December 2011
5 posts
13 tags
Yunnan Charity Concert
These song arrangements for a benefit concert in Yunnan were the very first project I ever worked on for the Beijing Dance Drama and Opera, all the way back in February, during a brief 2.5 week trip, and I’ve finally received the DVD and CD!
This solo concert features “national first-class vocalist” 吴春燕 (Wu Chun Yan) singing a variety of old and well-known Chinese pieces but...
5 tags
8 tags
What are the effing chances - someone please...
Saturday afternoon on the subway, a guy roughly my age sits down next to me. I’m playing with/trying to figure out my new phone, feeling thoroughly unhip, so I don’t notice when he starts talking on the phone in Chinese. What caught my attention was the random English words peppered throughout the conversation, in much the same manner as when I speak Chinese.
“Ahhh. Waiguoren...
9 tags
The Chinese Way of Getting Things Done
Bumping into other expats in this city, there are always eccentricities about China we can immediately bond over - the pollution (which recently maxed out all the air quality meters), crazy Beijing drivers, etc. I’ve discovered another quirk to add to this list is the Chinese way of getting things done. Most everyone I’ve met is astounded that things get done at all in China, but...
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Another Imitation Gone Wrong
Yesterday, I went and attended my first opera in China, and not only that, the one my friend and I picked, Xi Shi, was marketed as the first Western Chinese opera - that’s to say, it’s an opera purely produced in China - it’s sung in Chinese, about an old Chinese legend, and done completely in the Western opera tradition.
So how does this “landmark masterpiece”...