Latest News
Richmond's Nicole Ge Li and Geling Jiang will feature in the Sound of Dragon Music Festival, offering a fusion of ancient Chinese instruments and contemporary western music.
Photo by Chung Chow
Richmond musicians reach out to bridge the cultural divide
Published 5:05 PDT, Wed April 4, 2018
The divide between Chinese culture and
traditional Canadian culture can feel wide but when the music starts, it speaks
to the soul, regardless of language or country of origin.
Local Richmond musicians, Geling Jiang and
Nicole Ge Li, featured in the Sound of Dragon Music Festival running April 3 to
8 at various locations, use their traditional Chinese instruments to play
contemporary music more familiar to Canadian ears.
Li plays the erhu, commonly called the
two-string Chinese violin, which dates back almost 2,000 years. According to
Jiang, it came from Persia along the Silk Road to China thus the “hu” in the
name, meaning foreign. While Jiang’s instrument, the Chinese zither or lap harp
properly called the zheng, reaches back through Chinese history almost three
millennia.
The Sound of Dragon Music Festival seeks to
bridge cultures through music, an important concept to both LI and Jiang.
Li says, “I live in both cultures. I love
living in Richmond because its such a convenient place for Chinese people.”
Yet at the same time she says, “It extra
important to learn English. There’s no reason to think that you should live in
the Chinese community.”
Li stresses why reaching out to other
Richmondites matters, “For those who don’t understand English at all, they will
never have this chance, never have this moment with people here.”
Jiang echoes the sentiment, “I play music
with other communities. If you stay in the Chinese community you, if stay in
your own community, you cannot widen you mind, your view, so
it is most important for immigrants to accept different cultural values and
develop, to know each other better.”
Both Jiang and Li look forward the
opportunity the festival affords Canadians to learn about the rich musical
history of China through the instruments while listening to contemporary music
not of the East but of the West.
Jiang says, “I’m looking forward to having
people know the Chinese instruments more, because people think Chinese people
can’t play contemporary or western style I want to show people how the
instruments develop so we can follow the new style new music, not just the
original style.”
Both Li and Jiang stressed the need for
Chinese immigrants to reach out to other Canadians, to appreciate Canadian
culture and to learn English. That is why they both choose to play contemporary
Western rather than Asian music at the Sound of Dragon Festival.
Their concert is Saturday evening, April 7.
As part of the festival, and in the mood of
blending cultures, Vancouver’s first official “Chinese and Celtic Music Jam” at
5 p.m. Saturday, April 7 is a free event.
For more information or to purchase tickets,
cut and paste: soundofdragon.com/2018-festival/
2 Hours of free financial consulting
Jai Xin Planning Ltd.
C$120.00 C$0.00
Use any of our home staging service and get a second month rental for free!
MiiX Interiors
C$500.00 C$0.00
Get 10% off any order
Phantom Screens Lower Mainland
C$200.00 C$180.00
