BY WENDY ZHANG
“Sydney Beer” 2019 Chinese Lunar New Year Concert (presented by Ausfeng Group)
Twelve Girls Band
3 February, Sydney Opera House
Prior to attending the Twelve Girls Band’s Sydney concert, I had heard of them as an all girls’ group playing traditional Chinese musical instruments. I imagined a group of ladies dressed in elegant qipaos and playing traditional songs, alongside some Chinese calligraphy display and tea tasting. It turned out to be something quite different – a contemporary pop band consisting of young girls with dyed hair playing a mix of Chinese and English pieces with modern interpretations. And they had obviously established a global youth fan base – the young couple sitting next to me talked about their love for the Twelve Girls Band. That, and the fact they had the band’s posters all over their house, made me feel like I was at a K-pop concert instead.
As the concert was about to start, the band members entered the stage – all 12 in stunning red dresses with golden fish patterns, appropriate for the Lunar New Year theme. All in their 20s to mid-30s, the girls looked beautiful, modern and confident. There were four erhu players standing at the front, three pipa players sitting in the middle row, two bamboo flute players standing at the side, and two zither and one dulcimer players standing at the back row. It was interesting to note that all erhu and zither members stood to play throughout the concert, even though players would normally sit, which distinguished this group from the rest and added to the visual spectacle of the performance. They opened the concert with the song Miracle – an energetic and upbeat performance. I had never heard so many Chinese instruments played together, and was quite amazed at the overall dynamics achieved by the whole band. As I was sitting quite close to the front, I felt the background synthesizer was quite loud, which made it a bit hard to distinguish the sound of individual instruments.
In the song Oda ta Pear Flower, an erhu player played a solo of jinghu (a unique kind of erhu mainly used in traditional Peking opera), which I had never before witnessed. It was smaller than normal erhu, but had a sharper and higher-pitched sound. The song itself was from a Peking opera Da Tang Gui Fei, and the jinghu solo was unique and expressive.
The next song Jasmine Flowers was a well-known Chinese folk melody, and singer Xiaohan Dong appeared on stage accompanied by the girls’ band. It was a modern adaptation of the well-known melody, and Dong sang in a warm and expressive voice. The band accompanied her and played fast running descending scales in the second half – the dulcimer’s playing was particular noteworthy and expressive.
After the interval, the band went on stage in a different set of costumes – black and white tops with red skirts, which were contemporary, modern and pop-looking. It was clear the band had put a lot of effort into the visual elements of the performance (costumes, band set-up, lighting) in order to attract and promote traditional Chinese musical instruments to younger generations.
The second half of the concert consisted mainly of small ensembles, which I enjoyed more as I was able to hear clearly each individual instrument. In the song New Horse Racing, the four erhus and dulcimer players plucked the strings and made their instruments sound like hundreds of horses running and racing. It was a fast and difficult piece, and a terrific performance from the band, which showed off individual players’ technical skills.
Other songs including Libertango and New Classicism were all modern adaptations of classical Western pieces, and been played by contemporary musicians including Richard Clayderman on piano. The band played these songs using the Chinese traditional instruments and the end result was outstanding. I was fascinated to hear these familiar tunes played in the same speed and same fluency on these traditional Chinese instruments. It would be impossible to achieve this if the band members did not possess such strong technical skills and complete command of their instruments, as these pieces were not designed and written for traditional Chinese instruments.
The audience clearly loved the band and their performance, as they were asked to come back to the stage and perform two encore pieces at the end. It was an interesting evening of different styles of music by the Twelve Girls Band; and a unique learning experience for me, as I was able to appreciate traditional Chinese musical instruments played in different ways, and enjoy the visual spectacle of their performance.
Images courtesy Ausfeng Group.
