Performing arts from around the world onstage in Beijing

A traditional shadow puppet theater from Northeast China, Gypsy music from Hungary, a royal dance from Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and many other styles of music and dance will share the same stage in Beijing.

The Moma Post Mountain Music and Art Festival, which will start on Oct 3 and last for over a month, will present various performing arts from around the world.

"This year we are focusing on world music, and hope to showcase styles that are rarely seen in China," says Jiang Shu, artistic director of the festival.

The festival will be held at Post Mountain Art Space, located in Grand Moma, an "arts community" of Beijing that also hosts such cultural organizations as the Broadway Cinematheque and Kubrick Cafe.

This will be the second Moma Post Mountain Music and Art Festival. Last year the festival focused on rock music, while this year the festival will present many programs of traditional music.

It will open with three shows of shadow puppet theater from Xiuyan county in Liaoning province, which blends shadow puppetry with the local culture of the Manchu people.

Xinxin Nanguan Ensemble from Taiwan will give a performance of the ancient Chinese art of Nanguan (or Nanyin), a classical musical tradition believed to have come from southern Fujian province during the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907).

Japanese shakuhachi flute player Yodo Kurahashi will give a concert titled Zen and Shakuhachi, performing music of the Fuke sect of Japanese Zen Buddhism.

Sophiline Arts Ensemble from Cambodia and Yogyakarta Dance Group are also among the traditional groups on the program.

There will also be avant-garde music, such as Carl Stone, a pioneer of live computer music from the United States. Stone will collaborate with Chinese guqin (seven-stringed zither) player Wu Na, creating a unique musical language.

"This year's festival seeks to illuminate the link between the traditional and modern," the festival publicity claims.

There will also be other collaborations at the festival, such as those between Chinese band Wild Children and Tuvan group Yat-Kha, and between Hong Kong percussionist John Lee and Iranian drummer Mohammad Reza Mortazavi.

Organized by Post Mountain Art Space and Grand Moma, the festival is an effort to promote the idea of "letting art be part of life".

Post Mountain Art Space is an independent cultural organization, which runs without governmental support. It holds arts events with a budget earned through the rental for commercial events.

muqian@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 09/27/2013 page18)