The chamber concert named “The Elegant East” hosted jointly by China Arts and Entertainment Group Ltd and Shanghai Chinese Orchestra was held in the Mexico City of Mexico on October 14th, which presented a traditional Chinese audio feast to local audience.
In the afternoon, the concert started with “A Wonderful Night in Spring” a melody with traditional Chinese instruments including but not limited to Chinese lute, guqin (a seven-stringed Chinese instrument), liuqin (a plucked stringed musical instrument), bamboo flute and erhu (a two-stringed bowed instrument). The lasting sound echos in the music hall of Maxico’s National Arts Center.
“A Trip to Suzhou” was a representative melody played by flute. It showed the beauty of the southern China’s villages near rivers with soft tunes. “Happiness of Reunion” was a representative melody of northern China. It’s a vigorous tune played with Chinese piccolo. The erhu solo named “ten thousand horses galloping ahead”. It enabled listeners to have a feeling that they were in a vast grassland of Mongolia, with thousands of horses running in front of them. “The Bell Sound of Camels along the Silk Road” played with zhongruan (a Chinese string instrument). The Melody showed the happiness and difficulties of trade teams with camels traveling along the Silk Road. The examples went on and on.
At the end of the performance, “Maguey”, a Mexico melody, was played with traditional Chinese instruments. Audience listened to the novel and familiar tune while applauded to interact with the music troupe.
Qiu Xiaoqi, Chinese ambassador to Mexico, said that the concert was composed of art features from various places in China and had prominent local and ethnic minority features. China and Mexico were far from each other, but good music attracted listeners everywhere if it originated from tradition and was played to the world. Chinese music was a highlight newly added to the cultural communication between China and Mexico, supporting the bilateral relationship to be lifted to the next level.
In the next few days, Shanghai Chinese Orchestra had another concert in Guadalajara, the second largest city in Mexico. It would also participate in the 46th Cervantes International Art Festival in Guanajuato which was a famous historical city.