Movatterモバイル変換

LISTEN China's Long Song Part 1 (54 Minutes)
LISTEN China's Long Song Part 2 (54 Minutes)

Every once in a while, an artist stands out for their depth, power, versatility, innovation, expression, excellence, and pure musicianship, for the zheng, for this time, that artist is Mei Han.

Personal History in Brief
Mei Han was born into a military family during the famines that followed the Great Leap Forward in China, her early years were during the Cultural Revolution. Life was not easy for Chinese then, food was scare, fear and politics were interchangeable. The army was considered a good life, as Mei’s family followed her father from posting to posting throughout China, from barren gray concrete army barracks to once one of Chairman Mao’s infrequently used villas. When music was allowed to be taught again, Mei’s family started her on zheng at 11 years old studying with the celebrated Shandong zheng teacher Gao Zicheng (1918-2010). To get there, she had to take a long distance bus by herself along rough rural roads every week with a basket of fresh eggs, oil, flour or rice on her lap as a gift for the teacher.

Five years later she was recruited by the army to play with the opera wing of theQian Jin Song and Dance Troupe in Shenyang. Although far from home at a young age, the zheng saved Mei from the “re-education” her older sister had to endure in the remote countryside.

Two years later the ensemble sent Mei to study with Zhang Yan (1947-1996), considered the top zheng player in China at the time. Her return to Shenyang a year later was rocky and so at 20 Mei left for Beijing to see what fate would provide. There she applied for a position with the Zhan You Ensemble the leading group of its kind in China. She was surprised to be offered the position, beating out some of the top zheng performers in the country.

With Zhan You, Mei toured in old diesel buses with wooden seats on the back roads of China, and when lucky, by boat up remote rivers. These tours took her throughout Inner Mongolia, along the Mongolian, Russian and Chinese borders and to the extreme northern forest of China, visiting remote outposts to do small concerts. Sometimes in the middle of their performances Russian helicopters would rise up on the other side of the river to see what was taking place.

After six years with Zhan You, Mei started to lose interest in performing as the ensemble’s music became influenced by Hong Kong pop music. Instead, she learned English as another skill, and within a short time found herself editing music books and translating ethnomusicological articles for Chinese music journals.

In late Spring, 1989, Mei was living not far from Tiananmen Square. All of Beijing at the time was full of hope for change, and even police and soldiers had joined the demonstrations. On the fateful night of June 3rd, Mei sat in horror in her dormitory as the sound of gun fire filled the air throughout the whole night. At daybreak she ventured out, going to one of many small local hospitals to see dozens of dead and wounded. She felt betrayed by the government, and the army she had once belonged to.

The events at Tiananmen opened Mei’s eyes and made her start to question everything. Mei started to study psychology and sociology privately. When her English was strong enough, Mei entered the prestigious Chinese Music Research Institute in musicology. For her Master’s thesis she undertook field research of the Dong minority, travelling at great personal peril to extremely remote mountain villages, some known for poisoning their guest’s food. Mei received her first Master’s degree in 1995.

In 1996, Mei came to Canada to do a second Master’s in Ethnomusicology at UBC. She began performing again and brought all her past experiences to bear in the West to break musical boundaries, taking the zheng into a multitude of new genres, and developing radical new repertoires for her instrument. As such Mei has become a world renowned zheng virtuoso; become the leading authority on the zheng; written for the world’s leading reference books on music: and been the feature of numerous radio and television documentaries. With a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from the University of British Columbia,Mei Han taught Ethnomusicology and Anthropology, along with the Chinese Music Ensemble at Kenyon College in Ohio for two years. Dr. Han is currently the Director of the Center for Chinese Music and Culture at Middle Tennessee State University while continuing to perform worldwide.