four of Du Kui's tunes survived, namely Lu ming 鹿鳴, Zouyu 騶虞, Fa tan 伐檀, and Wenwang 文王. His most important disciples were Chen Hang 陳頏, Shao Deng 邵登, Zhang Tai 張泰 and Sang Fu 桑馥.