Tunes in Works for Tibetan Concert

In September a group of Tibetan folk musicians will arrive in Beijing to explore the past and present of the Tibetan musical tradition and probe tentatively its future.

Called "The Tibetan Symphonic Concert for the New Century," the show will be divided into three parts, presenting traditional Tibetan music, modern works adapted from traditional Tibetan tunes and original Tibet-themed pieces.

The traditional portion of the concert will include "Celestial Music from Snow Mountains," "Dance Music for the Tibetan Court" and "Ancient Tibetan War Music." The second part will feature revised pieces such as "The Vast and Endless Prairie" and "Ngarikejia Folk Rhyme."

For the third part, concert organizers have commissioned a group of prominent composers to create original works.

The list of composers whose works will appear in the final segment of the concert includes Guo Wenjing (director of the Department of Composition at the Central Conservatory of Music), Liu Yuan (PhD at the Central Conservatory of Music), Zhang Xiaofu (professor at the Central Conservatory of Music), young Tibetan composer Bam Nor and overseas Chinese composers Han Yong and Yang Yong. Their works will be played by China National Symphony Orchestra.

"Tibet has the most beautiful music in the world, which has always been inspiring us composers," explained Liu Yuan, who has been planning to compose a piece on Tibet for two years. "We decided to depict Tibet in the form of symphony, the highest musical form, which is appropriate at a time of cultural mixing and resource sharing."

Zhang Xiaofu has already written a piece about Tibet titled "Nuorilang - for Chinese drums， percussion and electro-acoustic music," in which he blends the chanting of Tibetan monks and the voice of famous Tibetan singer Caidan Zhuoma with percussion instruments.

For the September concert, Zhang plans to compose a work for symphony orchestra combined with electro-acoustic music.

"The magnificent form of symphonic music is advanced in expressing philosophical themes, while electro-acoustic music is good at creating a mysterious mood," Zhang said. "I hope to find a new way to depict Tibet through combining the two forms."

To prepare their works， the composers will go to Tibet in July to collect musical materials. Zhang revealed he would record some sounds for use in his work.

Concert organizers will also hold a series of activities to accompany the show， including lectures on Tibetan art in universities,a national writing competition on the topics "Tibet in my heart" and "Tibetan art in my heart," an international symposium on the theory of Tibetan music and Tibetan arts exhibition.

After the concert, which will be in the Great Hall of the People, organizers plan to hold the concert again at the Potala Palace in Lhasa in October and at the Golden Hall of Vienna in February 2002.

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