To celebrate the Lantern Festival, the Macau Music Arts Space (MMAS) will be putting on two evenings of traditional Chinese music including Kunqu Opera and Hanfu costumes as well as food and drink in the garden of 10 Fantasia this evening and tomorrow.
The Macau Post Daily met up with some of the musicians and opera singer while they were rehearsing at the MMAS music space in Si Toi Centre on Wednesday evening.
Kunqu Opera singer Ally Li Hui Yin dressed in a traditional Hanfu costume said that she has been performing for eight years and is the only female Kunqu Opera singer in Macau as well as being the chairman of Chinese Kunqu Culture Association of Macau.
Li said, “I like Chinese traditional culture very much and in [September] 2017 I performed for the president of Cyprus [Nico Anastasiades] during Chinese Culture Week [in Limassol]”. She went on to say, “The reason I think Kunqu is so attractive to people all around the world even though they don’t understand the words is because of the beauty of the poetry, the mildness of the songs, the magnificence of the make-up and the delicacy of the dance.”
Li will be singing four songs from “The Peony Pavilion”, which is a signature song of Kunqu. “I shall first sing the songs, then explain about the costume on Friday and on Saturday we shall have a fashion show with costumes from the Han, Tang, Song and Ming dynasties. The audience can even borrow some of the costumes to dress up for the evening”, Li said.
As it takes Li over three hours to do her make-up and hair she will not be doing all that for four songs as usually a whole performance takes three hours, while she will probably only be singing for five minutes at each of the events.
Young people playing traditional instruments
The musicians at the rehearsal were Debbie Ka Pou Cheong on the yangqin (dulcimer), Kelvin Chan Ho Kuan on the dizi, (transverse flute) and dongxiao (vertical end-blown flute) and Chak Yuen Ting on the pipa (Chinese lute). Ka and Chan are recent graduates of Taiwan Normal University and Jianan University respectively and Chak is currently studying at Macau Polytechnic Institute (IPM). They formed the Feng Ya Fong Association a year ago as they wanted to play traditional Chinese music with young people and introduce young people to Chinese culture.
Ka, who has been playing the yangqin for almost 10 years, said, “In October [last year] we did a performance at the Macau Cultural Centre that was show on TDM that was a crossover with Chinese dance, and in December [last year] we did a performance in Zhuhai as we wanted to promote Hanfu. Last month we did a performance that was a mix of our music with a tea of China performance [in St Lazarus Church District]”.
Chan, who has been playing the dizi for 10 years, said he was tired but happy about the weekend’s performances. “There are many things that are a first for me, being social, preparing for the show and having to play a new instrument, [the dongxaio] I have only been learning it for under a year as there are not many people in the group so I need to play different instruments.”
Chak, who has been playing the pipa for almost eight years, said, “I am very excited to be playing on Friday and Saturday, I joined this group as I want to play music with young people.”
Promoting Chinese culture
MMAS was set up at the end of last year by local violinist Anthony Cheong Wai Leong and Echo Chan Keng Hong to provide a music performance, practice location and a platform to promote local musicians.
Cheong said, “We want to promote Chinese culture, and Chinese music has a background so on Friday the event will be more formal and we are planning an interaction with nowadays and the old times in Macau, which is why we shall have some costumes [Hanfu] for visitors to try on.”
He went on to say, “Saturday will be more of a carnival, there will be a costume show featuring children, Hong Kong and Canton music as well as pop. I shall perform a new story about love with Abby [Chao Ka In on keyboards] and poet Jessie [Ng Iat I]”. He added: “There will be [Chinese Sekong] drummers on both days.
“We are testing whether the idea is workable or not and just see what ideas can happen.”
The two concerts will be held in the garden of 10 Fantasia in St. Lazarus Church District. On Friday the music programme starts at 7 p.m. and on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Chan said, “Entrance is free, there will be Chinese wine & tea tasting, handmade arts and crafts, traditional food and a Hanfu clothing experience.
“If however, an Experience Package is purchased for 100 patacas it entitles the buyer to a lantern riddle, a free drink, a plate of food, Chinese tea and wine tasting and discounts from St. Lazarus listed merchants plus the chance to wear Hanfu for an hour”.
For information and to purchase an Experience Package call 66878948 (WhatsApp & WeChat) or contact Facebook: MMAS-Macau Music Art Space.
Kelvin Chan Ho Kuan (from left to right), Debbie Ka Pou Cheong and Chak Yuen Ting rehearse in Macau Music Arts Space’s (MMAS) in Si Toi Centre on Wednesday.
Chak Yuen Ting (from left to right), Kelvin Chan Ho Kuan, Debbie Ka Pou Cheong, Ally Li Hui Yin and Anthony Cheong Wai Leong pose for a photo at Macau Music Arts Space’s (MMAS) studio in Si Toi Centre on Wednesday. Photos: Lesley Wells
