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Drumming up passion for the marimba
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The African percussion instrument marimba is better known than most people think. It was used to create the ringtone for iPhones.
Joint Venture Percussion Duo will present a marimba concert featuring a broad selection of compositions on March 28. The audience can look forward to Bartok’s seven pieces from “Mikrokosmos,” Ravel’s “Le Tombeau de Couperin” (“The Tomb of Couperin”) and Egberto Gismonti’s “Infancia.” The duo has also commissioned Canadian composer Christos Hatzis for avant-garde piece “Modulations 2: Quantum Transitions.”
The marimba is relatively new to China — musicians here only picked it up during the 1980s — even though it dates back about 5,000 years in Africa.
Now China has approximately a few thousands musicians playing marimba and more than 30 competitions at various skill levels, according to Yang Ruwen, a professor at Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
“Marimba is like the pearl of percussion instruments,” Yang says. “There’s a saying, ‘the marimba is not everything, but percussion music needs the marimba’.”
Modern marimbas typically are made with five sets of wooden bars, usually made of rosewood, and they are struck with mallets. Resonators hang below each bar, mostly tubes made of aluminum, and amplify the sound.
Asian percussionists are now winning top competitions in the world, and some children start learning the instrument as early as kindergarten. This has led to several Chinese marimba artists reaching international acclaim, Yang says.
Percussion duo
The Joint Venture Percussion Duo was established by Zhang Xi from China and Laurent Warnier from Luxembourg in 2007.
Born in 1987 in Harbin, northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, Zhang started learning the piano at the age of four and marimba when she was 12.
In 1996, she and her family moved to Shenzhen in South China. A few years later she enrolled in Shenzhen Art School with a major in percussion, while pursuing piano and composition as well.
In 2006, Zhang went to study at Conservatorium van Amsterdam, participating in many performances in both classical and modern music. During her studies, Zhang formed Joint Venture Percussion Duo with Warnier. They toured the Netherlands and other European countries.
After graduation, she enrolled at Boston Conservatory in the United States for her master’s degree, studying with world renowned marimbist Nancy Zeltsman. Zhang was chosen as a candidate for the prestigious Artist Diploma at the school — a major accomplishment as only two or three musicians are accepted each year.
New music
Zhang is now working to expand the marimba’s influence in China.
“As for my generation (of percussionists), we aren’t just performing, but promoting percussion music,” Zhang says. “There aren’t many percussion concerts in the concert halls now, and people are more familiar with drums than keyboard percussion instruments.”
Yang considers Zhang a leading figure in Chinese percussion music.
Warnier is a former classmate of Zhang’s at Conservatorium van Amsterdam and Boston Conservatory. He has performed in China in 2008 with Amsterdam Percussion Quartet.
Warnier has a passion for new music and usually works with contemporary ensembles.
The duo was invited by the Luxembourg Ministry of Culture to perform at the Luxembourg Pavilion of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. They have toured internationally and performed at music festivals.
Canadian percussionist artist Beverley Johnston will join the concert at Shanghai Oriental Art Center. She has released five solo recordings and is a leading marimba musician and ambassador of the Canadian Music Centre.
Date: March 28, 7:30 pm
Tickets: 80-580 yuan
Venue: Shanghai Oriental Art Center
Address: 425 Dingxiang Rd
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