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

Following the success of the 2006 production of Pipa Xing,

Artistic geniuses LIN Hwai-min and WANG Xin-xin

will be reinterpreting The Song of  Everlasting Sorrow from a brand-new perspective.

From the picture of prosperity and the epic love story in the beginning,

to the drums of the battle and the rebellion of the army at the end,

is it a study of human nature in adversity, or a long-winded elegy of love and regret?

Through the chanting, humming, and singing of the human voice, and the striking, plucking, and picking of the pipa strings, WANG morphs the psychological distance between history, the author, and the audience.

  Program  

Traditional Nanguan Song Qing Qing Sing

The Song of Everlasting Sorrow

Poem by BO Ju-yi

Music by WANG Xin-xin

  Creative and Production Team  

Artistic Director｜LIN Hwai-min 

Music Director｜LAI Deh-ho

Rehearsal Director｜LIANG Chun-mei

Composer/Performer｜WANG Xin-xin

Clothing Designer｜Sophie HONG

Producer｜Lucy LU

Lighting Designer｜LIN Li-chun

Stage Manager｜LIN Li-chun

Surtitles Operator｜LEE Kuan-ju

Executive producer｜Huang Yan-rong

Sound Engineering｜Doing Arts CO.LTD.

  Artists introduction  

WANG Xin-xin｜Composer／Performer

WANG Xin-xin is one of the most important Nanguan musicians of our time and has won great praise for her innovativeness and for passing down this cultural tradition.

Currently the art director of the Xinxin Nanguan Ensemble, WANG comes from a long line of Nanguan musicians in Quanzhou, Fujian. Having begun learning Nanguan music at the age of four, WANG is a master of all the most important zhi and pu suites and is proficient in a wide variety of Nanguan instruments. She is especially famous for her singing and is a rare musical polymath proficient in the five components (vocal plus the four major instruments) of Nanguan music.

WANG immigrated to Taiwan in the 1990s and has been greatly influenced by modern Taiwanese artists, including LIN Hwai-min, TONG Yang-tze, LO Man-fei, and WU Su-chun. WANG has been invited to perform at many major arts festivals in Europe and the United States and is referred to as the top musician of the contemporary era when it comes to innovating and passing on the tradition of Nanguan (Nanyin) music.

In 2003, WANG founded the Xinxin Nanguan Ensemble and has since dedicated herself to promoting innovation and collaboration between Nanguan and the contemporary arts. A unique fusion of Nanguan singing and classical Chinese poetry can be seen in many of her works, which are moving both for their sound and their poetic expression. Some of her iconic works include Elegy on a Funeral for Flowers, Song of the Pipa Lute, and Forlorn—A Rhyming Song for Lovers, an adaptation of a poem written by LI Qing-zhao.

In her 2015 fully-staged production of The Poetry of Nanguan, which was based on the works of poet YU Kwang-chung, WANG attempted for the first time to integrate modern poetry into Nanguan music. Her Zen Series includes such works as Pu'an-zou in Nanguan, Temporality and Nirvana—The Heart Sutra and The Universal Gate Chapter on the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva.

LIN Hwai-min｜Artistic Director

LIN Hwai-min founded Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan in 1973 and has led the company to international prominence through his thrilling creations that transform Asian aesthetics into contemporary celebration of motion.

Among the honors LIN Hwai-min has received are Samuel H. Scripps /American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement; the John D. Rockefeller Award, New York; the Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters, France; and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Movimentos International Dance Festival, Germany. He has also been celebrated by Time magazine as one of “Asia’s Heroes”.

At the end of 2019, LIN Hwai-min stepped down as the Artistic Director of Cloud Gate and handed the reins of the company to CHENG Tsung-lung.

LAI Deh-ho｜Music Director

LAI Deh-ho (1943–), composer and music educator. Born on Yuanlin Street in Yuanlin County in Taichung Prefecture (now Yuanlin City in Changhua County). Graduated from Department of Teachers in Yuanlin Experimental High School and National Junior College of Arts (now National Taiwan University of Arts) as a composition major. In 1968, LAI, together with CHEN Mau-liang, MA Shui-long, YU Chang-fa, SHEN Chin-tang, and WEN Loong-hsing, formed Sunflower Music Assembly and publish new works. In 1973, he took on the position of the director of the Research Department of National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra. In 1978, he studied music education at Orff Institute and composition at Universität Mozarteum Salzburg in Austria. In 1982 he started teaching at National Academy of Arts (now Taipei National University of the Arts), which he continued until retirement.

He was a frequent winner of Wu Sanlien Awards, Taiwanese National Award for Arts, and The Golden Melody Awards for Traditional Arts and Music. His major works include Chung Miao (1975, for traditional instruments and percussions), the symphony The Dream of the Red Chamber (1983), and Requiem: September 21st 1999 in Memoriam (2009).

Production Team｜Xin-xin Nanguan Ensemble

Nanguan is one of the oldest Chinese classical ensemble musical styles still in existence today. It encompasses the philosophies and aesthetics of Confucianism, and is currently seeing a modern revival thanks to its unique characteristic of "one lead and three accompanying melodies."

WANG Xin-xin founded the Xin-xin Nanguan Ensemble in 2003, a contemporary performing arts group that has since been dedicated to bringing innovation to nanguan music through cross-art form collaborations. Its long-term collaboration partners include dancer WU Su-chun, costume designer Sophie HUNG, and embroidery artist CHENG Hui-chung, among others. Beginning in 2018, the group rehearsed regularly with the mostly NTU graduates-led Guixin Nanguan Ensemble, a teaching-focused group made up of students, at their studio.

In 2015, WANG and her long-time partner Lucy LU proposed the concept of "contemporary nanguan," which calls for the qubai-oriented "creative musical inheritance" instead of "preservation of artistic heritage." To practice what she preaches, WANG herself wrote many innovative works, and from the modern psychosomatic prospective, she strives to promote social practice and application via music. In 2017, the group launched the Contemporary Nanguan Soil Project, a musical project inspired by the cultural characteristics of the local community, at Neihu Elementary School in Lugu Township, a town known for its Dong Ding oolong tea. In 2018, the group held the Listen workshops to transform the experience of the five senses into physical and spiritual elevation with nanguan music. Today, WANG and her group remain dedicated to the performance, creation, and promotion of nanguan music that is infused with a timely twist.