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Friday, September 12, 2008
Chinese Classics in the Park (歌乐满园林) -vvz

I attended a free concert at the Botanic Gardens that celebrates the 85th anniversary of Lianhe Zaobao last Sunday. It featured a number of familiar tunes played in unfamiliar arrangements. A pity it was so disorganized and SPH arrowed one of its reporters to be emcee instead of hiring one.

First up is Christine Hsu (许景淳) from Taiwan. This was the most interactive performance. She came down from the stage, walked among the audience and gave my mother a high-five. She sang Moon River, 月亮代表我的心, 但愿人长久(somehow only got first stanza) and her signature tune 玫瑰人生 accompanied by guitarist 董运昌.

Next up is Ma Xiaohui's (马晓晖), the famous Erhu player and her friends comprising of pianist Joel Clifft, percussionist 刘金柱 and cellist 蔡菁婧 (I hope I got the names right, they were just introduced as Ma Xiaohui and friends).

They played an Iranian folk song which surprisingly is a tune I had heard in a TV commercial a long time ago. McDonald's perhaps. They also played My Way, which they said was a French song (that's new info for me). "My Way" was played like a bickering couple; the erhu and cello took turns to play each phrase in accusing tones. Interesting.

The last performer to come on stage was 吉喆, the singer with the auspicious name. She has a magnificent voice (the speakers were a little too loud though). The music died midway through a song but she kept on going anyway, good job! I couldn't get a sharp picture because she danced as she sang so here's a link to a brief profile with pictures.

One of the songs she sang was called 爱的月光, which uses the melody from Dance of the Yao Tribe (瑶族舞曲). I liked that one. She also sang 茉莉花 (Jasmine Flower), which also happens to be Turandot's theme in last week's opera.

Ma Xiaohui's group came back again. Joel Clifft performed a popular solo piece by Liszt - La Campanella. The microphones were poorly setup and the stage crew was scrambling to get that fixed. They succeeded ... about 20 seconds before the piece ended.

The show ended with the famous Erhu tune 赛马, arranged here to include piano, cello and drums. The Erhu sounds the most natural here. I also think the cello adds a nice flavor to this traditional tune.

And here's everyone who performed that evening.

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Yiheng made 9:20 PM

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