TT, China make great music

GARY CARDINEZ

ETERNAL Rhythms a Chinese Traditional Orchestra was a two-day concert put on by The Chinese Traditional Orchestra of China National Opera and Dance Theatre in collaboration with the National Steel Symphony Orchestra (NSSO) which came off at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (Napa) on September 19-20.

The concert showcased the music of China using traditional instruments and the music of TT using the pan.

Eternal Rhythms produced 12 pieces, eight from the Chinese Traditional Orchestra and four with both orchestras.

The evening opened with the Chinese Traditional orchestra playing Dance of the Golden Snake. Huang Kai then joined the orchestra to play the bamboo flute on A New Song of Herdsmen. This was followed by The Grapes are Ripe with Wang Na on the Erhu.

The Napa audience showed its appreciation for the music with a loud round of applause after each performance. The next song, A Moonlit Night on Spring River, featured Wang Jing on Pipa and Li Tan on Zheng and together with the orchestra they caused a stir from the audience.

Song of the Phoenix came next with Lin Xizhan playing the suona. The orchestra was then joined by Dou Shibin with his Jinghu to play Deep Night. This performance also featured Feng Lu on Chinese drum and Li Ting on Beijing Erhu.

Once again, Huang Kai joined the Chinese Orchestra with his bamboo flute and the National Steel Symphony Orchestra to perform Busy in Delivering Grain Hastily. The collaboration of the two orchestra was an interesting blend which produced great music.

Both orchestras accompanied Chen Rong and Wang Na in an Erhu duet on Horse Racing. This was followed by Echo, a song composed by Amrit Samaroo and Kareem Brown. Our Nation Dawning, arranged and transcribed by Vanessa Headley, came next and the audience was singing. The chorus continued as the orchestras performed Portrait of Trinidad arranged by Dr Jit Samaroo and transcribed by his son Amrit.

The final song performed by the orchestras was Flowers Blooming and Full Moon arranged by Peng Xiuwen. All the collaborative performances were conducted by NSSO artistic director Akua Leith.