Tan Dun has come a long way from his native Hunan Province. The award-winning composer, now in his 40s, has received the highest honors the music business can bestow on a musician, and has, almost single handedly, brought traditional Chinese music to the world's attention.
Having won an Academy Award for his rapturous soundtrack to director Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," Tan recently took on a new cinematic challenge that may see another Oscar jockeying for space on his crowded mantelpiece.
Recently in town to promote Zhang Yimou's epic "Hero," for which he wrote the score, Tan indicated that he is going to use Shanghai as a base for his musical career.
That shouldn't come as a great surprise to anyone who has tracked Tan's progress thus far. It was, after all, in Shanghai that the world premiere of his multimedia opera "Gate" was held in 2000. In addition, Tan will present the Chinese version of his new opera, "Tea," at the Shanghai Grand Theater in August, 2003.
Zhang's film "Hero," which opens worldwide later this month along with the release of the soundtrack on CD, is tipped to win another Best Foreign Film nomination at the 2003 Academy Awards. In Shanghai, the premiere is scheduled on December 16.
"The film is an epic about heroes and women, and my score tries to encapsulate its vigor," said Tan at a recent press conference held at his record company's offices in the city.
In the plush confines of Shanghai Epic Music Entertainment Company, a subsidiary of Sony Music, the composer played most of the cuts from the soundtrack, explaining how each selection corresponded to the movie.
At first, the music seemed to recall the "Crouching Tiger" score, which also won Tan a Golden Globe and a Grammy. But upon careful listening, the soundtrack revealed a distinct sound that was both singular and sensational.
"I used 'line drawing' when writing the music for 'Crouching Tiger,' while I tried to 'splash ink' on the composition of 'Hero,"' said Tan.
Tan's association with "Hero" began two years ago when he met Zhang. Both men were working on a film to promote Beijing's bid to host the 2008 Olympics. (Zhang is also the director for the film to promote Shanghai's bid to host World Expo in 2010.)
As Zhang described the plot of "Hero," Tan felt "the melody just burst forth." Like the famous line in "Casablanca," that was the beginning of a beautiful relationship - one of those rare collaborations for which serious moviegoers are eternally grateful.
"Hero" is set at the beginning of Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.), and tells the tale of three assassins sent to kill the soon-to-be-crowned first Emperor of China and the martial arts master who must protect him. "In 'Hero,' the characters fight in order to end the bloodshed that was all too common during that tumultuous epoch, and this is the most dramatic point of the movie," said Tan.
Zhang cast top actors - including Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung, Jet Li and Zhang Ziyi - for the lead roles, and Tan brought on board musical masters such as Itzhak Perlman, Japan's Kodo Drummers and several renowned Chinese baritones.
"Our intent was to make an epic in the visual as well as audio sense," said Tan. "On the basis of a texture, which is the story, we drew a map of sounds. There are four main colors in the film - black, blue, red and white - and the score creates similar, corresponding shades."
Tan began his musical career in Peking Opera before going on to study at the Beijing-based Central Conservatory of Music after years in the countryside during the "cultural revolution" (1966-1976). He later earned a doctorate in Music Arts from Columbia University in New York City.
Traditional Chinese music and art has been a constant source of inspiration for Tan throughout his career.
"I am trying to introduce the Chinese culture to the world in an effective way," he said. "There is no such thing as bad traditional culture, just bad communication."
His score for "Crouching Tiger" confirmed his affinity for traditional Chinese music, and it is reflected as well in the soundtrack for "Hero," beginning with the unique violin he created and Perlman played.
Tan replaced the steel strings on his violin - purchased 20 years ago in the U.S. for US$13 - with silk strings in order to achieve the musical affect he was looking for. "The idea for the silk-stringed violin came from a book that referred to a similar instrument popular in ancient China," said Tan.
As one might imagine, Perlman was circumspect. "He wouldn't even listen to the demo tape until his daughter told him it was one of the most touching sounds she'd ever heard from a violin," said Tan. With a higher range than a cello and a lower range than a violin, the adapted instrument produces a resonating sound that seems to "lurk in the deepest recesses of one's heart."
The Kodo Drummers is a legendary group of musicians who live on an island in Japan. "During our first two days on the island, we mingled with the musicians socially, and didn't talk business until the third day," said Tan. "They asked me to sing the score, and they remembered it after hearing it only once. The recording was done on the third day. It was simply amazing," Tan added.
The story behind the female vocals on the soundtrack is like something from a fairytale. Tan auditioned many sopranos in China, but none met his standards. One day, a young cleaning woman at his New York office, a student from China who worked part-time, asked for an audition.
"As you might expect, Zhang and I were dubious at first, but when she sang we knew we'd found our female vocalist," recalled Tan, without disclosing her name. Arriving in New York from the countryside in Guizhou, the young woman grew up in a minority region where singing and dancing were as much a part of daily life as eating and sleeping.
"Guqin" (a type of Chinese zither), cymbals, an amateur soprano, scores of baritones, and a musical chest of other traditional Chinese instruments are arranged beautifully, contributing to the overall aura of "Hero."
In the future, Tan said he wanted to turn the score into a multimedia concerto. The next project for the dynamic duo of Tan and Zhang is "Qin Shi Huang," Tan's opera about the first Qin emperor, which is scheduled for 2006 release.
"This time, I'm asking him to be the director - he's not asking me to be the composer!" said the composer with a hearty laugh.
(eastday.com December 9, 2002)
