NAGA Japanese Garden Yalon
Sunday, July 22^nd, 2012, Hayward, CA

Dear Qin Friends:

Summer is here! The North American Guqin Association (NAGA) is pleased to announce that on Sunday July 22^th at 1:00pm, it will hold a yalon in the Japanese Garden in Hayward, CA.

A yalon 雅龙^© (yaji+salon) is a mixed gathering of East and West, ancient and modern. It was conceived and created by NAGA’s director Wang Fei in October, 2010 and recently was introduced by the New York Times. Please click here to learn more about yalon.

According to ancient Chinese scholars, the guqin is not just a musical instrument but a lifestyle.  It allows us to play music, meet old and new friends, enjoy flowers and goldfish, recite poems, sing opera, take photographs, discuss a variety of topics as well as share your recent worldwide travel experiences and photos using modern and new technology such as Ipad and Iphone in a peaceful and beautiful Asian garden. Please see the past events we have held in this Japanese garden at
1.http://www.chineseculture.net/guqin/newsletters/masterclass/naga0510yajireport.htm
2. http://www.chineseculture.net/guqin/newsletters/06nagaevents/naga0722yajireport.htm

NAGA director Wang Fei will share her recent trips, her experiences including lectures and performances in India and China, and will talk about how to bring the guqin, an ancient and traditional genre of music, onto the world musical stage and into modern life. She will also give an update on the current status of the qin and its market, and share a lot of amazing stories and photos of the places she visited and events she attended. She will also show the newest qins made by master Wang Peng and other qin makers in different styles, such as “banana leaf”.

NAGA recently established a new office in Beijing which will be devoted to international guqin cultural exchange and will introduce a guqin-themed hotel, restaurants, concert hall, theater, exhibitions, recording studio, qin making studio, qin classrooms with bilingual instruction, etc. Our 2012 international NAGA class + cultural tour will take place from October 18-25. If you are interested in experiencing such a special combination of classes and tours with a guqin theme, please come and discuss it with us.

Our NAGA intensive guqin class will start very soon. If there are any new qin friends who want to know more about the guqin or about the lessons, or who would like to meet qin friends or a teacher, you are most welcome to join us. Please see details of the classes at http://www.chineseculture.net/guqin/newsletters/12nagaevents/summerclass.html

Entry to the yalon is free and anybody with an interest in guqin is welcome. Bring your friends along too! Players of other instruments are especially welcome. We can do some experimentation and enjoy the summer together.

Since space is limited, please reserve your place at http://www.chineseculture.net/guqin/byajilist.html.

Time and date

Sunday, 1:00pm, July 22nd, 2012

Venue:

Japanese Garden, City Center Drive, Hayward, CA 94541

Please click here for directions

About Yalon

Based on the traditional Chinese scholar’s yaji (雅集 elegant gathering) and the French artistic gatherings known as salons (沙龙), a yalon (雅龙)^© is a novel and artistic high society gathering, centering on the guqin, attended by contemporary literati in homage to the ancient Chinese yaji of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove and hosted by intellectual women in their living rooms, as was done by George Sand in her French salons and Lin Huiyin (林徽因) in her literary salons.
 NAGA’s ground-breaking yalons (雅龙)^© were successfully premiered in October 2010 in a Beijing courtyard house where renowned Chinese opera master Mei Lanfang (梅兰芳) used to reside. NAGA has held many yalons in both China and the US. Attendees have included musicians, scholars, writers, filmmakers, poets, doctors, public officials, publishers, investors, diplomats and young urban professionals from both the US and China. Among them were guqin master Li Xiangting and guzheng master Yin Qiyin. Attendees enjoyed and appreciated music from famous guqin pieces to improvisations, poetry recitals and improvisational writing with guqin improvisation, while tasting fine wines and aged Puer black tea, wore hanfu, played impromptu childhood games and discussed various artistic topics as well as modern marvels such as the iPad and iPhone.

The purpose of yalons is to provide an inspirational platform for artists to collaborate across cultures and across art forms; to encourage artists to create new works; to introduce a new lifestyle in which a person can be not just materially wealthy but also spiritually rich. We hope today’s NAGA yalons starting in China will be a spark that can light a prairie fire to revive Chinese high culture, now that its economy has become so successful.

About NAGA

The North American Guqin Association (NAGA) is a nonprofit cultural arts organization dedicated to the public presentation and preservation of the art of the guqin, spreading community appreciation of Chinese culture through the traditional art of the guqin and building a bridge for cultural exchange and mutual understanding between the Chinese and American communities. NAGA offers guqin classes, performances, recordings, workshops etc.

Please subscribe to the following NAGA social networks and stay tuned for breaking news and events:

1.      NAGA Website: http://www.guqin.org

2.      NAGA E-Newsletter: http://www.chineseculture.net/guqin/joinus.html

3.      Twitter: http://twitter.com/nagaguqin

4.      Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/chineseculture

5.      Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/guqin

6.      LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2681353

7.      Sina Weibo: http://weibo.com/nagaguqin