In the evening of March 6th, at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the local audience expressed their affection for the whole performance with cheers and applause when the Silk Road Band were playing the popular Egyptian song 3 Daqat with Chinese traditional instruments including erhu (a two-stringed bowed instrument) and pipa (a four-stringed, pear-shaped lute).
In the evening, Chinese art performances had been staged at the film festival, during which nine Chinese artists displayed a unique and inclusive Chinese culture with dances, music and songs.
“It’s beyond my imagination that the Chinese instruments could play our popular music” said Yahya, a twenty-year-old girl who was amazed by the performances, extending her thanks to the musicians and praising their well-prepared performances.
Among Chinese performance groups in this film festival, the Silk Road Band consisting of five national-level musicians left a deep impression on audience.
“In order to create sentimental empathy among Egyptian audience, the band wrote down musical notation when listening to the only available audio files. Then, they rehearsed together according to it. To this end, a warm interaction between players and audience have been seen.” said Peng Xiaohuang, an erhu musician.
“It is not only an attempt to broadcast Chinese folk music with Chinese traditional instruments which were used to play popular foreign songs, but also embodies the inclusiveness of Chinese music and culture ” Peng Xiaohuang added.
In addition to the local music, Chinese Peking Opera, Argentina music Free Tango and classic songs of some countries involved in Belt and Road have also been brought to the stage by the band. Moreover, other actors also performed Italian songs and Uygur’s dances to the accompaniment of their instruments. All of these constitute a professional and artistic show.
According to Wen Xiaoyan, director of this performance, Chinese art group will perform again in the closing ceremony.
The First Asian World Film Festival was unveiled in the evening of March 2nd with Chinese director Xie Fei as the president of judging panel. The Chinese documentary MR.BIG and animated film A Fishboy's Story:Tortoise from the Sea will compete for the documentary and comic awards respectively.
This film festival was co-hosted by Nun Culture and Art Foundation, South Sinai Government, Egyptian Ministry of Culture and China Culture Center in Cairo, aiming at providing a platform for the screening and promotion of Asian movies. The result will be disclosed in the evening of March 8th.