26 April 2009 / 7:00 am / Posted in Art, Music
Two days before the performance of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra at Esplanade, there was a concert entitled “Treasures of Japan,” performed by the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, together with some of the leading traditional Japanese instrumentalists. One of the things I noticed with Japanese orchestral/classical/traditional music is that it’s very very sharp. The shakuhachi makes a pretty distinct yet sharp tone, while the taiko has sharp and defined beats.
Even if the pieces were performed by the SCO, one would notice that while the pipa or erhu player is using a traditional Chinese instrument, the way they are played are still very sharp.
I particularly enjoyed the taiko performances by Eitetsu Hiyashi and of course the encore. Sadly, I wasn’t able to record anything as it was prohibited (ie. just follow law!).
A day or two before this concert, there was another concert by The Zheng Ensemble at the concourse. Their junior members performed “Butterfly Lovers,” an all-time favorite.
It’s very interesting to see how we see the roots of East Asian music from that of Chinese. Further, if we go down south to Vietnam, we see the strong influence of the Chinese in Viet music and culture. I just find it very interesting that when one quips to a Viet, “oh you look Chinese,” you’ll see long faces. I reckon this is due to 2 things. First, the Chinese invaded Vietnam when Vietnam tried to invade Cambodia. Second, when the French colonized Vietnam, they reformed their writing systems and thus breaking the umbilical cord between Vietnam and China. If the French Jesuit Alexander de Rhodes didn’t invent this new writing system and if he just studied Chinese like Matteo Ricci, perhaps Vietnam would still be using Chinese characters today, and therefore I’d be able to easily read their materials and communicate with them. However, as the French phrase goes, c’est la vie!
Tags: china, japan, singapore, vietnam
