China News Service Tokyo, October 24 Title: "National Treasure Concert" Tokyo staged an ensemble of Chinese and Japanese artists in ancient Qingyin
China News Service reporter Lu Shaowei
The "National Treasures" program of China Central Radio and Television Corporation held a "National Treasure Concert" at the Tokyo National Museum on the 24th, and the heavyweight artists of China and Japan performed together, and the qingyin gagaku that has been passed down for thousands of years once again echoed.
On October 24th, The "National Treasures Concert" program of China Central Radio and Television Corporation held a "National Treasure Concert" at the Tokyo National Museum, and the heavyweight artists of China and Japan performed together, and the thousand-year-old Qingyin Gagaku once again echoed. The picture shows Chinese and Japanese artists playing a song describing the Silk Road, "The Road to the Sea". Photo by Lu Shaowei, a reporter of the China News Agency
The whole concert, starting from the national treasures handed down through the centuries, plays a long and ancient sound that reverberates for thousands of years, and the climax is repeated and colorful.
The concert session is exquisitely designed, and before each performance, the host will introduce the prototype of the upcoming instrument and the performers, which is both an elegant concert and a history lesson. Valuable musical instruments and props introduced to the audience on the same day included the Tang Dynasty spiral rosewood five-string pipa from the Shosoin Temple in Japan, the carved shakuhachi and the "Lanling King" dance mask from the Shitennoji Temple. Guqin player Li Xiangting also brought the Tang Dynasty guqin "Jiuxiao Huanpei" to the scene and played the guqin songs "Plum Blossom Three Alleys" and "Flowing Water".
The picture shows the guqin player Li Xiangting playing the guqin song "Flowing Water" with the Tang Dynasty guqin "Nine Xiao Huan Pei". Photo by Lu Shaowei, a reporter of the China News Agency
In addition, pipa player Fang Jinlong performed pieces such as "Ten Faces Ambush" with a contemporary five-string pipa that was successfully modified according to the tang dynasty five-string pipa of the Shosoin Inhouse in Japan. Wu Lin, a performer of the Ancient Flute, performed repertoire such as "Yangguan Sandian", and her use of "Restored Ancient Vertical Flutes" comes from the results of the restoration of ancient flutes that have lasted for more than 20 years in China.
At the same time, Japanese shakuhachi player Keihisa Fukuda also performed the song "Poetry of the Wind" with his wife, a Shamisen player, based on eight carved shakuhachi remodeled instruments from the Tang dynasty shakuhachi preserved in Shosoin.
Dancer Huang Doudou performed an excerpt from the dance music "Lanling King" in the concert, and told the untold story behind this dance that has been lost in China for thousands of years. In 2014, he studied the dance music "Lanling King" from Gagaku performance artist Hideki Higashi in Tokyo, Japan. "Lanling King" is said to have been staged during the Southern and Northern Dynasties of China, but later it was banned and gradually lost. In the Tang Dynasty, it was introduced to Japan through the tang envoys and spread in Japanese folklore. The family of musician Hideki Higashi is a "musician" who has been passed down from the Nara period in Japan to the present, and has inherited the performance of the dance music "Lanling King" for generations.
Dancer Huang Doudou performed the dance music "Lanling King". Photo by Lu Shaowei, a reporter of the China News Agency
In the interview, Hideki Dongyi said that the friendly exchanges between Japan and China have a history of thousands of years, and the cultural exchanges are silent and have a unique role, and it is a great blessing in his life to be able to participate in and witness the return of the "Lanling King" dance to China.
In the final return performance, Chinese and Japanese artists jointly played a song describing the Silk Road, "The Road of the Canghai Sea", and in the sometimes majestic and low, sometimes exciting and melodious music, the audience seemed to go back to the millennium and dream back to the Tang Dynasty. The song contains thousands of years of vicissitudes, and the good stories of Sino-Japanese exchanges such as Abe Nakamaru and Kanzen monks are one of the moving notes.
Shen Haixiong, director of the Central Radio and Television Corporation, and Kong Xuanyou, Chinese ambassador to Japan, sent congratulatory messages for the concert. Shen Haixiong said that the cultural exchanges between China and Japan have a long history, and he hopes that the ancient and magnificent East Asian civilization can bloom a new youthful passion in this great new era. Kong Xuanyou said that he looks forward to activities like the "National Treasure Concert" to continuously sow the seeds of friendship, so that Sino-Japanese friendship can grow into a big tree and a dense forest, so that the friendship between the Chinese and Japanese peoples will continue from generation to generation. (End)