Taiwanese musician, poet and radio show hostess Summer Lei (雷光夏), in collaboration with theater director Shih Pei-yu (石佩玉) from the Flying Group Theater (飛人集社劇團), presents a musical autobiography, told through puppet performance, at the Nanhai Gallery this weekend.
Bedridden for two weeks following a car crash last year, Lei used her time convalescing to compose music for a new album, The Light of Darkness (黑暗之光), which was released earlier this month. Childhood memories and the recurring dreams of strolling with her parents in the forest of her home town Tamshui (淡水) are brought to life in the album's warm and lyrical tunes.
This weekend's 30-minute mini performance combines Lei's music with puppetry, an art form that the artist discovered at this year's puppet theater festival at the Guling St. Theater (牯嶺街小劇場).
PHOTO COURTESY OF FLYING GROUP THEATER
Puppet maker and veteran theater professional Shih believes it's only natural for Lei to find an affinity in her music with puppet theater since "the texture of her music is very much akin to that of the puppetry art: simple and precise."
In this digital, multimedia age, Shih's handmade puppets stand out as anachronistic creations that are reminiscent of the humanness and honesty cherished in simpler, less technologically advanced times. The tiny creatures require only a small performance space and, therefore, their nuanced movements create a sense of intimacy with the audience that is reflected in Lei's music.
Lei, who is the behind-the-curtain storyteller, plays keyboard and sings with the backing of an ensemble comprised of a cello player, accordionist and drummer. The puppet performance begins with a modern urban woman traveling to a remote hotel to escape the rigors of life.
Finding herself alone in a dark room, the woman gradually comes to realize that rays of warmth and hope emanate from her suitcase, which is full of memories and love. She is not at the end of her trip but is embarking on a new journey through life.
The suitcase enables Lei to explore her memories, longings and dreams.
"Lei's music serves as a starting point of imagination that leads to the visual presentation of the play … . The collaboration has been quite rewarding as we threw back and forth ideas from different points of view," Shih said.
Don't expect to hear an exact copy of Lei's album in her live performance since the music has been augmented to make it suitable for the stage.
"Lei is very meticulous about the structure of her music. Even a small alteration in length would mean a total change of instrumental arrangement and rhythm," Shih said.
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday delivered an address marking the first anniversary of his presidency. In the speech, Lai affirmed Taiwan’s global role in technology, trade and security. He announced economic and national security initiatives, and emphasized democratic values and cross-party cooperation. The following is the full text of his speech: Yesterday, outside of Beida Elementary School in New Taipei City’s Sanxia District (三峽), there was a major traffic accident that, sadly, claimed several lives and resulted in multiple injuries. The Executive Yuan immediately formed a task force, and last night I personally visited the victims in hospital. Central government agencies and the
Australia’s ABC last week published a piece on the recall campaign. The article emphasized the divisions in Taiwanese society and blamed the recall for worsening them. It quotes a supporter of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) as saying “I’m 43 years old, born and raised here, and I’ve never seen the country this divided in my entire life.” Apparently, as an adult, she slept through the post-election violence in 2000 and 2004 by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the veiled coup threats by the military when Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) became president, the 2006 Red Shirt protests against him ginned up by
As with most of northern Thailand’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) settlements, the village of Arunothai was only given a Thai name once the Thai government began in the 1970s to assert control over the border region and initiate a decades-long process of political integration. The village’s original name, bestowed by its Yunnanese founders when they first settled the valley in the late 1960s, was a Chinese name, Dagudi (大谷地), which literally translates as “a place for threshing rice.” At that time, these village founders did not know how permanent their settlement would be. Most of Arunothai’s first generation were soldiers
Among Thailand’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) villages, a certain rivalry exists between Arunothai, the largest of these villages, and Mae Salong, which is currently the most prosperous. Historically, the rivalry stems from a split in KMT military factions in the early 1960s, which divided command and opium territories after Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) cut off open support in 1961 due to international pressure (see part two, “The KMT opium lords of the Golden Triangle,” on May 20). But today this rivalry manifests as a different kind of split, with Arunothai leading a pro-China faction and Mae Salong staunchly aligned to Taiwan.
RSS