NAGA April 2006 Yaji Report

On Sunday April 9th NAGA hosted a special yaji which featured Yip Mingmei as guest speaker and performer. The event commenced with a tasty potluck. Yip Mingmei is a student of Mme Tsai Deyun. She is a longtime guqin player and scholar. She is also an author and painter. She presented her book Chinese Children's Favorite Stories, which she both wrote and illustrated and displayed some of her exquisite drawings during her presentation. Her husband Geoffrey Redmond accompanied her to the yaji. He was interviewed on KGO the following morning by Ron Owens about his book on women's hormone therapy. Yip Mingmei spoke about women qin players throughout Chinese history. She noted that the tendency to exclude women from playing the qin began in the Han dynasty but that tai nu (gifted women), women who excelled in the four scholarly arts, were admired throughout Chinese history. Women qin players were either members of the gentry, musical performers, high-class prostitutes, court ladies, or nuns. Yip Mingmei pointed out that certain legendary figures, such as Guanyin, were also credited with playing the qin. She played a number of pieces.

Wang Fei also played a number of pieces including Wild Geese Descending on the Sandbank. Wang Fei played and sang several qin songs. She played part of Hu Jia Shi Ba Pai as Fred recited the first stanza of Cai Wenji's famous poem of the same name in English. Fred later recited a Li Bai poem to Wang Fei's improvisation.

We were also privileged to have the talented Wang Hong of Melody of China as a guest. He joined both Wang Fei and Yip Mingmei in playing qin/xiao duets. It was a particular pleasure to see and hear very gifted and accomplished musicians display their talent in impromptu collaborations.

Other Qin Solos:

Wenyu played Chang Xiang Si and Zi Yie Wu Ge and sang both in Chinese. Kwan played Jiu Kuang. Fred played Yang Guan San Die.

Attendees:

Annie Wang were away for her book signing tour that week, but there is a possibility that she will join us for the May yaji. Please read the recent review of her new book People's Republic of Desire in the Washington Post. On Saturday April 22^nd at the Fremont Main Library NAGA's yaji was devoted almost entirely to a practice session for a guqin ensemble performance in honor of Asian Pacific Heritage Month. This event, which will also feature a solo performance by Wang Fei, will be held in Sacramento on May 2^nd. Kwan took the lead in organizing the session, and the group practiced eight pieces, demonstrating that some of the students who have practiced less than one year, namely Wenyu and Monique, are already developing a respectable repertoire. Three attendees witnessed our practice, one of whom played with us on a couple of pieces. His name is Alan Yip. He is currently a student at UC Davis and plays erhu and guqin. To end the yaji he played an unequivocally competent Liu Shui, an amazing accomplishment considering he has been playing the guqin for only about two years.

Attendees:

Reporter: Fred Pohlmann

Editor : Julian Joseph

North American Guqin Association

http://www.guqin.org