Breathing life into opera

By Gavin Phipps
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Jun 13, 2003, Page 18

Four Spirits Dance, by Han-Tang Yuefu. PHOTO COURTESY OF HAN-TANG YUEFU ENSEMBLE

Taipei's popular Red House Theater (紅樓劇場) continues to play host to the National Center of Traditional Arts' (國立傳統藝術中心) sponsored mini-festival, Evenings of Traditional Arts (傳統藝術之夜), when the internationally acclaimed Han-Tang Yuefu (HTYF, 漢唐樂府) takes to the stage on Wednesday to perform a selection of well known Nankuan opera (南管) works.

One of the nation's leading exponents of Nankuan, or Southern Winds music -- a form of Chinese opera originating in Fujian Province over 2,000 years ago -- the HTYF was founded in 1983 by Nankuan aficionado, Chen Mei-o (陳美娥), to, in her words, "rescue the art from the brink of oblivion."

Since then the HTYF has received high praise and been the recipient of many musical and cultural awards, at home and abroad. The group picked up two Golden Cauldron (金鼎獎) Awards in 1995 for best vocals, and won best record for its breakthrough CD set that saw 64 ancient Nankuan instrumental and vocal suites put on a record for the first time.

Nankuan, or Southern Winds music, by Han-Tang Yuefu. PHOTO COURTESY OF HAN-TANG YUEFU ENSEMBLE

Along with performing Nankuan opera, the HTYF has successfully crossed the cultural divide of east and west and performed an adaptation of Jerome Bosch's Le Jardin des Delices at the prestigious Opera Comique Theatre in Paris in 2000.

While preserving the age-old Nankuan tradition, the HTYF has also breathed new life into Liyuan opera (梨園戲), or the Musical Theater of the Pear Orchard -- a branch of Nankuan made popular during the Song and Yuan dynasties.

This more recent form of Nankuan blends southern-styled traditional operatic music and song with the delicate, hypnotic and at times slow-motion movements of the troupe's dancers.

Wednesday's performance will comprise a mixed bag of Nankuan. The first half of the evening will see the troupe performing three scenes from the classic Nankuan opera The Time We Met (記相逢), and after the intermission excerpts from the Liyuan operas, Grasping the Peach Blossom (梅花操), Four Spirit Dance (四塊舞) and Eight Dances (八展舞) will take center stage.

The Han-Tang Yuefu (漢唐樂府) will perform an evening of Nankuan opera at the Red House Theater (紅樓劇場) at 8pm on Wednesday, June 18. The theater is located at 10 Chengte Road, Taipei (台北市成都路10號). Tickets cost NT$200 and are available via ERA ticketing outlets or direct from the venue.