Echoes of Hakka music

huangchunbin

Echoes of Hakka music
(CHEN JIE)
11/05/2002

In November 2000, the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra debuted "Echo from the Earth Building," a 37-minute symphonic work under the baton of Zheng Xiaoying, at the 16th World Hakka People's Meeting in Longyan, East China's Fujian Province. The piece features the Hakka people's history and lives.
The score, the orchestra, and especially the renowned 73-year-old conductor, herself from a Hakka family, all thrilled the Hakka audiences. They responded with rhythmic standing ovations and sang along with the last chorus.

One year later, "Echo from the Earth Buildings," scored by Liu Yuan, won the Golden Bell Award issued by the Chinese Musicians' Association.

So far, the Xiamen Orchestra has performed the work in six provinces and toured Japan, all with Zheng as conductor.

Tonight and tomorrow, Beijing's concert-goers can finally enjoy the piece at the Forbidden City Concert Hall.

Birth of a symphony

Centuries ago, Hakka people left their original settlement in central China to escape warfare. They suffered misery and hardship to finally arrive on the southeast coast of China. They rebuilt their houses there and have been living and working in peace and contentment in the area ever since.

Zheng's father, son of a Hakka family in Longyan, left his hometown to study abroad among the first group of students given scholarships by the Chinese Government in 1916.

In February 2000, Zheng visited her father's birth place for the first time and was immediately impressed by the culture, the history and the traditional earth buildings, called tulou in Chinese.

"Why not interpret all these in a symphony? The idea flashed across my mind at once," Zheng said. "How great it would be if the Hakka people heard music specially composed for them at the World Hakka People's Meeting."

Zheng soon turned to Liu Yuan with the Central Conservatory of Music for help. Though not a Hakka, the 41-year-old composer lived in the Hakka region for a long time in his boyhood.

Liu went to Yongding County in Longyan to refresh his memory and feelings about the Hakka people, collecting folk music and witnessing the region's development.

Liu finished the score three months later. "I closed myself up in a small room, cut off the telephone, refused to see anybody and took instant noodle as meals," Liu said.

"The music welled up like a fountain and I could not stop even one minute. I could not help but pour my heart and blood into the score," he said.

Consisting of five movements, the score has two major themes: a workers' chant and a popular folk song, which are both derived from local folk songs.

Trombones play the work chant to start the first movement. The brass winds and drums produce powerful sounds to symbolize Hakka people's strength, courage and unity.

The second movement features an original folk song sung by 76-year-old Li Tiansheng, hailed as "king of the folk song" by the local people. Li also plays a traditional Hakka bamboo instrument.

Then two flutes play an emotional nocturne to symbolize a Hakka mother's cradle song in the quiet of night. The harp and percussion produce clear, pleasant notes like children counting stars. At the end of this movement a young Hakka girl blows through a leaf, creating a beautiful melody.

The music then speeds up and turns more energetic. Liu blends the traditional music used for the local dragon and lion dances into this part to show the Hakka people's hard work and their celebration for the harvest.

Then the music turns slow and emotional again to express the Hakka people's delicate inner feelings and respect for their ancestors.

The whole piece ends with a powerful chorus of folk songs.

"Liu has a good sense and deep love for Hakka people and composed a great symphony with folk nuances using contemporary composing techniques," Zheng said.

"Liu is talented. He refined the cream of Hakka's folk music to create an emotional and powerful symphony," said Wu Zuqiang, honoured chairman of the Chinese Musicians' Association.

Now the piece has become part of the permanent repertoire of the five-year-old Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra that was founded by Zheng.

Birth of an orchestra

In the spring of 1997, when she had just retired as the chief conductor of the China Central Opera House, Zheng received an unexpected call from Xiamen.

Cai Wanghuai, chairman of the Xiamen People's Political Consultative Conference, told her that Xiamen-born world-renowned pianist Yin Chengzong had played the concerto "Yellow River" at more than 300 concerts around the world, but had never performed in his hometown because the city didn't have its own symphony orchestra, even though it is called the "Island of Piano" and has produced quite a few musicians like Yin.

Cai earnestly invited Zheng to Xiamen to establish an orchestra. Moved by the fertile musical atmosphere and tradition in Xiamen, and the local people's sincere expectation and trust, Zheng left Beijing to serve as the artistic director and chief conductor of the fledgling orchestra.

"I decided to lead the new orchestra to introduce and promote symphonic music in a city where people had seldom attended a symphony concert," Zheng said.

It is not so easy. Already in her 70s, Zheng manages almost every aspect of the orchestra, from recruiting instrumentalists to buying instruments; from raising funds to looking for rehearsal space.

However, the conductor, who is known for her rigorous, passionate and exquisite interpretations, has overcome all the difficulties to bring up a young but promising orchestra.

Under her direction, the classical orchestra started rehearsing the classical pieces of the 18th century, then moved on through the romantic style to some contemporary works. Now they are able to perform a broad repertoire spanning Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and some Chinese composers.

Since its debut in September 1998 in Xiamen, the orchestra has performed more than 300 concerts and widely toured the country.

