My
"god-grandmother" passed away without leaving any words. She
had been diagnosed with cancer ten years ago. After treatment, her cancer
had been in remission until recently. She went back to treatment again,
and everyone thought (herself included) she was doing well and on her way,
though slowly, but surely, to recovery. But a few days ago, her condition
worsened without much warning, and she quickly slipped into unconsciousness and
never woke up again. This happened around the time of the "tomb sweeping
day".
My
"god-grandfather" doesn't know how to cook, he'll have a tough time
coping with an empty kitchen.
----------
I picked up learning
the pipa today, after much thought and hesitation. I don't think I want
to go through this lifetime without at least knowing how to play one musical
instrument. But picking the one right for me has been a lengthy process.
This isn't like the time when my parents sent me to take keyboard lessons
when I was ten with the intention that I would have an "all around
development" and not fall behind other kids of my age -- getting a
head-start, so to speak. Except that every kid whose parents could afford
to sent him/her to some kind of after school "talent" class was, from
the parents' perspective, getting a head-start. I soon gave up the
keyboard. I was only ten, I didn't have feelings for it, still don't.
I entertained the idea of learning the violin, the guzheng (zither), even
the guitar, but later thought better of them. I don't really see myself
playing the violin, even though I enjoy listening to it tremendously (by the
way, I love listening to cello too, but another lifetime for playing it,
maybe); the guzheng is a more realistic candidate, except that it's not a
portable instrument, and I somehow lost some of my affection for the guzheng
after seeing how fancy, and of course, expensive, some of the guzhengs are
nowadays, NOT for the quality of the wood or strings used, but for the ornate
inlaid woodwork. This of course is to play up to the fancies of girls,
while hauling a greater profit. Now that only leaves the guitar, but this
led me to think, it's obvious I have a thing for string instruments, and deep
down, I have some silly fancies about the Tang empire. The word Tang Chao
evokes juvenile romantic images, lady in full headgear and gossamer cape riding
on fat horse; poets thrashing this way and that their polished swords while
improvising timeless poems and drinking baijiu; caravans with exotic goods and
people from all corners of the land under heaven marching into Chang'an; and
female court musicians playing the pipas for inebriated royal guests".
So this is how I came to consider the pipa, and the more I thought about
it, the more I see it happening. And it has happened, today. This
is one of those times I feel lucky I'm in a cosmopolitan city in the United
States, imagine if I were to live in a small town in, oh say, Montana, forget
about it.
Anyway, here is a
photo from my first lesson .... posing very unprofessionally after two hours of
practice. My back and neck still feel awkwardly out of place after
sitting in that position and turning my head for full three hours, lol.
noob.
I feel more excited
than I sound. I think deep down, we are all trying to inch our way
towards an idealized image of ourselves.
In most cases, it's an unattainable goal, of course. But it's the
hope that makes it all so interesting. Very tough road and lots of hard
work ahead. All aboard!
----
I went to this small
concert by Baishui, a Chinese neo-folk musician. I had only heard about
him a few days ago, and after hearing some of his music, I was blown away, like
seriously, his music struck a chord in me. So I had to go and see him
perform in person. I've always liked 中國風, but most of the so called “Chinese retro" songs
don't do the term justice. Lyrics like "為誰春，為誰等，為誰癡" make me frown if not
cower, see, I think I'm cliché-phobic. Even the works of 墨明棋妙 don't hit the right spot. Not to detract from them, I really think they have done some amazing
work, but I can't help shake the feeling that most of the "Chinese
retro" songs I've heard so far have either a wuxia (the world of martial art heroes – or the adventures of Chinese
knight-errants) touch or a cartoonish tinge, and many of which share a distinct and pervasive Japanese influence. Baishui’s work is completely a
new thing, but it’s also so genuinely Chinese and “ancient” (his earlier
albums) in a way unrivaled by any work I’ve come across, but I’m by no means
well-versed in Chinese music of today. I
think Baishui has managed to capture some of the gist of Taoist’s and Chinese
Buddhist’s philosophy, together with the notion of 中庸
(the middle of the road, a rejection of extremism), which is an immanent,
central and definitive characteristic of the Chinese mindset.
