North American Guqin Association

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Guqin – Beyond a Museum Piece” One

Seeking Zen

Dear Qin Friends,

On Thursday, February 18th, 7:30pm at Stanford Cantor Art Center, NAGA invites you to a special performance to celebrate the Year of the Tiger: “Seeking Zen”, the first of a new series of NAGA projects: “The Art of the Guqin – Beyond a Museum Piece”.

A stick of candle

A fragment of an old tune

A Buddhist monk chanting

A brush and ink painting

We will use live performances to explore music and its relationship to ink painting, calligraphy, poetry, faith, and healing in Chinese tradition. We adapted the performance form from that of the traditional yaji (an ancient term dating back 2,000 years, translating roughly as “elegant gathering”, and similar to a French salon). Yajis have traditionally been centered on guqin music, along with calligraphy, poetry, painting and other art forms. Artists of various backgrounds come together to share their knowledge, deepening their friendships as they cultivate their respective scholarly and artistic pursuits.

NAGA is partnering with local museums to further develop the The Art of the Guqin, Beyond a Museum Piece” series, which will include concerts, lectures, and workshops, to reach different communities and diverse audiences.

As the first project in “The Art of the Guqin Beyond a Museum Piece”, “Seeking Zen” is partnering with the Stanford Pan Asian Music Festival and The Cantor Arts Center's current exhibition “Tracing the Past, Drawing the Future: Master Ink Painters in 20th-Century China”.

The series will also include “She is from the Tang Dynasty – Wang Fei Guqin Concert”, which will be featured in the 2010 San Francisco International Art Festival in May 30,2010. Please reserve your seats now.

Artists

Wang Fei, NAGA director: guqin, poetry recital and singing

Master Jiming, a Buddhist Monk from Hawaii: ink painting, chanting

Gao Jun, a musician from the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing: xiao and dizi flutes

Time and Venue

Time: Thursday, February 18th at 7:30pm

Place: Cantor Art Center, Stanford, CA

Cost: Free with RSVP (rsvp@guqin.org). Priority will be given to NAGA board members,NAGA funders, supporters, and volunteers (please check http://www.chineseculture.net/guqin/newsletters/09nagaevents/2009yearend.htm), NAGA class 2010 students as well as students who will enroll in the upcoming NAGA poetry class. This event is also open to the general public.

Space is very limited. If you do not hear from us by February 16th, then all places are taken. However you can still come before the event starts to see if any spaces are left, as some people might RSVP but not show up.

Call for Volunteers

We are looking for volunteers for this event.

Ø     Videographer

Ø     Photographer

Ø     Translator/writer

Ø     Marketing specialists/graphic designer

Please email your experience to yaji@guqin.org

She is from the Tang Dynasty – Wang Fei Guqin Concert

Time: Sunday, May 30th, 2010 at 7:00pm

Location: Southside Theatre, Fort Mason, San Francisco

Tickets: $12 (early bird rate starting 3/1) to $25, see http://www.sfiaf.org/2010/tickets.php

Call for Support

NAGA's series of "Beyond a Museum Piece" projects has been made possible by a grant from The Alliance for California Traditional Arts, in partnership with the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, and The Metabolic Studio, a direct charitable activity of the Annenberg Foundation.

If you are interested in supporting "Beyond a Museum Piece", please send donations to:

North American Guqin Association, PO BOX 7113, Fremont, CA 94537-7113

Or make your donation online at

https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/MakeDonation.aspx?ORGID2=20-5263250&source=GS&cmpgn=DNT&vlrStratCode=jwS6P5T0nhkRSxl7gbhL12bEgsy4gahQJ%2fDmTj%2f3pX%2b%2fTw5ngp4hbYVEGgfLn7ce.

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 to stay tuned for incoming news and events:

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

·        NAGA: http://www.guqin.org

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

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

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

·        Facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/North-American-Guqin-Association/166689747257

·        Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/#/group.php?gid=28237180454

·        Ning: http://chineseguqin.ning.com/

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



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