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Forget purists, traditional music needs new vibe
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An old man in long gown playing the two-stringed traditional musical instrument erhu (or Chinese fiddle 二胡) is the typical image of an erhu performer, drawing on a classical and sometimes more modern repertoire.
But these traditional performances fail to appeal to many young people, who prefer livelier pop concerts and cinema; they can have more fun on their electronic tablets and computers playing video games.
As a result, some traditional Chinese music is becoming more experimental, creating colorful crossover performances that combine traditional music with Western elements, instruments and ensembles, resulting in a totally different theater experience.
Purists may complain, but innovation appears here to stay. Performances may involve modern staging, laser lighting and special effects, as well as modern dress or costumes.
Quite a few artists combine traditional Chinese instruments and their music with other traditional art forms, such as Chinese calligraphy and painting.
In 2002, the 12 Girl Band staged a crossover performance on the annual CCTV Spring Festival Gala Show and created a splash. The musicians were pretty girls in short tight dresses who played Chinese instruments as they stood, swayed and danced a little.
Many crossover music performances won applause at this year’s Shanghai International Arts Festival that ended last month. Performances included Tan Dun’s “Women’s Script,” which combines traditional Chinese folk songs and a symphony orchestra. The Tian He band staged Western-style rock and blues using traditional Chinese instruments.
The Jun Tian Yun He band combined guqin (seven-stringed plucked zither 古琴), with cello, guitar, vocals and a tai chi performance.
Guqin player Qiao Shan is a pioneer in fusion. In the late 1980s, she collaborated with a symphony orchestra in a classic composition “Pu’an Zhou” (“Mantra of Pu’an”) and a concerto titled “Li Sao.” Both works were recorded for sale.
Given the natural low voice of the guqin and the grandeur of a standard symphony orchestra, it required considerable effort by Qiao and the composer to bring the voices into harmony. Qiao considers the result quite satisfactory, but some traditional music professionals were not impressed.
“It was quite a fashion-forward trial at the time and there were hardly any similar productions,” says Qiao. “And, of course, we knew that there would be opposition.” There still is.
According to Qiao, who is now 51, her experiments have been praised by people with both Western and Chinese educational backgrounds but criticized by guqin professionals as being “neither fish nor fowl.”
That doesn’t bother Qiao, who says it always takes time for innovation to be accepted.
“Since the guqin is ancient, it’s not difficult to find traces of innovation over the dynasties, as musicians tried to appeal to audiences over thousands of years,” says Qiao. “So, why would we be afraid of change?”
Though not wedded to fusion music, Qiao keeps an open mind about collaboration. She has worked with pianists, calligraphers and traditional Chinese painters.
“Everybody says that art is a universal language, and language was created in the first place for communication,” says Qiao.
One of the most dedicated fusion pioneers is 38-year-old pipa (Chinese lute 琵琶) artist Yu Bin, who says it’s not just nice to collaborate but essential to explore new markets and audience for traditional Chinese music, which is losing fans.
“When you attend a traditional Chinese concert, you may find most of the audiences is quite old or quite young,” says Yu, a member of the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra. He has been experimenting with fusion since 2003.
According to him, elderly people attend because they appreciate traditional music, while very young attend because they are learning traditional instruments. Few young adults, the major consumers, are attracted.
“Lights on, music plays, lights off,” says Yu. “How can you expect young people to be attracted to such unvarying performances when they are surrounded by colorful entertainment in an IMAX cinema or on a tablet?”
In 2003, Yu established a crossover traditional Chinese music band Yue Zhi Yuan (Origin of the Moon). All members are professionally trained in traditional Chinese music.
“Don’t always think of traditional Chinese musicians as boring old guys in long gowns. We also listen to pop music, hit the bars, and love adventure,” says Yu. “That’s who we are in life, and it can also be who we are on stage.”
The band plays pipa, dizi (bamboo flute 笛子), suona (trumpet 唢呐) and Western keyboard, introducing elements of electronic, pop and jazz. Sometimes they interpret Western music with traditional instruments, for example, replacing the saxophone with suona and replacing the guitar with pipa.
Despite the debate and criticism about fusion, crossover and updating Chinese music, Yu says the test is the market. “I don’t want to debate whether fusion is good or not. As long as there are audiences preferring our music, that proves our efforts are worthy.”
The band receives around 20 invitations a year for commercial performances. Experiments should be encouraged but musicians should not make traditional Chinese music too commercial, says Wang Fujian, president of the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra.
“Putting too much emphasis on colorful stage effects while neglecting the quality of the music is not the proper way forward for traditional music,” he says. “Crossover music is not the only way to innovate and improve the market; new creations are possible.”
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