HK Chinese Orchestra wins hearts in Japan with its melodies, passion

Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra’s artists perform in Sapporo, in Hokkaido, on April 2. The orchestra held four concerts in Japan between March 31 and April 6. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

When it comes to music, engaging with the audience is everything. But it can hardly be more captivating than Hubert Yan Huichang, artistic director and principal conductor for life of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, who could lead the crowd with a wave of his hand when he encouraged them to sing along as his musicians played the famous “Romance of the Condor Heroes”.

With only two Chinese words — “ho” and “ha”, Yan invented a way to make the show feel more intimate and personal.

“It was so powerful and coordinated, it was like he was playing just for me,” said Hideo Takeshita, a Chinese music fan who was impressed by the orchestra’s debut in Tokyo.

On the stage, the HKCO musicians were equally amazed because when they embarked on their week-long journey in Japan, they had no idea it would be such a resounding success.

The troupe of musicians, known for their unique blend of traditional Chinese instruments, wowed Japanese audiences not only with their intricate melodies and rhythms but also with their emotion and passion for music.

“This is the first time we performed in Japan as a whole team,” said Yan, the conductor, adding that seeing audiences reluctant to leave the music hall even after three encores was a testament to the beauty and diversity of Chinese music.

Amid a hectic schedule, the HKCO held four concerts in Japan from the north island of Hokkaido to Hyogo prefecture in the Kansai region from March 31 to April 6.

As “a leader in Chinese ethnic music” and “a cultural ambassador of Hong Kong”, combined with the historical significance of Chinese music in Japan, it was no surprise that the HKCO’s tour of Japan was highly anticipated by music lovers across the country.

A total of five pieces were featured in the concerts: The Performance of “Essence”, which is also called The sixth movement of Ji by Ng Cheuk-yin; Chan Ming-chi’s Jing Qi Shen, a UNESCO-award winner; The Concerto for Pipa: A Fantasy of Flying Apsaras by Kong Zhixuan; The Silk Road Fantasia Suite and The Northwest Suite.

Among the pieces, the Pipa concerto drew its inspirations from apsara images on the Mogao Grotto murals, which feature Gandhara holding various kinds of musical instruments — pipa, zheng, dizi, sheng, bili, etc, with the suggestion of playing in ensemble.

“Among these images, ‘playing the pipa on the back’ is the most famous for its artistic impact, and it touches me the most,” Kong, its composer said. 

“The music draws its material from Dunhuang pipa scores and it is based on the structure of the Tang Dynasty daqu (‘grand song’), and blends in musical elements from Central Asia,” he added.

The Northwest Suite by Tan Dun is a Chinese orchestral piece, which uses the musical elements of the indigenous music of the Loess Plateau in northwestern China. Between the sonorous, robust and full-bodied musical phrases is a pained wistfulness that comes from living in the arid, punishing conditions of the land. 

Hubert Yan Huichang in action with the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra in Tokyo on March 31. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

The composer captured this complexity in his music through touching melodies and vivid tone colors, describing the humanism, the pains and the joys of the people living on this land through four sections: God in Heaven Grants Us Sweet Rain, Rousing Games in the Bridal Chamber, I Miss My Dear Love and Stone-slab Waist Drums.

Inspired by travelogue drawings, composer Zhao Jiping’s “Silk Road Fantasia Suite” featured Japanese saxophone player Miho Sumiya. With Conductor Yan’s adept direction of the group, the music had a cinematic quality, starting off with a subtle impressionistic vibe. 

Sumiya’s skillful handling of the saxophone gave it a soulful and melancholic tone, while her sensuous vibrato added to its expressiveness. The suite’s middle portion felt like an opera recitative, with the zheng’s enchanting accompaniment complementing Sumiya’s performance.

“By striking both its similarities to and differences from Japanese music, we want to use traditional Chinese string, wind and percussion instruments to create a sense of familiarity and novelty for our Japanese audiences,” Yan said.

In his view, the similarities between Chinese and Japanese traditional music were one of the main drivers behind their success.

“Throughout history, Japan has been heavily influenced by China in music and musical instruments. From the 7th century to the present day, Japan has been incorporating Chinese music and instruments into its own culture, creating a unique blend of Japanese and Chinese musical traditions, which eventually evolved into the traditional Japanese music we know today,” Yan said.

As a matter of fact, the musical exchange between China and Japan dates back to the Tang Dynasty when Japanese Heian court musicians were sent to China to learn and study Chinese music. A manifestation of this exchange was the introduction of Chinese musical instruments to Japan, such as the pipa, sanxian and zheng.

As a result, many of the oldest Japanese instruments, such as the koto and shakuhachi, were modeled after their Chinese counterparts. The shamisen, which became popular in Japan during the Edo period and is now an integral part of Japanese music, has been influenced by the Chinese sanxian but holds a longer neck and a broader body.

In order to arouse widespread resonance and to preserve the wondrous sound of the age-old instrument, Zhao Taisheng, principal sanxian performer of the HKCO, gave a solo during the encores of every concert in Japan.

Zhao regards the sanxian as an important part of Chinese folk music tradition and warns against its contemporary marginalization.

“In the early decades of the 20th century, the number of students of the sanxian was similar to that of those studying other traditional Chinese string instruments such as the pipa or zheng. However, the instrument began to lose popularity with the adoption of Western orchestral styles, which preferred softer harmonies,” he said.

According to Zhao, although he regrets that a lot of professional and large-scale orchestras lack this type of instrument, HKCO has accommodated two sanxian performers and the preservation of the art of sanxian has been greatly encouraged by all the support and interest he and his sanxian have garnered while performing in China and abroad.

Just like in Japan, Zhao said his self-accompanied singing performance of Song of the Black Earth on sanxian had also won standing ovations during the orchestra’s concerts in Russia, Singapore and Estonia.

“I have countless memories of my performances being well-received, and these experiences have encouraged me to work harder to carry the art of the sanxian forward,” Zhao said, vowing to continue striving to keep the instrument a living part of Chinese culture.

Xu Weiwei in Hong Kong contributed to this story.