A Musical Window To Our World: The Far East

In this second article following our armchair travels across the world, we find ourselves visiting the Far East. Historically this area was termed the Orient, which comes from the Latin word ‘oriens’ meaning ‘east’ or ‘rise’. Japan is referred to as ‘The Land of The Rising Sun’ as evidenced by their flag of a red circle (the sun) on a white background.

In British English, the word ‘Orient’ is used to describe the lustre of a pearl, and Hong Kong and Singapore have both been referred to as ‘The Pearl of the Orient’. Many ancient temples (including both Jewish and pagan temples), as well as Christian churches, located their entrances to the east, and this meant that the building was correctly ‘orientated’.

Unfortunately though in American English, the term ‘Oriental’ is now considered offensive and in 2016 Barak Obama signed legislation that the word should be removed from Federal Law.

And so, as we shine the spotlight on the music of the Far East, examine both the music of the past and present, we will focus in particular on 4 pianists who were born in this area of the world.

The founder of Chinese music though is considered to be Ling Lun, when he was asked by the Yellow Emperor to create music for court. He used bamboo pipes to mimic the sounds of birds. These flutes were used at court and during important ceremonies to show the harmony between the emperor’s rule and nature.

The philosopher Kǒng Fūzǐ (Confucius) himself was a competent musician and he laid out the purpose and role of music for Chinese society. Confucius stated that “To educate somebody, you should start with poems, emphasize ceremonies, and finish with music.”

Chinese instruments included:

• • guzheng (a Chinese zither – a type of stringed instrument)
  • dizi (a flute widely used in folk music and Chinese opera)
  • erhu (a 2-stringed fiddle introduced from Central Asia)
  • pipa (a 4-stringed lute, also introduced from Central Asia)

In 1601 a Jesuit priest called Matteo Ricci presented a harpsichord to the Ming Emperor and trained 4 eunuchs how to play it. This was the beginning of the introduction of Western instruments into Chinese music.

Japanese traditional music-dance-drama was given the name Noh (meaning ‘skill’ or 'talent') and was considered to be very theatrical, especially as the cast wore masks. Various sized stick drums called taiko were beaten and bamboo flutes were played. When playing taiko drums, the drummers’ movements were strictly choreographed and were considered to be a part of the musical performance.

Gogaku or court music was played at the Imperial court, at shrines and in temples and this type of music was considered ‘elegant’. All male cast theatres put on theatrical performances called Kabuki for ordinary citizens and Buddhist chanting also made its way into general life.

Thailand is geographically situated between China and India and benefited from the movement of trade between them. This is reflected in both the music and the instruments that were used.

• • Klong thap (a goblet-shaped drum) and Khim (a stringed instrument) both came from Persia.
  • Jakhe (a type of zither-lute) was imported from India.
  • Klong jin came from China.
  • Klong kaek (a type of barrel drum) was imported from Indonesia.

Thai music developed into two genres: traditional court music which consisted of very stylised court repertoires, generally played by a large ensemble or orchestra, and folk music which was more relaxed, played with fewer instruments and reflected the daily lives of the Thai people.

The Vietnamese people created melodies and songs to reflect their daily lives. As Vietnam consisted of 54 ethnic groups, traditional music was diverse in many ways. The Don Ca Tai Tu – the traditional music of the Southern people differed from the Kinh lullabies, and the Thai, Muong and Dao tribes all played a variety of musical instruments. Ca Trù, a type of chamber music was popular at court as it was said to reflect the perfect combination of poetry and music, whereas Hát Văn or Chầu Văn was associated with Mother Goddess worship. Quan Ho folk songs were always performed in groups of about 5-6 members and the Tuồng borrowed many elements of music and makeup from Chinese opera.

In China, revolutionary songs were promoted by the Maoists, especially during the Cultural Revolution. Between 1949-1990s the Communist Party denounced popular music as ‘yellow music’ or pornography. Nowadays restrictions have eased somewhat and Cantopop (C-Pop) is very popular, along with Hip Hop and Rap, which is often performed in Mandarin.

During World War II, jazz music in Japan was denounced as ‘enemy music’ and banned. This caused jazz to retreat underground and was renamed ‘light music’. Today Japan boasts the highest proportion of jazz fans in the world and Japanese musicians have created a fusion of Asian-American jazz call JapJazz. The Tokyo Jazz festival, held every year in September is a celebration of this east-west fusion.

John von Rhein a music critic for the Chicago Tribune labelled him as "the biggest, most exciting young keyboard talent I have encountered in many a year of attending piano recitals" and Jahja Ling (the first and only conductor of Chinese descent to serve as music director of a major U.S. orchestra) remarked, "Lang Lang is special because of his total mastery of the piano... He has the flair and great communicative power” [sic.].

At the age of 2, Lang Lang had watched an episode of Tom and Jerry, which featured Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rapsody No. 2 and this first contact with Western music was to be the inspiration for him wanting to learn the piano.

She moved to the USA to continue her music studies in Boston. She has received 14 Grammy nominations and was the first woman to win 1st place in ‘Best Arranger and Composer’ in a ‘Down Beat’ annual Readers Poll. In 1984 she was the subject of a documentary called 'Jazz is My Native Language'.

In 1999 a Buddhist priest approached her to write a piece about his hometown of Hiroshima. She struggled to create anything until she found a picture of a woman exiting a nuclear underground shelter, with a smile on her face. Akiyoshi then realised that her message was one of hope and she composed a 3-part piece called Hiroshima – Rising from the Abyss, which premiered in Hiroshima in 2001.

In the 1970s, Sunico worked in a bank. He had graduated cum laude with degrees in Mathematics and Music and a Masters in Statistics from the University of the Philippines and he only performed music as a hobby. He was easy to watch and easy to listen to. At the age of 25, just before he was about to move to Brown University in the USA to further his mathematics studies, he caught the attention of First Lady Imelda Marcos. Sunico had been asked to ‘dep’ for a sick pianist during an important reception and he impressed Marcos by playing all the music from memory. Marcos arranged for Sunico to have an interview at the famous Julliard School in New York and as they say ‘the rest is history’.

Allen Morrison of 'Down Beat' magazine stated that, "If the word 'genius' still means anything, it applies to this prodigy. He played original solo variations on 'Round Midnight' with a breathtaking precocity and mastery of several decades of piano style.” Marsalis commented that, “There has never been anyone that you can think of who could play like that at his age. I loved everything about his playing – his rhythm, his confidence, his understanding of the music."

Alexander released his debut album ‘My Favorite Things’ at the age of 11 after arranging all the songs on the album.