NAGA News in Review 2006
Dear qin friends,
Here is the North American Guqin Association (NAGA) 2006 News in Review. In the future we will continue to organize guqin events and performances, and bring you news of guqin events and publications in China and around the world.
1. A NAGA delegation went to China and attended two major guqin international conferences and a Culture Tour in October, 2006.
Please also see our December16th yaji talk about this trip.
2. The China Guqin Academy was established in Beijing in December, 2006. NAGA board member Li Xiangting was elected president, NAGA consultant Gong Yi is administrative president and NAGA director Wang Fei was elected a Council Committee Member.
3. Wang Fei was included as a Member of the Academic Committee of the Chengdu International Guqin and Arts Festival. She is the youngest among the famous qin scholars. Chengdu, October, 2006.
4. NAGA applied for non-profit status. Non-profit status will allow NAGA to apply for funding for some of its projects to better serve the guqin community. Its board members are Wang Fei, Li Xiangting, Stanford Tom, George Shen, Zhijun Lou and Julian Joseph. Its officers are: president: Wang Fei, secretary: Fred Pohlmann, treasurer: Jiang Wenyu. Thank you to all the initial donors who generously gave money to NAGA this year: Wang Fei, Li Xiangting, Fred Pohlmann, Julian Joseph, Wenyu Jiang, Jim Binkley, Pat Wong, Lindy Li Mark, Sanford & Jane Tom, Monique Kuo, and Weiran Zhao.
5. NAGA's Cultural Heritage Day Celebration Event, held on China Cultural Heritage Day, was very well received. June 10th.
About the Event (English)
About the Event (Chinese)
Event News Coverage from people.com.cn
Event Report (English)
Photo Album
6. Presentation ˇ°Poetry of the Tang Dynasty & Music of the Guqinˇ±, February 24th, Half Moon Bay Library.
NAGA's goal is to use different ways of presenting Chinese poetry and music to enhance people's interest in and appreciation of Chinese culture. Introducing Chinese poetry through qin music was the first such experiment and was very well received.
Photo album.
7. In early 2006, NAGA started a new project to render qin songs in English. Wang Fei led a translation team including Christopher Evans and Julian Joseph. Our performances of the draft versions during several yajis (listed below) were well received. Wang Fei believes qin playing with singing provides a means of improving one's playing technique, an opportunity to discover the beauty of ancient Chinese poetry, and a fun way for non-Chinese speakers to learn Chinese. She intends to teach more qin pieces with singing to beginners NAGA put draft sheet music with English lyrics for the qin songs Zi Ye Wu Ge and Chang Xiang Si onto its web site.
8. NAGA organized several outings for its members to enjoy the beauty of nature in addition to guqin music and the company of friends. Each NAGA outing had a different theme. We held yaji gatherings at the Lotus Gardens, the Japanese Gardens, etc, experiencing ancient Chinese scholarly life amid our busy, modern Western culture.
9. NAGA produced the following publications:
- A DVD Ou Lu Wang Ji (Without Ulterior Motives) featuring Wang Fei on guqin and using visual effects to interpret guqin music. One is able ˇ°to listen, to watch and to feelˇ± while enjoying the DVD, fostering a truly multi-sensory experience. It was shown at both international conferences in China and was well received.
- A NAGA DVD with a slideshow depicting 8 years of NAGA activities, a video of Wang Fei playing Oulu Wangji amid the scenic beauty of the Bay Area, and an excerpt from Wang Fei and Professor Li Xiangting's 2005 concert at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum.
- An audio CD Guqin Music by Wang Fei featuring Wang Fei playing four guqin solos and two qin/xiao duets with Professor Li Xiangting playing the xiao.
- A booklet containing a collection of articles (mainly in Chinese) published over the years by NAGA.
10. There are some people who are so passionate about the guqin that they are voluntarily producing guqin related publications. In order to support their work and encourage more people to support the guqin, members of the NAGA delegation to China (Wang Fei, Fred Pohlmann, Jiang Wenyu, Sanford Tom, Kwan Wong and Pat Wong) donated money to a series of publications on guqin in China. They include 七弦琴艺术杂志 (The Seven-Stringed Zither Magazine), 琴棋书画 (The Four Scholarly Arts newspaper), and 中国古琴报 (The Chinese Guqin newspaper). October, Beijing and Chengdu.
North American Guqin Association
www.guqin.org
North American Guqin Association