Even at the reception outside the theatre, they had three young members standing in front of two wooden tubs to help you wash your hands. Next, another member served you tea in a tiny teacup. And all the while their Malay musician, Mohd Faizal, helped you relax with his soothing guzheng music.
As you entered the studio someone gave you a thin sash for you to blindfold yourself in one of the items. The studio was dimly lit. The orchestra pit was at one end. There was a big drum and there was something that looked like a tree. At the other end a man sat cross-legged on the floor, meditating. On both sides were rows of seats.
And for the next 80 minutes, the audience were immersed in a world of serene Nan Yin tunes and graceful liyuan dance and movements.
Nan Yin music is melancholic and soulful. It is also slow-moving. Nan Yin songs are sung in the ancient Quanzhou Hokkien dialect. Not everyone likes or can appreciate Nan Yin, said Cai Ya Yi, SL's new performer from Quanzhou. She sang very well. Another good singer, Mei E, didn't perform that night.
During the dialogue session there were quite a lot of comments and questions. The participants liked and enjoyed the show and appreciated SL's effort in promoting Nan Yin.
The elderly man who asked the last question said that young people today are not so conversant in Hokkien and may not attend dialect shows ... and he added "Cantonese opera no people see, now they have to perform in English". Maybe he was suggesting SL could consider Nan Yin in mandarin or English. But I don't think Wang Bi Yu, SL's artistic director, will like the idea.
His remark about Cantonese opera is incorrect. As if now a lot of Cantonese operas are in English.
In Singapore, so far only one Cantonese opera has been performed in English and its primary aim was to get young people to watch. Attract them first and hopefully they will go on to watch Chinese operas in their original dialects.
And the Cantonese opera scene here is quite active. With the exception of the one opera in English and another one in mandarin, all operas are performed in Cantonese.
3 comments:
Oops~ Never come to visit your blog for some time so I didn't see this post till you told me! sorry about that. I was quite busy and didn't even have time to write my own blog nowadays.
Thanks for your support as usual~! :) The aromatherapy maybe not strong enough so you guys didn't smell it.. I didn't get a chance to go to the entrance there so I didn't know what was happening there but thanks to your post, at least I get to see some pictures and got some information from you.
Cai Ya Yi is a guest performer and she is currently teaching in the Nanyin school in Quanzhou. She will return there around 23 jul. As for Mei E, she has decided to go back to quanzhou to further her nanyin career so we are now left with no nanyin teachers. Don't know when can employ another suitable one.
Singing nanyin in a new remix music is an idea which we are trying to do but not singing it in english definitely~! Hahah.. so weird right. But you are right to say that we should attract the young audience first then slowly grow their interest in the traditional styles.
Did you take those pictures? BTW, the guy in grey in the photos was the scriptwriter for Li Ya Xian. :)
I din take any photos, I took 2 short vids but they turned out to be quite bad (shaky and people blocking the lens), so I just captured a few screenshots and junk the vids.
I thought Lin Shao Ling was the scriptwriter for LYX.
Actually I have a little interest in Nan Yin all along and I've heard of SL before I know you but these were not enough to make me go and watch a NY show.
The postings in your blog on NY did it.
Yah.. I was surprised you went because you were more into opera, especially cantonese opera. Thanks for coming!
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