Festival to show wealth of tradition

Starting March 1, the 2001 Taipei Traditional Arts Festival will get underway, bringing a wide range of folk music and dance to Taipei over a three-month period. Organized by the Taipei City Government and the Taipei Municipal Chinese Classical Orchestra (台北市立國樂團), the festival, now in its 14th year, is a celebration of traditional Taiwanese and Chinese performance arts.

At the pre-opening banquet yesterday, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-Jeou (馬英九) pointed out that the cultivation of traditional arts is an important part in making Taipei an international city.

"Traditional arts and modern arts are complementary," he said, pointing out that many of Taiwan's best traditional performers are also conversant in Western musical instruments and theory.

The festival's 33 concerts will provide a degree of focus ideal for those seeking to develop a greater familiarity in various artistic traditions. Especially noteworthy in this regard is the series of eight concerts of nan-kuan (南管) music, a 1000-year-old form of Chinese music that is now only played by a few musicians. The nan-kuan concerts will be played by groups from around Taiwan.

Another important theme within the festival is religious music. Choirs from Fu Jen Catholic University and the Fo Guang Shan seminary (佛光山叢林學院) will perform, as well as the Longhu Mountain Tianshi Taoism Music Ensemble (龍虎天山師府道教樂團) from China. The Longhu Mountain ensemble's show will be a rare opportunity to appreciate the Taoist musical tradition, which typically can only be experienced piecemeal at folk holidays.

In addition to the Longhu Mountain ensemble, a number of other outstanding folk music performers have been invited from China. Among them will be the Chinese Folk Song Chorus (中國民歌合唱團), which will perform at two festival dates, including the opening concert, with a show titled "Guests from Afar Singing the Homeland."

In addition to the festival's main program, Ma announced that a series of 12 free concerts will be played at community venues to accompany the festival. These mainly outdoor concerts are an effort to bring traditional arts into communities and expand the art forms' audience. Full program information is available at http://www.tco.gov.tw/default.html

Program Notes

When: March 1 and March 2, 7:30pm

Where: National Concert Hall

What: "Guests from Afar Singing the Homeland," featuring the Chinese Folk Song Chorus, the Taipei Municipal Citizens Chorus and the Taipei Municipal Chinese Classical Orchestra performing traditional Chinese folk songs

Tickets: NT$150 - NT$800

See Friday's Around Town for programs in the coming week. Full program information is available at http://www.tco.gov.tw/default.html