Cantonese draw on `exotic' West

By Greg Booth

We often look to the East for exotica, for fantasy and the unknown.

Sometimes we forget that the West can also be exotic, especially for the East.

Auckland will be reminded of this paradox this weekend when the sounds of Cantonese opera fill the Town Hall.

The contradictions in an Auckland performance of Yueh-chu, as Cantonese opera is known, come at the audience from all sides. For most local Chinese residents, the arias and stories appearing on the Town Hall stage will be a taste of home, since most Chinese Kiwis speak Cantonese.

For the European and Polynesian members of the audience, the weekend's programme will be doubly foreign. Most New Zealanders see little Chinese opera of any kind and most of what is performed is the northern style from Beijing.

Even though it is unfamiliar ground for all but a handful of non-Chinese, Cantonese musicals are the ones that have borrowed the most from the exotic West.

Musical instruments like the violin, saxophone and even electric guitar have appeared in Cantonese orchestras, Western costumes and scenery have appeared on Cantonese stages, and even English film stories have been adapted.

Cantonese troupes have been touring in the West for most of the century. Given its anonymity in the Western world, it is ironic that Cantonese opera is probably a better choice for non-Chinese speakers than is Beijing opera.

It offers all the elaborate costumes, dramatic gestures, and acrobatic display. But its emotional expression is more musical than verbal.

The languorous tunes and vigorous drumming help to explain Cantonese opera's popularity throughout southern China and the many expatriate communities.

Two major soloists, Chien-Fung Ng and Serena Li, both well-known stars from the Hong Kong operatic world, will be featured in different programmes on Friday and Saturday night.

Ng and Li lead their own highly respected opera troupes in Hong Kong and have toured widely throughout the world. Rather than presenting an entire opera, the offerings will highlight selected arias and excerpted scenes from the best of the Cantonese repertoire.

They will be joined on stage by vocalists from the Auckland Chinese community.

The concerts will also offer a rare opportunity to see and hear a live Chinese opera orchestra, featuring traditional Chinese string instruments, such as the moon lute, as well as the drums and wood-block so famous and so important in this tradition.

The local performers have each paid $1000 to perform their favourite arias.
Peter Chan, who is involved in the organisation of the programme on behalf of the Chinese Community Centre, says that even after production and travel fees have been met, the centre still expects to have a sizeable donation for Oxfam, the ultimate beneficiary of all this effort.

The programme's organisation speaks volumes about the importance of music and the performing arts in the Chinese community and about the depth of the community's commitment to charity and cross-cultural understanding.

This last factor may be the final paradox in this weekend's operatic adventures.

The Chinese Community Centre's desire to promote intercultural harmony may well be thwarted by the success of the programme (the 3000-plus free tickets were snapped up quickly and the waiting list is over 500).

Its popularity among the Chinese audience and the primarily Chinese thrust of the publicity will certainly mean that few Europeans will be able to attend.

What: Cantonese Opera

Where: Auckland Town Hall

When: 7.30 pm, Friday and Saturday

Pictured: Serena Li.