Thursday, February 17, 2011

Guess Who Are They!

For those into Xiangju opera, make a guess who are they!

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

In the Mood for "Yuan Xiao"

It is the 15th day of the Lunar New Year tomorrow, and that marks the end of the Lunar New Year celebration for this year.

The 15th day of the Lunar New Year, known as "Yuan Xiao" in Chinese, can be said to be the ancient Chinese equivalent of Valentine's Day, because this is the time of the year whereby young unmarried women can get out of their homes to attend lantern fairs, to be seen by young unmarried men, and thereby increasing the chance of finding their perfect soulmate.

In Chinese opera, there is quite a number of well known romantic stories set during "Yuan Xiao", and one of which is the short excerpt "Watching the Lanterns" from the Liyuan opera show "The Legend of Chen San and Wu Niang". In conjunction with this festive occasion, I decided to sing this excerpt for all to hear. But I am not going to sing just one role, but all roles in this excerpt. Hence, you will hear me sing Chen San (the male lead), Wu Niang (the female lead), Yi Chun (the maid of the female lead) and Sister Li (the clownish matchmaker), and also double-up as the backup singers.

Of course, this is all done for the sake of entertainment, and please pardon me if my singing is not up to standard, but I have already tried my best!