September 12 — Chinese “Silk & Bamboo” Performers from Jiangsu Province
Acrobats, musicians, dancers, all whetting your appetite for the Chinese Cultural Festival the next day.
When: Friday September 12
Where: Clowes Memorial Hall, Butler University 4602 Sunset Avenue, Indianapolis
Sponsored by the Confucius Institute of IUPUI. Tickets run from $10-25, get them here.
This comes [unedited] from the Confucius Institute’s website:
A professional performing group, The Jiangsu Silk & Bamboo performing group, will present folk music, singing & Dancing, Peking Opera, magic, acrobat, and puppet show etc by national renown artists in China in the evening of Sept 12 at Clowes Hall of Butler University.
Ticket information:
Price: $25, $15, $10 [20% discount for group (>10 person), children (<12), senior (>60), students, and faculty and staff of Butler University and IUPUI].
Clowes Hall Box Office, Tel: (317)940-6444
Confucius Institute in Indianapolis, Tel: (317)278-7900, or nbrasova@iupui.edu
Why does Provocate think you should attend this event?
Provocate finds something a little strange about the announcement for this event. Here’s a description of Silk & Bamboo music from Jiangsu:
Sizhu is popular music in Jiangnan, which is in the south of Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces. Si stands for string instrument, including the erhu, pipa, and yangqin. Zhu stands for bamboo instrument, including the dizi (bamboo flute) and the sheng (reed pipe wind instrument).
During the Jialong period of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD), Zhang Yetang and other musicians formed a complete sizhu band. In Wuzhong (the ancient name of Suzhou and neighboring areas), a new kind of music, xiansuo was formed during late Wanli period of the Ming Dyansty. Xiansuo was the predecessor of Jiangnan sizhu. It was closely intertwined with local customs and was well received among the common people. Later, it was officially named Jiangnan sizhu.
Jiangnan sizhu is characteristically gentle and elegant. The performance skill and style are imbued with Chinese social culture that emphasizes modesty, harmony and innovation.
The traditional tunes include ‘Zhonghua’ ‘Liuban’, ‘Sanliu’, ‘Xingjie’, ‘Sihe’, and ‘Yunqing’. Renowned Chinese musician Nie Er (1912-1935) once adopted the Jiangnan sizhu ‘Daobaban’ into ‘A Wild Dance of the Golden Snake’, which became a hit across the country.
The evolution of sizhu music is very important for the study of folk music history and popular culture. During the 1960s and 1970s, the traditional sizhu music bands all disbanded. Many of the old artists are over 70 and are passing away. Few have descendants that have learned the ancient repertoires. Jiangnan sizhu is in danger of dying out too.
YOu can hear “Silk & Bamboo” music performed here.
So we have an artform that is elegant and refined, so much so that it may be dying out. Coming with acrobats, firebreathing magicians, etc.? Imagine a description of an evening of American entertainment with “A string quartet performing with a Wild West Rodeo, a dog show, a basketball game, and square dancing.” Well, Provocate would spend a lot of money for that evening, so let’s go to Clowes in the same spirit. You may be in the middle of a craving for Chinese culture between the closing of the Indianapolis Art Center’s “Two Worlds, One Language” ehibitions and the opening of the IMA’s “Court Arts of the Ming Dynasty” October 26: Go! Or maybe you picked up a taste for Chinese entertainment watching the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics and want to see them live: Go! Or you can’t wait for the Chinese Cultural Festival the next day, September 13: Go!
If you think this sounds interesting, be sure to check out …
“Court Arts of the Ming Dynasty” opens October 26 … the IMA will have several performances of traditional Chinese culture reinterpreted for contemporary audiences, including composer Tan Dun’s music November 21 and the film (using Tan Dun’s score) “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” November 22. See a performance by the Peking Opera of Beijing at the International Festival November 20-23. More opportunities in 2009 (too early for Provocate!): At Clowes Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet in performance with the Shaolin Monks of China on February 6 — “With utter calm and fierce precision, the dancers of LINES Ballet and the Shaolin Monks of China collaborate to present “Long River, High Sky,” an unprecedented synthesis of Eastern and Western classical forms. This collaboration represents both a blending of distinct cultural traditions—ballet and martial arts—and recognition that these arts of movement are convergent and intertwined.” And at Madame Walker February 20 Peking Acrobats.