In May 2000, pianist Yin Chengzong came back to his hometown to give a concert marking his 50-year professional career. With the orchestra, he eventually fulfilled his wish, playing "Yellow River" accompanied by the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra.

To popularize the classical music, Zheng gives brief introductions before each concert and also opens the rehearsal to the public to bring the symphony closer to audiences.

In addition, Zheng and the orchestra perform on the campuses of local colleges to develop fans among young students.

Owing to her devoted work, the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra has become the most important part of the local people's musical life and it has won a number of sincere fans.

　
"Echoes" of Hakka earth castles to be heard in US (1)

20021108

TITLE    "Echoes" of Hakka earth castles to be heard in US (1)

DISPATCH_DATE  20021108  AUTHOR      

     "Echoes" of Hakka earth castles to be heard in US (1)

    BEIJING, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- A symphony combining vivid Chinese folk songs and Western classical music to portray the history of  an immigrant group of people will be performed in the US state of  Connecticut in mid November.

   Prof. Zheng Xiaoying, a world-renowned symphony director as well as China's top female conductor, is scheduled to leave Saturday for the United States at the invitation of Wesleyan University to lead the university's orchestra in performing the "Echoes of Hakka earth castles."

   Meanwhile, the composer of the symphony, Liu Yuan, and two Hakka folk musicians will accompany Prof. Zheng.

   The Chinese symphony will be performed during the annual music festival of Wesleyan University, a top U.S. college in the field of ethnomusicology. A typical seminar on blending Western music with Oriental music will be held at the same time.

   Hakka people, popularly known as descendants of a tribe of ancient Han people, China's largest ethnic group, are believed to have been moved six times in the past centuries from north and northwest China to east China's Jiangxi and Fujian provinces and southern Guangdong province, areas at the time mostly peopled with ethnic minorities.

   The name of the symphony derives from the Hakkas of west Fujian who built up a number of square, round earth castles called "Tulou" in the Chinese or Han language, meaning "earth buildings," which are unique and indigenous to their area of China.

   Made up of five movements, the symphony uses two old Hakka folk songs as the theme, with a number of beautiful tunes recomposed from the Hakka music. (more)


"Echoes" of Hakka earth castles to be heard in US (2)

20021108

TITLE    "Echoes" of Hakka earth castles to be heard in US (2)

DISPATCH_DATE  20021108

AUTHOR      

    "Echoes" of Hakka earth castles to be heard in US (2)

    During the 37-minute performance, two Hakka folk musicians will perform with the orchestra, displaying the symphony's uniqueness and indigenousness

   Li Tiansheng, a 74-year-old reputed as the "King of Hakka singers," will sing a folk song in the second movement, describing homesickness and the hope of Hakkas compelled to leave their

hometowns to make a living abroad.

   At two performances given in Beijing recently by the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra, and also led by Prof. Zheng, Li's tender and powerful performance moved the audiences, most of whom know little about the history of Hakkas people and even do not understand the Hakka dialect.

   The second Hakka performer surprises the audience by using only a leaf instead of any man-made music instrument during the third movement of the symphony.

   Qiu Shaochun is one of the few popular Hakka musicians who know how to play this traditional musical instrument, which once was widely sung and enjoyed by local farmers and cowboys.

   The name "Hakka" comes from the people's dialect and in the Han language or Chinese translates to "Kejiaren," or "guests."

   About 60 million Hakkas are scattered far and wide around the world and an annual Hakka conference is held in different countries.  (more) #




"Echoes" of Hakka earth castles to be heard in US (3)

20021108

TITLE    "Echoes" of Hakka earth castles to be heard in US (3)

DISPATCH_DATE  20021108

AUTHOR      

     "Echoes" of Hakka earth castles to be heard in US (3)

    "Echoes of Hakka earth castles" debuted at the international Hakka conference held in Longyan city of Fujian province in the year 2000.

   At that concert Hakkas from around the world joined the chorus in singing the folk song in the last movement of the symphony, said Prof. Zheng Xiaoying, who was herself born into a Hakka family.

   "They share the same emotion and feelings as the symphony," she said. Liu Yuan, the symphony's composer, has also lived for 11 years in a Hakka residence in the western part of Fujian province.

   "I would like to dig out the soul of Hakkas as a group who had to leave their hometowns and aspire and work very hard for a new world," he said.

   "Echoes of Hakka earth castles" has won not only Hakka fans but also Westerners as well.   Prof. Janice Engsberg, who worked in China for 15 consecutive years and now teaches in prestigious Xiamen University in southern part of Fujian province, has visited Hakka earth buildings five or six times.

   "It is indeed a great wonder that a typical Chinese symphony could evoke my feelings and sentiments about the history of my own family," she said. "My grandparents left Germany for the United States in the late 19th century to look for a new world and I myself came to China from the US to find my own world."

   The symphony was performed in Japan in April this year. A 100-member Japanese chorus sang the Hakka folk song at the last movement in Hakka dialect.

   According to Prof. Zheng, the US chorus would also love to singthe song in genuine Hakka dialect.  Enditem #



From:http://www.xiaoying.com.cn/engli ... 0of%20Hakka%20music

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