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MUSIC: Flight of the ‘Paper Eagle

PERFORMANCE NOTES: WHAT: Sizhukong (絲竹空) WHEN:Tonight at 7:30pm and tomorrow at 2:30pm and 7:30pm WHERE: Red House Theater (西門紅樓), 10 Chengdu Rd, Taipei City (台北市成都路10號) TICKETS: NT$600, available at the door, through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artsticket.com.tw

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Sizhukong (絲竹空), which fuses modern jazz and traditional Chinese music, celebrates the release of its new CD, Paper Eagle (紙鳶), tonight and tomorrow with three shows at the Red House Theater (西門紅樓).

The six-piece ensemble is led by pianist and composer Peng Yu-wen (彭郁雯), one of the founding members of Metamorphosis, a pioneering group known for recasting Taiwanese folk songs in modern jazz styles, including Latin jazz, be-bop and post-bop.

Many of Peng’s compositions with Sizhukong have Latin-based jazz rhythms, but the voices are distinctively Chinese, thanks to instruments such as the liuqin (柳琴), a four-stringed lute, and dizi (笛子), a kind of Chinese flute.

Paper Eagle, the group’s second album, also brings in African sounds thanks to guest musician Mogauwane Mahloelo of South Africa. He plays mbira (thumb piano) and djembe, a hand drum, on the song Marketplace (市集) and also adds percussion and vocals to the group’s rendition of a traditional Hakka mountain song.

The album features several compositions from the band’s international members. Belgian bassist Martijn Vanbuel co-wrote several tracks with Taiwanese jazz musicians, including Deer Harbor, a song about the town of Lugang (鹿港), an historical trading port and point of entry for Chinese settlers.

Sizhukong’s band lineup for this weekend’s shows includes prominent musicians from Taiwan’s jazz and Chinese music scenes: Toshi Fujii (藤井俊充) on drums and percussion, Huang Chih-ping (黃治評) on dizi and dongxiao (洞簫, bamboo flute), Alex Wu (吳政君) on erhu (二胡) and percussion, Chen Chih-ling (陳芷翎) on liuqin and zhongruan (中阮) and Martijn Vanbuel on bass.

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