12th December 2004

This, the 11th meeting of the London Youlan Qin Society, was held at the home of Sarah Moyse in southwest London. 

Programme

  1. Charlie Huang: Guangling San, Qiu Feng Ci [sung]
  2. Julian Joseph: Xian Pei Ying Feng (from Xilutang Qintong)
  3. Wang Tingting: Zhuzi Yin [sung], Yi Guren
  4. Brian Cox: Qiu Feng Ci
  5. Marnix Wells: Guangling San (first 2 sections)
  6. Li Yi: Guanshan Yue
  7. Cheng Yu: Guanshan Yue [sung], Ping Sha Luo Yan
All pieces were played on a  qin made by Zeng Chengwei in Chengdu, southwestern China, less than 1 year ago.

Introduction

Cheng Yu began the proceedings. We were pleased to welcome several new members, including two from Sheffield University, which is home to several qin players. Everyone introduced themselves for the benefit of the new members. Julian Joseph then gave a brief review of the society's activies since its inception in July, 2003. In the space of only 17 months, we have been fortunate to have distinguished qin masters Gong Yi and Li Xiangting visit us, and we were closely involved in organising the guqin master classes they held in the summers of 2003 and 2004 respectively. Both agreed to be our consultants, for which we feel deeply grateful. Qin scholar Yip Mingmei has also visited us, and given fascinating talks about women qin players through the ages and "nurturing life". Altogether we have held 10 yajis. Full details of all these yajis are on this web site.

This was followed by a discussion on why Chinese music is still virtually unknown in the UK, whereas Indian music is relatively popular. Some of it may be due to early familiarity with Indian music, probably from the colonial period. Written records show that it is was known, and presumably accepted, in the UK at least 50 years ago. It was made popular during the 1960s by Ravi Shankar and George Harrison among others. So performances of Indian music are generally well attended, whereas those of Chinese music are not. There is a need to address this general lack of awareness of Chinese music. With the increasing importance of China in the economic sphere, an understanding of Chinese culture is also becoming necessary, and music is an essential part of that culture. Most westerners who are interested in Chinese music have come to it through an interest in other aspects of Chinese culture. Interestingly, many westerners who play the qin are also guitar players.

Cheng Yu then told us about her recent trip to China and Hong Kong, and showed us her photographs. The primary purpose was for her 5-string pipa project, in which she is creating a 5-string pipa based on the instrument that was lost after the Tang Dynasty, with innovations to expand its capabilities beyond those of the standard, modern 4-string pipa. Apart from the additional bass string, the new instrument will have a pair of sound holes. These were present in early pipas, but are absent on modern ones. For more information on the 5-string pipa project, please click here.

Her first stop was Hong Kong. There she attended a multimedia concert combining Chinese orchestra with Chinese traditional and popular music. She also attended a yaji held by the Sin Ya Qin Society. In Beijing she met Professor Li Xiangting. She also met qin maker Wang Peng, and visited Dan Nung Ing's newly opened tea house.

These discussions were followed by qin playing. Highlights included Charlie Huang's interpretation of the first two thirds of Guangling San and Wang Tingting's qinge (qin song) Zhu Zhi Yin (Song of the Bamboo Branch). She explained that it is a Ming Dynasty piece, based on a folk song from the same period. She also said it is traditional to sing qin songs in one's own dialect, rather than in Mandarins so she used her native Changsha dialect. This inspired Cheng Yu and Charlie Huang to sing as they played Qiu Feng Ci and Guanshan Yue, and everybody else to join in. Cheng Yu rounded off the event with a beautiful performance of Ping Sha Luo Yan.


 








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