Sitar diva Anoushka Shankar made a big impact on the few people who were actually listening at the National Concert Hall last Tuesday. The audience was pitifully small, rattling around in the huge space of the auditorium, and it is a credit to Shankar's sextet that they managed such a profoundly joyful and energetic performance.
Shankar performed brilliantly but was somewhat overshadowed by tabla player Tanmoy Bose, who was a vibrantly charismatic presence on stage. Shankar looked glamorous and played with great skill, but she seemed a little wooden during the first three-quarters of the show and only loosened up toward the end, when she revealed that she, too, could have considerable presence. It was just a pity she had not let it show earlier in the concert.
The performance began with a traditional piece, then immediately struck out for new territory with an arrangement by Shankar of a piece by her father, the legendary sitar player Ravi Shankar, that was originally composed as a duet for sitar and cello. She had arranged the piece for her sextet, which included cello and piano players Barry Philips and Leo Dombecki. It was an indication of Shankar's skill as a composer and arranger that these instruments never felt out of place in a group that was otherwise composed of sitar, tabla, Indian flute, and tanpura, an Indian drone instrument.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE WEI HAI-MIN CHINESE OPERA FOUNDATION
The highlight was an original piece by Shankar that incorporated Flamenco piano. She merged the Indian and Iberian strands seamlessly, and this served as a wonderful demonstration of the unique elements that she has brought to traditional Indian music.
Wei Hai-min (魏海敏), on the other hand, had no problem packing the auditorium at the Metropolitan Hall for Regrets of Life and Death (生死恨), an opera by Beijing opera legend Mei Lanfang (梅蘭芳). While Wei is known for breaking conventions and starring in performances designed to bring a younger audience to opera, Thursday night's show was traditional, with few concessions to contemporary sensibilities. This was reflected in the audience, which was mostly well past middle age, but they gave Wei the kind of highly vocal support worthy of a much younger crowd.
Performers from Beijing's Beijing Opera Troupe (北京京劇院) and the Shanghai Beijing Opera Troupe (上海京劇院) added depth to the lineup, and even relatively minor roles were performed by first-tier actors.
The story of Regrets of Life and Death had all the heavy-handed morality and elevated nationalistic sentiments that are an inseparable part of traditional Beijing opera, but it wasn't the story that people where there to see. Wei showed off the dignified elegance and grace that is the hallmark of the Mei Lanfang school of performance, and was cheered ecstatically throughout.
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