The following performance is for dizi and Chinese orchestra. The dizi is a transverse bamboo flute that has one blow hole, six fingering holes, and a hole that is covered by a thin membrane (dimo). It is this membrane that gives the dizi its bright sound.
Nai Chung Kuan: Childhood Memories
Dizi: Mei-Yu Shih / Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra, Tien-Ku Percussion Group / Chih-Sheng Chen / National Concert Hall, Taipei, Taiwan. 2014.7.13
Composer’s note: This is a variation based on Taiwan’s popular children’s folk song “Dark Sky”, or “Tianwuwu”. I worked and lived in Taiwan for five years in the 1990s. During that time, every weekend or holiday, I would drive to the forests in the mountains alone. I traveled almost every corner from north to south and loved Taiwan’s landscapes. What impressed me was how the warmth of human connections there reminded me of my childhood. Perhaps life amongst the mountains and rivers of Taiwan is simpler than in my hometown of Beijing. The song “Tianwuwu” touched my soul like “Little Water Buffalo”, which I sang when I was a child.
(Trans: Kiah Mok Goh / Edit: Patty Chan)
