Have you ever heard a symphonic version of traditional Taiwanese gezaixi opera? With generous funding from a local company, members of renowned gezaixi singer Huang Hsian-lien’s Lien Art Performance Workshop will be putting on a three-day performance at Greater Tainan’s Guijen Cultural Center starting this Friday.
As part of the Love City Tainan Chihsi Festival being held in Tainan until Aug. 26, Huang’s troupe was invited to perform The Butterfly Lovers — a well-known legend and traditional opera piece. Even more spectacular, though, is that the Tainan City Traditional Orchestra (TCTO) will be joining the troupe along with Chi Yu-cheng, who will be serving as music director. Chi says that many of the traditional melodies have been altered for their version, giving this classic story a new musical twist. Including the TCTO conductor and its members, 16 people from the orchestra will be accompanying the troupe for the performances, combining the four musical sections of traditional Chinese music — winds, bowed strings, plucked strings and percussion. Chi’s clever orchestration also adds the Western symphonic style of violins to the piece, giving traditional gezaixi an entirely new sound.
A local company, Xxentria Technology Materials Co, has contributed NT$6 million to the production. Cheng Hsien-sung, the company’s president, says that although gezaixi has existed among the Taiwanese and run the test of time, it has gradually been forgotten, going on to say that even though people still have many vivid memories of gezaixi, it is now unfortunately only seen in reruns played on television, which was why he decided to help revive the art form.
Photo: Wu Chun-feng, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者吳俊鋒
Huang took a trip down south on Aug. 7 to take part in a promotional event for the her troupe’s upcoming performance of The Butterfly Lovers. She brought several troupe members with her, including Hsiao-mi, to perform at the event, earning enthusiastic applause from the crowd. Huang says she used to cry every time she watched Ivy Liang Bo in Love Eterne, a film adaptation of The Butterfly Lovers’ legend that was made in the 1960s. She says that her troupe has worked very hard to make this a grand production and welcomes the people of Tainan to share in all the excitement. Tickets are available free of charge.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
聽過交響樂曲風的傳統歌仔戲嗎?在當地企業家熱情贊助下,週五起將由全國知名的黃香蓮歌仔戲團在歸仁文化中心連續三天演給你看。
Photo courtesy of Lien Art Performance Workshop
照片由黃香蓮歌仔戲團提供
配合「愛情城市七夕嘉年華」活動,黃香蓮歌仔戲團應邀演出膾炙人口的名劇《梁山伯與祝英台》,特別的是,將由台南市立民族管絃合作伴奏,擔任音樂設計的姬禹丞表示,有別於傳統的都馬調或雜唸仔,很多橋段重新編曲過,一樣的經典情節,不同的聽覺享受。這次市立民管連同指揮,共有十六人會搭配伴奏,結合國樂的吹、拉、彈、擊等四個聲部,姬禹丞在編排時,也巧妙融入西式小提琴的交響曲風,讓傳統歌仔戲呈現出嶄新風貌。
這次梁祝演出,歸仁當地的森鉅科技是幕後推手,贊助新台幣六百萬元活動經費,總經理鄭憲松指出,隨著時代演進,曾經陪伴大家多少走過風雨歲月的台灣歌仔戲逐漸被淡忘,耳熟能詳地成長回憶,目前卻在電視重播中才看得到,令人唏噓,因此他希望為傳統藝術盡份心力。
黃香蓮八月七日專程南下進行活動宣傳,還帶著團員小咪等人上台獻唱,贏得粉絲們如雷的掌聲。她提到當年凌波一九六0年代主演的《梁祝》,每次看了都會哭,這次精心準備的大戲,歡迎台南鄉親共襄盛舉,已開放索票。
(自由時報記者吳俊鋒)
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
It’s no secret that Japanese people have a deep affection for noodles. Like in the rest of East Asia, noodles are an important staple food, second only to rice. Japanese people have enjoyed noodles for over 1,000 years. The first noodles came from China and were introduced around 800 CE. As time passed, noodles in Japan not only became widespread but also developed some unique Japanese characteristics. The three most popular types of noodles in Japan are ramen, soba, and udon. Ramen, typically made from wheat flour, is usually thin and firm. The dough is kneaded and left to
Rice is an essential ingredient in Taiwanese cuisine. Many foods are made of rice, adding more variety to our cooking, such as rice cake, or “gui.” Wagui is made by steaming rice flour batter in a bowl. The term “gui” refers to a type of food made from rice, while “wa” refers to a bowl. The pronunciation of “gui” in Taiwanese Hokkien is similar to the word for “nobility” in Chinese, so it is common for people to prepare various types of gui, including wagui, as offerings to the gods or ancestors,. 米是台灣重要的主食,用米製成的食品十分多元,豐富我們的飲食,如米做成的「粿」。粿的意思是米做成的糕點,碗粿是將在來米漿倒入碗中蒸熟,因而得名。粿因為音同「貴」,因此碗粿等粿食常用作供品祭拜神明和祖先。 nobility (n.) 高貴,高尚;貴族 offering (n.) 供品 While Taiwan may not be
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