[POSTPONED] Chanting “The Song of Everlasting Sorrow”: An Event of Nanguan with WANG Xin-xin
[POSTPONED] Chanting “The Song of Everlasting Sorrow”: An Event of Nanguan with WANG Xin-xin
PERFORMANCE POSTPONED
The performances on May 29-30, 2021 have been postponed to Oct 23-24, 2021, due to COVID-19. Tickets held will remain valid for the rescheduled dates: May 29 to Oct 23, and May 30 to Oct 24.
For ticket refund, please call OPENTIX service center: +886-(0)2-3393-9888 or e-mail opentixservice@mail.npac-ntch.org.
“The Song of Everlasting Sorrow” by Bai Ju-yi
It tells the phenomenal and unprecedented 72 hours of a golden empire.
In the eyes of poet Bai Ju-yi, it is an apocalyptic ballad in the wake of a nationwide peacekeeping movement.
At the end of the turmoil in war and the struggles for power, love remains the last lost paradise.
Chanting “The Song of Everlasting Sorrow”: An Event of Nanguan with WANG Xin-xin:
More than Nanguan
Only WANG Xin-xin, who
sings the imperial love immersed in glamor and extravagance, and
challenges the stage image known for decency and elegance.
Following the collaboration of “Pipa Xing” in 2006, renowned choreographer LIN Hwai-min once again instructed WANG Xin-xin to re-interpret Bai Ju-yi’s another masterpiece, “The Song of the Everlasting Sorrow.”
From the amorous couple bathed in the age of glamorous prosperity
to the horrifying sounds of war drums that echo with six withheld armed forces,
is it an interpretation of humanity in crisis relief? Or a romantic sad song of everlasting sorrow?
“The strings you pluck is dance; the look in your eyes is play,” said by LIN Hwai-min.
WANG Xin-xin undertakes her biggest cross-disciplinary stage challenge,
using reciting, chanting and singing as well as playing, plucking and picking in pipa playing
to map out the spiritual distance between history, the author, and the audience.
LIN Hwai-min once said, “We waited in silence for her to take the stage; when she began to sing, we simply forgot where we were.”
LIN Hwai-min was first known to the Taiwan public as a fiction writer. He started his modern dance training at the age of 23, while working on his MFA degree at the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa. He founded Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan in Taipei in 1973.
A self-taught choreographer, LIN often draws from Asian cultures and aesthetics to create works with contemporary resonance. Under his direction, Cloud Gate tours extensively to international acclaims and prominence.
In 2013, he received the prestigious Samuel H. Scripps / American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement. Previous awardees include Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Pina Bausch, and William Forsythe. LIN is the first recipient based in Asia.
Among other honors LIN Hwai-min has received are the John D. Rockefeller 3rd Award, the Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters from the Ministry of Culture of France, the Honorary Fellow Trinity Laban, London, and honorary doctorates from six universities in Taiwan and Hong Kong. He was also celebrated by the Time Magazine as one of “Asia’s Heroes.”
At the end of 2019, LIN retired from the position of the artistic director of Cloud Gate.
WANG Xin-xin is one of the most important Nanguan musicians of our time and has won great praise for her innovativeness and for passing down this cultural tradition.
Currently the art director of the Xinxin Nanguan Ensemble, WANG comes from a long line of Nanguan musicians in Quanzhou, Fujian. Having begun learning Nanguan music at the age of four, WANG is a master of all the most important zhi and pu suites and is proficient in a wide variety of Nanguan instruments. She is especially famous for her singing and is a rare musical polymath proficient in the five components (vocal plus the four major instruments) of Nanguan music. WANG immigrated to Taiwan in the 1990s and has been greatly influenced by modern Taiwanese artists, including LIN Hwai-min, TONG Yang-tze, LO Man-fei, and WU Su-chun. WANG has been invited to perform at many major arts festivals in Europe and the United States and is referred to as the top musician of the contemporary era when it comes to innovating and passing on the tradition of Nanguan (Nanyin) music. In
2003, WANG founded the Xinxin Nanguan Ensemble and has since dedicated herself to promoting innovation and collaboration between Nanguan and the contemporary arts. A unique fusion of Nanguan singing and classical Chinese poetry can be seen in many of her works, which are moving both for their sound and their poetic expression. Some of her iconic works include Elegy on a Funeral for Flowers, Song of the Pipa Lute, and Forlorn—A Rhyming Song for Lovers, an adaptation of a poem written by LI Qing-zhao. In her 2015 fully-staged production of The Poetry of Nanguan, which was based on the works of poet YU Kwang-chung, WANG attempted for the first time to integrate modern poetry into Nanguan music. Her Zen Series includes such works as Pu’an-zou in Nanguan, Temporality and Nirvana—The Heart Sutra and The Universal Gate Chapter on the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva.
XinXin Nanguan Ensemble
As one of the existing and oldest ensemble music of China, Nanguan incorporates Chinese Confucius philosophy and aesthetics into its musical system. Its continuous rising and falling cadence as well as agreeable and heartfelt tune deeply touch people’s heart in modern times.
In 2003, WANG Xin-xin founded the Xinxin Nanguan Ensemble and has since dedicated herself to promoting innovation and collaboration between Nanguan and the contemporary arts. She has maintained long-term collaboration with several artists, including dancer WU Su-chun, fashion designer Sophie HONG, artist CHENG Hui-chung and other artists.
In 2015, WANG and her long-term partner LU Chien-ying proposed together the idea of “contemporary Nanguan,” striving to innovate and pass on the tradition with suites instead of preserving and maintaining the tradition as people had been doing. In addition to finding new ways to promote Nanguan, they also invested themselves into the social practice of music from the aspect of settling modern people’s body and mind. In 2017, they integrated the cultural features of a community and launched “Contemporary Nanguan Earth Project” at Nei Hu Elementary School, Lugu Township, the place known for its production of Dongding Oolong Tea. In 2018, they started “Listen Workshop,” transforming Nanguan into five-sense experience. WANG continues to bring new awareness into the interpretation, creation, and promotion of Nanguan music.
Production Team
- Artistic Director｜LIN Hwai-min
- Music Director｜LAI Deh-ho
- Pipa / Chants｜WANG Xin-xin
- Light Design｜WANG Yao-chong
- Producer｜LU Chien-ying
- Producer｜XinXin Nanguan Ensemble