衛武營國家藝術文化中心 National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying)

Weiwuying - TIFA Contemporary Music Platform

Synthesised jam session of traditional sounds

This work is commissioned by New Vision Arts Festival, Hong Kong, 2018, and created by electronic musician Dickson DEE and nanyin artist CAI Yayi. Together, they have been integrating and blending traditional nanyin and electronic jam for years. We sincerely invite you to explore the synthesized jam session of electronic and traditional sounds.

Born in Fujian, experimental musician Dickson DEE grew up immersing in the province's serene millennium-old Quanzhou nanyin music. After moving to Hong Kong, he discovered the contrasting Cantonese “southern tone” of naamyam from the Qing dynasty and found it melodic while the former is much more serene. For this cutting-edge concert, Dee and his synthesizer remix music of influential Quanzhou nanyin performer CAI Yayi and naamyam artist CHAN Chi-kong of Chinese music ensemble The Gong Strikes One. This work also present their collaboration with multimedia artist Milosh Luczynski, dancer Terry TSANG and poet Chris SONG.

Sound/Electronics/Concept & Creation｜Dickson DEE (Hong Kong)

Studying graphic design back in 1989, Dickson DEE became one of the founders of the first independent music label in Hong Kong. He started creating sound works in 1992 and, as a producer, has participated in the productions and release of more than 100 albums to date. He also performs as a sound artist and composes scores for film, modern dance, and experimental video. He is involved extensively with curating, producing and cultural exchange. An active and prolific artist, DEE is widely seen in art projects and multiple music groups, while his works launched, performed, exhibited in Asia and Europe.

Nanyin from Quanzhou｜CAI Yayi (Quanzhou, Fujian Province)

CAI Yayi, surrounded by nanyin since she was born, was constantly exposed to and influenced by the art of her mother and other nanyin masters, as she was raised in Fujian in Southern China. Later, she studied nanyin systematically and has been in close ties with it for more than 30 years. Well aware of nanyin's cultural embediment and its predicament in modern society, CAI returned to Quanzhou from Singapore in 2012 and founded the outreach platform “Nanyin Yayi” and the Nanyin Yayi Culture Museum. Instead of confining herself to traditional nanyin communities, she chose to reach a wider audience through different approaches. In recent years, Nanyin Yayi Musical Association has stretched its reach beyond Minnanese-speaking areas towards dissemination of nanyin across dialect regions. It has won the admiration and support of young audience, who are able to sing a nanyin piece together regardless of dialectical differences.

Nanyin from Quanzhou｜CHEN Silai (Quanzhou, Fujian Province)

Since 2003, CHEN Silai, especially specializing in the nanyin pipa, has been working with a number of nanyin masters through recording works. In 2006, CHEN participated in the Minnan Nanyin Ecological Research Project and visited nearly a hundred nanyin societies and groups in Xiamen, Zhangzhou, and Quanzhou. He also took charge of the recording and release of several nanyin albums. In 2008, he started working in Singapore and became the artistic director at Singapore's Sheng Hong Arts Institute and council member of World Southern Music Friendship Association. Since 2012, CHEN has served as the main sound engineer/recordist and pipa performer of the Quanzhou Nanyin Record Project. In 2015, CHEN and Nanyin Yayi Musical Association were invited to the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland for cultural exchange.

Naamyam (The Gong Strikes One)｜CHAN Chi-kong (Hong Kong)

Graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 2010, CHAN Chi-kong majors in Chinese opera accompaniment. He learned Cantonese opera from his father in his youth, and later studied dizi under famous artists CHEUNG Heung-wah, LAM Si-kwan and SUN Yongzhi. While at school, he was active in various Chinese orchestras in Hong Kong. He also studied huqin under KWAN Bing-man and Auyeung TING. In 2013, he designed music for the new Cantonese opera Li Zhi and Wu Mei (scripted by Liu Yuk-fung). From 2014 to 2017, he helped reconstruct the early music scores at the “Interpreting Early Cantonese Music” Lecture-Concert Series organized by the Chinese Opera Information Centre of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. In 2012, he founded The Gong Strikes One and has devoted himself to writing nanyin pieces, while exploring various forms of expression in Chinese opera.

MOD/Image｜Milosh Luczynski (Poland/Paris)

Luczynski is a Paris-based visual, intermedia, A/V and light artist. He creates works in designs, graffiti, videos and has insights in anthropology and multimedia studies.  Luczynski collaborates with electronic musicians, contemporary composers, writers, poets and media artists, creating distinguished styles in electronic cultures. Having participated in many festivals, he has dedicated to the development of video art from 2000 to 2008, especially in 3D and projection, including some immersive works.

Dance Artist｜Terry TSANG (Hong Kong)

Terry TSANG founds his interest in dance and music at a young age. He graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, majoring in contemporary dance. He joined City Contemporary Dance Company (CCDC) in 2013 and as a full-time dancer since. During his studies, TSANG started choreography and was awarded scholarship twice by the CCDC Dance Centre. He presented his choreographic work Exotic Territory, which was invited to the 9th Guangdong Dance Festival in 2012, to the Imagination Boom for E-Side Dance Company in 2014. In 2016, his new work Hide • Flee premiered at CCDC's 2016 Dancers' Homework to critical success. In the same year, TSANG also staged his latest work, Sole, at the 18th Hong Kong Dance Awards Presentation & Gala Performance. In 2017, his new work Trinity premiered at the Hong Kong Jockey Club Contemporary Dance Series presented by the Hong Kong Arts Festival.

Performance and Production Team

Sound．Electronic Music．Concept and Creation．Producer｜Dickson DEE

Quanzhou Nanyin｜ CAI Yayi, CHEN Silai

Naamyam｜CHAN Chi-kong (The Gong Strikes One)

MOD．Multi-media｜Milosh Luczynski

Dancer｜Terry TSANG

Poet｜Chris SONG

Photo by Noise Asia Publishing

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