Tan Dun led the unveiling of Dongyi’s autumn and winter performance season, the Three Kingdoms and Five Tigers, and the ancient Nvshu reappeared on stage – Teller Report

performance scene

Yesterday, the famous composer and conductor Tan Dun led the Changsha Symphony Orchestra to perform the symphonic work “Dunhuang Five Music Gods & Nushu”, unveiled for the 2022/23 autumn and winter performance season of the Center’s “Art Tour” Shanghai Oriental Art. . This also returns “Nu Shu” after 9 years. “Five Music Gods of Dunhuang” became the Shanghai premiere of this Dongyi performance season. Musician Tan Dun created a visual and auditory feast for the Shanghai audience.
Jiangyong County, Hunan Province, which has a unique “Nvshu” culture in the world, is the only female script found in the world, and is now on the verge of being lost.
Tan Dun uses the unique way of symphony to continue the cultural story that belongs only to women. The micro-film symphonic poem “Nu Shu” combines Tan Dun’s dual identities as musician and filmmaker. With “3D music” and “3D space-time” as the main creative concepts, it builds a counterpoint to the three-dimensional space of art.
On the night of the performance, 13 micro-film clips were played on stage through three projection screens arranged in a triangle, and together with the magnificent symphony, intertwining the past and the future in time and space. On the big screen, bits and pieces of what happened in Nüshu Village, record the stories of women’s marriage, growth and family affection. There is a percussionist on each side of the band, playing the rhythm in a basin full of water, with the sound of the strings. The combination of the sense of picture and sound makes the audience feel as if they were at the riverside of the girl, rowing a boat and singing.

Tan Dun commands

Throughout the concert, Tan Dun wore a Chinese tunic suit and waved a baton and the soft and magnificent harp became a bridge that connected two time and space. Chen Yuying, a harp player in a rose-red national costume, used her tense body expression to lead the audience back to the ancient Nvshu Village together with Tan Dun.
In the second half of the performance, Tan Dun and five young performers performed “Five Music Gods of Dunhuang” together. At the beginning, in a red light with the style of the Western Regions, Liu Wenwen, a pianist performer in a red dress, showed Zhang Fei’s boldness and courage with a rough voice and a high pitch. Later, Xiqin player Zhu Yunqi expressed the kindness and depth of Zhao Yun, shakuhachi player Yang Bowen, with an elegant and ethereal shakuhachi showing the heroic loyalty of Guan Yu, pipa player Han Yan, with a rhythmic pipa to express the courage of Ma Chao, perhaps, Zhang Meng, and Tang Player Sheng, showing Huang Zhong’s loyalty with his broad and soft Sheng.

performance scene

In the concert, the King of Glory game video on the big screen together with the symphony melody, with stage lighting effects, reproduced the heroes of the Three Kingdoms and the musical instruments of Dunhuang that were about to be lost, showing the spirit of the Five Generals Tiger and the legendary story. Tan Dun said, “I hope that the contents of these five musical instruments can show a deep and wide world, a kind of heavy and exquisite feelings, just like the Dunhuang murals.”

Speaking about the significance of coming to Dongyi to play the “Dunhuang Sound” again, Tan Dun said bluntly, “Dunhuang is the living fossil of ancient Chinese art. I want to turn these murals into music, play it with a symphony orchestra , and bring it to the world. Chinese culture To share it with the world, the most important thing is to have a spiritual platform and a bridge of belief.” Tan Dun said, “My biggest dream is to find the music, instruments, lost colors and timbres. Come. I hope to find the faith of China from the coordinates of Dunhuang.” After many curtain calls, Tan came Dun and the band ended the concert in the beautiful and touching “Bolero Dance”, and Dongyi’s new performance season has also begun.. (Xinmin Evening News reporter Zhao Yue)