Changning music festival hits all the right notes
Print Edition
The 2015 Shanghai World Music Festival kicked off its Changning season with 10 performances on October 17 and 18. This year’s event, held at New Hongqiao Central Park, showcased the intriguing cultures of countries along the “Belt and Road” initiative, an economic and trade concept that features China’s important business partners.
The festival featured performances from bands and musicians from many countries along the famous “Silk Road” ancient trade route from Middle Asia to Western Europe.
Audiences were hugely excited by the many musical genres included in the festival, ranging from classical to pop, and featuring a range of extraordinary performances by musicians and vocalists.
The musicians included Famoudou Konate, a Malinke master drummer from Guinea. He is a virtuoso of the djembe drum and its accompanying orchestra and this was his last appearance at the music festival.
One of only a handful of initiated masters of the Malinke drumming tradition, Famoudou is universally respected as one of the world’s premier djembe drummers. He has dedicated his life to performing and preserving the music of his people, helping to elevate the djembe orchestra from its traditional roots to worldwide popularity.
Chinese performers
Chinese performers were represented by Wu Huanqing, a sound performance artist from southwest China’s Sichuan Province. He collects and arranges field recordings and is always looking for different musical elements in folk music. For example, his works convey the cultural richness of Kunming, capital of southwest China’s Yunnan Province.
As well as being an ethnographic field-recorder and ethnic instrument designer, Wu has initiated collections of folk music and interviews with folk artists. The types of folk music he has explored include that of the Yi, Hani, and Naxi ethnic groups and others.
Chinese bands were led by Anuar & “7.” Anuar formed the live band Alakhan in 2012 and since then it has performed in all major cities in China. The essence of Anuar’s music is found in his unique and distinctive appreciation of the value of life. The nature of this music reflects an extensive use of instruments such as the Dombra and Sybyzgy which are clearly a strong influence on his methods of composition and creation.
World music is an art form that transcends peoples and cultures and has developed outside the Western classical tradition. It is derived from the essence of various world genres, forged from the spirit of traditional music, the context of folk music, and the zeitgeist of modern music and musical creativity.
Blending traditions
It blends tradition and composition from various races and creeds around the world, and is an artistic microcosm which celebrates diversity. It also brings together the various intangible cultural heritage aspects of different parts of the world and introduces them to an audience that would not otherwise know them.
In the West, World music has already achieved significant popularity with a myriad of audiences. Its reach has been enhanced by the advocacy of UNESCO through the listing as Intangible Cultural Heritage items of some performance traditions. Hence, there are regular events featuring World music performers and their recordings are also easily available.
World music can be identified as the genre best suited to show China’s uniqueness to the world and at the same time accept the challenges of globalization. In the words of Zhang Pei-ren, the godfather of Taiwanese rock music, “World music can rock the audience beyond their wildest imagination, hence we must greatly promote it!”
World Music Festival Shanghai is a cooperative venture launched in 2011 by China Music Industry Park, Shanghai Synergy Culture & Entertainment Group and Shanghai H+M Communications Co as a core project of China Music Industry Park. It aims to create the best and most impressive World music festival in China.
China Music Industry Park Shanghai was established in 2009 by the Shanghai Synergy Culture & Entertainment Group under the auspices of the General Administration of Press and Publication of China. It is the first officially approved national level music industry conglomerate.
The industry park has developed an integrated industry chain which includes original content, artist management, sound recording, audio-visual publishing (including digital publishing), wholesale and retail, and copyright trading.
The outcome has been the creation of large amounts of original Chinese musical works and products.
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