Where East Meets West: An Exhibition of Mid-20th Century Cantonese Musical Instruments in Vancouver

×

Expand

"Where East Meets West"

"Where East Meets West": An Exhibition of Mid – 20th Century Cantonese Musical Instruments in Vancouver

EXTENDED!!

Exhibition: November 15 – February 24, 2013, Opening Reception and musicians’ live performance: Saturday November 17th 2:00pm

The 2nd live performance: Saturday December 1, 2:00pm

Lecture by curator Alan Kar Lun Lau: Saturday December1, 2:30 pm

Lecture Ten Thousand Flowers -- the Kaleidoscopic World of Chinese Opera by curator Alan Lau (Unlike the last lecture, which was given in English and Chinese, this lecture will be given in Chinese): January 5th, 2013 2:00 pm.

Indonesian gamelan, African mbira… Cantonese music – what do these all have in common? -- Find out at Where East Meets West: An Exhibition of Mid-20th Century Cantonese Musical Instruments in Vancouver. The exhibition showcases a collection of Chinese musical instruments from the Chinese Cultural Centre and the UBC Asian Library's Henry Lok-Tin Lee Collections, used in Vancouver’s Chinatown during the 1950s and 60s.

It is a somewhat unknown fact that Cantonese music is a relatively new phenomenon, derived from regional styles approximately a century and a half ago. Cantonese people are known for their receptiveness and adaptability to new ideas, evident in their use of hybrid instruments, such as modified guitars and banjos, castanet-like percussions, and in fact, xylophones tuned according to Cantonese musical modes, which are all featured as part of the exhibit. -- Imagine these cultural influences and interactions, carried along by early Chinese migrants in search of the “Gold Mountain,” slowly unfolding in Vancouver’s Chinatown under the backdrop of post-war prosperities, where the East meets with the West in novel yet subtle ways...

The curator of this exhibition, Alan Lau, Board Director of the Vancouver Chinese Instrumental Music Society, will also be hosting, Intra-lingual -- A Tale of Cantonese Music, an interactive workshop which explores the intricate relationship between Cantonese music and language. The workshop will feature performances by members of the BC Chinese Orchestra, and the audience will have the opportunity to translate their own poetry into Cantonese using online dictionaries and software, and create their very own Chinese melodies.

The musical instruments displayed are from Henry Lok-Tin Lee (李樂天)

Collection of UBC Asian Library, Chinese Cultural Centre Collection and Alan Lau Collection.

Co-organizers: Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Vancouver

Asian Library, University of British Columbia

B.C. Chinese Music Association