Composer Tan Dun's bond with kung fu began with An Lee's movie
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2000. His score for the
film won an Oscar Award, Grammy, the Classical Brit Contemporary
Music Award and a British Academy Film Award.
Two years later, Tan gained acclaim for Zhang Yimou's epic tale,
Hero, collaborating with violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman
and the KODD Drummers of Japan.
Both soundtracks majestically support the spectacular martial
arts action sequences as Tan's music adds dimension to the
films.
The two blockbusters have helped to promote Chinese martial arts
around the world. Now the New York-based composer is returning to
Shaolin Temple, shrine of Chinese kung fu in Central China's Henan
Province, to explore how to use music to interpret the balance
between martial arts and Zen.
The resulting large-scale open-air night musical ceremony will
premiere next October at Daixian Valley in Songshan Mountain, where
the 1,510-year-old Shaolin Temple stands. After that, the show will
become a regular feature for tourists to Shaolin Temple.
Ambitious project
Now Tan is working with hundreds of kung fu monks at Shaolin Temple
and a team of world-acclaimed artists. His collaborators include
British sound designer David Sheppard who worked with Tan on
The Map; setting designer Zeng Li whose credit includes
Zhang Yimou's opera Turandot at the Forbidden City and the
ballet Raise the Red Lantern; lighting designer Yi Liming,
and dancer Huang Doudou.
"I feel honoured to be invited by the abbot, Shi Yongxin, to
create this show for the prestigious Shaolin Temple. The trip to
Shaolin is a spiritual journey for me to explore the mysteries Zen
and to study the rich and profound culture of Central China where
the nation was rooted thousands of years ago," Tan told China Daily
last Tuesday at Shaolin Temple.
"I was born in Hunan Province where Taoism is popular and my
music is influenced by the folk and Taoist music of my hometown.
This is my third trip to Henan, and the more I come here, the more
I admire the long history and variety of its culture," he said.
"I have compsed for grand occasions such as the ceremony to mark
Hong Kong's handover to China in 1997, the BBC's concert to welcome
the new millennium, and I have been commissioned to create a show
on August 16, 2006, when Athens will pass the Olympic torch to
Beijing.
"But this Zen ceremony featuring Shaolin kung fu is very
different and special. We will make it a visual and audio feast to
express both the physical and spiritual essence of Zen," he
said.
Eloquent as always, the composer sums up four points for this
project:
"It is the first concert in the world to use the rolling stones
of Songshan Mountain as instruments, the brooks here as the strings
and the natural breeze as the wind instruments.
"We will use digital technology to make the valley a three
dimensional room filled with visual moving music. This will cut the
space of the 150-metre long, 150-metre wide and 150-metre high
valley, into hundreds of cubes of different sounds. Inside the
space, you will be stirred by the impact of the universe and the
power of the music.
"The show will feature 1,000 kung fu monks and hundreds of
musical monks. The Shaolin monks' martial arts enjoy a good
reputation both at home and abroad, and many Shaolin ensembles are
touring around the world. But it will be amazing to watch 1,000
monks performing at the same time. The tradition of playing music
at temples is dying, so we are trying to collect as much Buddhist
music and as many instruments as possible to create an ensemble of
monks.
"The last and most important point is that I consider the work
an education project rather than a tourism show."
Tan said his use of the latest technology could be instructive
for music students.
He also hopes the project will help visitors learn true Shaolin
kung fu. Every year many martial arts lovers from abroad come to
Shaolin to learn kung fu. Usually they get physical training but
neglect the spiritual study which is the basis of true Shaolin kung
fu.
The essence of Zen is building high attainments and virtues, "so
I hope the show will highlight the spiritual part," said Tan.
Organic music
Using stones and water as instruments is a continuation of Tan's
concept of "organic music."
In "Concerto for Water Percussion and Orchestra In Memory of
Toru Takemitsu" (1998), he played with a lot of water. When the
piece was performed at the Beijing Music Festival in 2001, Tan drew
his water from Beijing's Yuyuantan Lake, which aroused much
controversy.
Last year, he performed The Map, Concerto for Cello, Video
and Orchestra (2002) at the Beijing Music Festival. His story
of an old man who inspired him to create music on stones was
questioned by some people.
However, the intelligent and strong-willed musician does not
care much about what others say. Although there are critics who say
that he plays with paper, stones or water just for show, he never
stops his explorations.
The Zen Ceremony at Shaolin Temple may be considered as Tan's
second Map, because it also is a cultural-heritage
protection project in which he tries to renew and pass on the
tradition through technology.
In The Map, the composer recorded the endangered music
of Chinese ethnic groups such as the Miao and Tujia living in
Xiangxi (west of Hunan Province) and used them as inspiration to
write music for cello and orchestra.
This time, Tan is collecting Buddhist music in temples including
Shaolin and Beijing's Zhihua Temple, famous for its Buddhist music.
He visits monks, reads documents and trains the monks to sing and
play unique instruments. The purpose is to revive and protect dying
Buddhist music.
But at this point, Tan told China Daily, he is not that
ambitious. "I will try my best to prepare the show and hope what I
do helps to revive the disappearing music. I never think how much I
could achieve or how many monks I could train to sing and perform
in a year."
Other concerns
To be frank, everyone knows that the local government of Henan has
created the show to attract tourists. The abbot Shi acknowledges
that his goal is to provide tourists more variety than just
sightseeing and simple kung fu performances.
"For most tourists, three hours is long enough to see the
Shaolin Temple but we want to hold them until night. An open-air
show featuring a kung fu performance, music and light in an
authentic environment will be a good end to a one-day tour," said
producer Mei Shuaiyuan.
Last year Mei produced the open-air show, Impression of Liu
Sanjie now regularly performed at Lijiang River in Guilin. He
says that 100 million yuan (US$12.5 million) will be invested in
the Shaolin show.
"Music is always a way of charting a personal journey. Every
person has his own understanding of Zen. I am thankful to the
Shaolin Temple for offering me this chance," said Tan.
(China Daily December 1, 2005)
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