Wu Man and the Huayin Shadow Puppet Band at Hertz Hall, March 11, 2018

Cal Performances presents Wu Man and the Huayin Shadow Puppet Band
Hertz Hall
U.C. Berkeley, Bancroft Way at College Ave, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
3:00 PM, Sunday, March 11, 2018

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[3:01 PM fund-raising pitch by Matías Tarnopolsky]
[3:05 PM lights down, Wu Man out alone]

1. [3:m PM] Flute & drum music at sunset (lyrical style)
   [3:13 PM banter about the program]
2. [3:18 PM] Ambush from Ten Sides (martial style)
   [add the members of the Huayin Shadow Puppet Band]
3. [3:26 PM] Ancient Song of the Guanzhong Plain
   [3:32 PM Wu Man introduces the band]
4. [3:38 PM] Round Sun and Crescent Moon in the Heavens
   [XZ and XZ swap places]
5. [3:41 PM] A Bright Pearl in the Sea
   [pause to set up the puppetry scrim]
6. [3:46 PM] Three Heroes Do Battle with Lü Bu
   [all off but Wu Man]
7. [3:53 PM] Pipa Improvisation
   [band returns; Wu Man introduces the next piece]
8. [4:02 PM] Shiyang Jing (Ten Characters)
9. [4:06 PM] the Da Han Song
   [all off but Wu Man]
10. [4:12 PM] Dance of Yi
    [4:19 PM banter from Wu man about how her “silk & bamboo music” differs from the folk music of the Huayin Shadow Puppet Band]
11. [4:21 PM] Three and Six
    [band returns]
12. [4:24 PM] The General’s Orders Stir the Mountains and Rivers
    [set ends 4:28 PM]
    
    Encore
13. [4:29 PM] The General’s Orders Stir the Mountains and Rivers (finale, reprised)
    [show ends 4:30 PM]

• Wu Man: pipa, ruan, composer; others TBD.

• Anhua Dang: percussion;
• Guangdi Dang: erhu;
• Xicang Liu: banhu;
• Yuti Yuan: zhonghu;
• Quansi Zhang: percussion, erhu, puppeteer;
• Shimin Zhang: bench, percussion, erhu, vox, puppeteer;
• Ximin Zhang: vox, yueqin, erhu, band leader;
• Xinmin Zhang: erhu, yueqin, collapsable horn, vox.

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Wu Man introduced the instrumental title Shiyang Jing as meaning “Ten Characters” or “Ten Dishes”, but then noted that the title is ancient, and the current musical recipe is for five: so the piece began as a quintet featuring Wu Man and the Zhangs, with the other musicians joining in midway through the tune.

Xinmin's brass straight horn, made from four sections that collapse together, might be considered the precursor to the modern vuvuzela. When played at full length (about 2 m long?) it sounded a lot like a neighing horse.

program notes

Lily O'Brien posted a nice promo article about Wu Man at SFCV.

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2018 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2018 event list! ☸ On to the next event!