Saturday, May 23, 2009

瑤族舞曲: 安省海外華人青年交響樂團 / Dance of the Yao People: Overseas Chinese Youth Symphony Orchestra (Ontario) OCYSO

The Music

The piece entitled "Dance of the Yao People 瑤族舞曲" posted on my YouTube account ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I1NC2JNkdU ) was conducted by Mr. Chuen Tam 譚全指揮 and performed by the Overseas Chinese Youth Symphony Orchestra (Ontario) OCYSO 安省海外華人青年交響樂團 on May 16, 2009 at the Dominion Chalmers United Church in Ottawa. The performance was part of a three-city (Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal) concert tour to celebrate the 10th anniversary of OCYSO.

Here are some info about the piece of music, according to Wikipedia:

"Dance of the Yao People" was originally composed in 1952 for western instruments by Liu Tieshan 劉鐵山 and Mao Yuan 茅沅 who had been inspired by the long drum dance 瑶族長鼓舞歌, a form of traditional festival music of the Yao people of southern and southwest China. The original music was premiered in Beijing in 1953.

Subsequently, the music have been arranged by other Chinese conductors and composers so that it can be played by traditional Chinese instruments. The work is in several sections, some slow and some fast. It begins in 2/4 meter at a slow tempo, moves to 3/4 meter, then returns to 2/4 meter in a faster tempo for the finale.

In the late 20th century, the song was used as the basis for several pop songs, in both China and the United States. The first 18 notes of the 1998 song "When You Believe," as recorded by Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, are based on "Dance of the Yao People," although the Chinese composers of the original work were not credited.


攝影圖片 Photographs:

These pics of the Overseas Chinese Youth Symphony Orchestra (Ontario) OCYSO 安省海外華人青年交響樂團 were taken during their performances in Ottawa on May 16 and Montreal on May 17, 2009.

Related Links:

* 安省海外華人青年交響樂團: 音樂總監,指揮譚全先生 / Overseas Chinese Youth Symphony Orchestra (OCYSO): Maestro Chuen Tam, Music Director and Conductor http://lotusandcedar.blogspot.com/2009/05/ontario-chinese-youth-symphony.html

References:

* "Dance of the Yao People" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_of_the_Yao_people

* 【瑤族舞曲】http://zh.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%E7%91%A4%E6%97%8F%E8%88%9E%E6%9B%B2&variant=zh-hk

* "..... The Yao People 瑤族 is one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. The population of the Yao people is approximately 3.1 million; most of them are in China (2,640,000) and Vietnam (470,000)...." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yao_people

9 comments:

The Inner Space said...

King's College Chinese Orchestra has close link with YWCA Chinese Orchestra. Their joint performance played this "Dance Tune of Yao Minority" b4!

Haricot 微豆 said...

Space: Thanks for the info. Now, that's interesting. I will check whether they have posted it on-line.

aw said...

Wow I'm on your blog!

Who are you in the choir?

Haricot 微豆 said...

aw: Thank you for dropping by. If you send me an email via lotusandcedar=at=rogers=dot=com, I will give you some hints :)

Anonymous said...

Hey it's me again! The orchestra got a new name (that was last year) and a new website. Please drop by our site at www.ocms-yso.org! Can I link your article to our blog sometime?

Btw, I was trying to look for that youtube of Mr. Tam's birthday celebration in Montreal. I think it has either become private, or it's taken off youtube. Do you know who posted it?

Many thanks!

Haricot 微豆 said...

Hi April:

Sorry for the delay in responding to your message. I did visit your new website and quite like it, esp your travel and upcoming performance blog articles.

As to Mr. Tam's b-day celebration in Montreal, I was the one who did the recording and posted it on YouTube. Unfortunately, one of the individual in the video felt uncomfortable and requested it be taken off the “public” domain.

Yesterday, I reset the video from “private” to "unlisted". I also emailed you the link so you and your orchestra friends can watch it.

Keep in touch !!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Haricot,

Sorry it's my turn to be late. I was out of country...

Thanks very much for posting the video back up! I was thinking about streaming it into our blog. But if someone's not feeling comfortable it's better not to do so.

And thanks for visiting our blog!

April

Haricot 微豆 said...

April:

Keep in touch :)

Haricot 微豆 said...

Here is April's website:

http://www.ocms-yso.org/

(Ontario Cross-Cultural Music Society Youth Symphony Orchestra)

Below is the description under "About Us":

".... Welcome to OCMS-YSO!

The Ontario Cross-Cultural Music Society Youth Symphony Orchestra, now in its 12th season, is a dynamic platform for young music enthusiasts to share their love for music making and appreciation. It is one of the few cultural groups in the Greater Toronto Area that provides talented young musicians with high quality orchestral training and performance opportunities.

Our story began in 1999, when our Music Director and Principal Conductor, Mr. Chuen Tam, founded the orchestra with the vision of providing youths with opportunities to strive for excellence in musicianship. Then called the Overseas Chinese Youth Symphony Orchestra, the original group was mostly comprised of Chinese youths who migrated to Canada in the 1990’s. Under Mr. Tam’s leadership and the generous support of many enthusiastic parents, the group rapidly matured into a full size orchestra with higher standards year after year. Throughout the years, our performances have been receiving high acclaim from critics and the audience.

Entering our second decade, we would like to extend our service to young musicians of all ethnicities in the Greater Toronto Area. Beginning this year, a team of senior members will work closely together to reinvent the orchestra into a multicultural, dynamic and fun group for members to learn from each other and challenge themselves. New ideas and improvements will be introduced gradually as we progress.

Ontario Cross-Cultural Music Society Youth Symphony Orchestra operates under the Ontario Cross-Cultural Music Society, a charitable organization incorporated in 1996 in Ontario, Canada. ....."

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