On their first tour outside of the US since it was founded in
1905 in Athens, Georgia, the Redcoat Marching Band from the
University of Georgia, has been dazzling Chinese audiences with
their marching and gymnastics sequences, larger-than-life music and
colorful outfits since May 15. The band is reportedly the biggest
foreign performing arts act ever to perform in China.
Dubbed "The Great Wall Tour 2006" (May 15-28), the act was
approved by China's Ministry of Culture and sponsored by the
US-China Cultural and Educational Foundation.
Song Yang, vice president of the foundation said in an interview
with China.org.cn on May 23 that it was the foundation that first
approached the Redcoats with a proposal for a China tour.
"This is the first time that they have come out this far, and we
are very proud of it," Song said. "Everything we do is in the name
of promoting the more fascinating aspects of American art and
culture."
The 320-memeber Redcoat band will perform in Kunming, Chengdu,
Xiamen, Nanjing and Shanghai. Beijing was to have been their first
stop but the show was canceled because of a lack of venue. All of
the capital's main stadiums are closed for renovations in
preparation for the 2008 Olympics.
"Only a big stadium will do for the band's grandiose
performances," Song said. "We are terribly sorry to have missed the
chance of performing in Beijing."
Ticket prices range from 80 yuan (US$9.9) to 380 yuan
(US$47.3).
Song said: "I myself rarely go to the Redcoats' performances in
the US because tickets can be more expensive than pop concerts!
"But we've priced them reasonably for the China tour because we
agreed that their main mission here is to promote cultural
exchange."
In fact, the band has included a few Chinese features to their
performance in order to get closer to their Chinese
audience.?
Traditionally, the band enters a stadium shouting "Bulldog,"
which is the mascot of the university football team, also known as
The Bulldogs. For their performance in Chengdu last Sunday night,
the band made a grand entrance shouting "Chengdu" and "Panda." One
of the hosts even spoke in local dialect. But what really got the
audience out of their seats was the band's marching formation of
the Chinese characters "zhong guo" (meaning China) and the map of
China.
In addition to American folk songs and Western masterpieces such
as Hey, Lady and Nessun Dorma, the band also
played many Chinese folk classics including Jasmine and
Singing and Smiling, which the audience happily sang along
to.
"The crowd was absolutely amazing tonight, and we even had a
couple of Georgia fans attend the show!" Erich Simmons, a Redcoat
band member wrote on the band's tour website about the Chengdu
performance. "At the end, during the march out, we had to do an
'encore' and take another pass around the track for our fans!"
A similar concert was held in Kunming, Yunnan Province on May 19. Song described them
as huge successes. "We are ready for the next few stops. And we are
very confident of the band's popularity and box office potential,"
he added.
At a news briefing before the Kunming show, Huang Jun, deputy
director of the publicity department of Yunnan provincial
government, said that the band's China tour is a positive and
friendly response to President Hu Jintao's visit to the US in April, and will
also enhance further cultural exchanges between the two
nations.
The Redcoat band will open their third show in Xiamen, Fujian Province tonight. But organizers wait
in eager anticipation of the Shanghai finale on May 28 when the
band will perform in front of an estimated 80,000 people.
Song declined to reveal if the band will tour other countries
after this China stint.
The University of Georgia Redcoat Marching Band is a component
of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music and was the recipient of the
2000 Sudler Trophy for musical and visual excellence and
innovation. Founded in 1905 as a section of the UGA Military
Department, the band has grown in the last 101 years from 20
military cadets to over 320 men and women covering almost every
major at the University.
(China.org.cn by Zhang Rui, May 24, 2006)
