The world’s premier pipa virtuoso and Grammy Award-nominated musician Wu Man leads a new concert exploring the rich musical traditions of China and Central Asia, created specifically for Singapore.
A soloist, educator and composer, Wu Man is seen by today’s most prominent composers as an outstanding exponent of the traditional repertoire as well as a leading interpreter of contemporary pipa music. Her adventurous spirit and virtuosity has led to cross-cultural collaborations in different artistic disciplines, allowing her to reach wider audiences. She has more than 40 albums to her name, including the Grammy-nominated recordings “Our World in Song”, “Traditions and Transformations: Sounds of Silk Road Chicago”, her recording of Tan Dun’s “Pipa Concerto” with Yuri Bashmet and the Moscow Soloists, and “You’ve Stolen My Heart” featuring the Kronos Quartet.
Wu Man brings together two ancient cultures in a concert exploring cultural links between Chinese and Central Asian traditions that date back more than 2,000 years. In her search to understand the roots of her instrument, Wu Man travelled to Central Asia and worked with musicians of the Uyghur tradition, culminating in a brilliant evening of this old-world music in a contemporary setting.
Borderlands features masters of Uyghur music playing indigenous instruments from the Xinjiang region. Among them is Sanubar Tursun, one of Central Asia's finest singers today and a star performer regarded by many as a symbol of the Uyghur people. With Wu Man’s deft performance of the pipa, Tursun’s delicate playing on the dutar (a Central Asian long-necked lute), and the hypnotic sounds of Xinjiang Uyghur Muqam* melodies, Borderlands is an extraordinary musical experience not to be missed.
*The Uyghur Muqam is the opera of Central Asia that is derived from a cross blend of Chinese, Turkic and Arabic influences, with dance tunes, instrumental sections, sung poetry and stories reflecting Uyghur history and contemporary society.
Commissioned by Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA).
Rating TBC
同时是独奏家、教育家和作曲家的吴蛮集合了传统及现代独奏技巧于一身。作为把中国乐器介绍到西方的第一人,她是国际公认的琵琶音乐的诠释权威,也已成了当代琵琶音乐代名词,更是跨界音乐与跨文化交流的标志性人物。
吴蛮的音乐风景由东方意象转调为西方惊奇,她特为新加坡创作的Borderlands《边疆》巧妙结合了超越两千年的华族和中亚传统,将两者集聚一堂。 两种文化意象在她的聪慧下相交融合,构筑出以东方气韵为经、西方情调为纬的蛮式琵琶美学。从小就受到中国传统文化熏陶的吴蛮,在研究琵琶的寻根过程中,发现琵琶很早从中亚传来。她前往中亚和维吾尔族的传统音乐家合作,在回望传统的同时,更为中国古典和民间音乐注入现代元素,带出具有古典气息并展现中亚异国情调的古韵新境。
Borderlands《边疆》也亮点呈现和吴蛮同台演出的音乐大师,其中包括了维吾尔歌后 Sanubar Tursun,她是国外媒体赞誉为“中亚最好的歌唱家之一”,维吾尔族中被誉为女神级的代表歌手。Sanubar 是现在国际乐坛最知名的维吾尔女音乐家,曾出过由意大利世界音乐厂牌Felmay Records 2013 年国际发行的唱片《ARZU》。吴蛮琵琶的极致典雅风范,Sanubar 气韵焕然的都塔尔(外形为梨形的中亚琴弦)演奏和她宛如天籁,令人遥想远方、诗歌流淌的歌声,配合维吾尔的民间古典音乐木卡姆的旋律;Borderlands《边疆》这场琵琶与木卡姆、哈萨克音乐和回族民歌的对话,肯定是个超凡极致不容错过的音乐跨界体验。
由新加坡国际艺术节委约