Ode to Elliott

Changes in you

Jam

Zero

The dare

Antidote

Utopia

Photos by Ian Alcock, Maikel Liem and Olli Geibel

Mr. Wolf is the band in which Monkichi Mai Sha plays the bass guitar. Her and her band mates decided to organize a live music event, with bands of friends to play together. This event is FOLK FICTION!!!

GUMI was formed during the New Year's celebrations of the year 4707. Its original bandmembers were G. and M.  End of June this year, GUMI had their first and last performance ever.  A performance to celebrate her birthday, and to say goodbye to him, now living in Cambodia. 

It was a memorable evening, and GUMI played their songs: In Cerca di Cibo (In Search of Food), Wo Dengzhe Ni Huilai (Waiting for your return), Gloomy Sunday, Pinocchio – In Groppa Al Tonno, Meihua, El Choclo, Blue Monk, Love in Portofino, Ushti Ushti Baba (Macedonian folksong).

G. – Accordeon

M. – Alto Saxophone

No one knows whether GUMI will ever hit the stage again in its original formation…… One can only hope!

Lijiang is the capital of the Naxi Kingdom. The Naxi are an ethnic group who descended from a race of Tibetan nomads.I read about their music, which is an ancient form of Chinese music, that survived the CR, among others because the musicians buried their instruments to save them. Naxi music is also called "the living fossils" of music in China and is a combination of literary lyrics, poetry and music styles from the Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties and also has influences from Tibetan music. When I arrived in Lijiang, I didn't really like this town. The old town of Lijiang which is in the top of favorite touristic places in China.  It was just too touristic, and feels a bit like a big Nanluoguxiang (Beijing) town. Then I read about the Naxi orchestra and for sure I wanted to check that out. It turned out to be the most interesting thing that Lijiang has to offer in my opinion, even though the Orchestra plays every evening for tourist. To me, it still has an authentic feel to it. Reading about this ancient music from China and then seeing the members of the Orchestra… Well, have a look yourself:

The oldest member of the Naxi Orchestra is 87 years old!

They have several members who are all older than 80 years!

Every song they played was introduced by a nice girl, who spoke about the origin of the song, and introduced some of the key players of the Naxi Orchestra. During this talk, most members closed their eyes, and it looked as if they were sleeping. 

This man in the middle is blind and has the respectable age of 83 (hmm not completely sure abouthis age, but for sure above 80)

This is the only Chinese instrument of the Naxi orchestra of which I know the name: Daruan. (Only because JS plays this instrument as well but a smaller version, the zhongruan)

There is not really a conductor in the orchestra like we know it from the modern orchestra. Instead, they have the man in the middle (also the oldest member of the orchestra) and his instrument, and before every song, he chants the name of the song, and hits one of round things of his instrument to start the song. 

I wanted to post a video but somehow I cannot upload my movie to Youtube. Yes I can access Youtube So unfortunately, no video of the performance, unless I find another videosite. Would be great to find one that is easy accessible for both inside and outside of China. Let me know if you know a site like that!!

It is a bloody hot summer in Beijing! We have days of above 37 degrees Celsius everyday now, and the sun is so strong. To me, it is just too hot and I prefer to stay inside, where there is airconditioning. I don't mind at all that I'll be working the whole summer. I had my holiday beginning of June and finally went to see Yunnan! The province of immense diversity in geography, climates and people. There are 28 recognized ethnic groups in Yunnan, the highest number in any single province. I went travelling there for about 2 weeks, and it was too short to see all that I wanted to see. Took so many pics and vids, that I could use another holiday to sort them all out and write a post about my holiday in Yunnan for my blog. I'll take it step by step!

Everytime I visit my own blog, I realize how time flies. I know, I am not very good in updating my blog, and by the time I start to feel guilty, there are just so many things that happened that I don't know where to start anymore. So I'll try to adopt another strategy, and that is posting small messages, instead of once in several months posting one big message. 

Yesterday I spilled a bottle of Coke on my laptop, I was shocked as I saw the liquid on my keyboard, disappearing fast between the keys and I grabbed my laptop as fast as I could to turn it upside down, hoping that all the Coke would drip out of it again. That was my first reaction, not sure whether that was the best to do, but my laptop is still working, except for some keys like the A, the left shift, the Z, the S and the Q, that need considerable more effort to be pressed in order for them to appear on my screen. I just can feel the stickiness of the sugary Coke. What to do, what to do?? 

The two best bands of yesterday’s Midi Festival!

Hanggai

And the legendary Tang Dynasty !!

At the end of the Tang Dynasty concert, people were shouting for more, they didn’t want to leave the festival, as the atmosphere was amazing, and people wanted to see more of the Tang Dynasty. But the festival was over for that day. People kept on yelling for more and the director of the Midi school (organizer of this festival) stepped onto the stage, trying to tell the people that for today, it was enough. That we should go home and get some rest, and let the neighbours get some rest as well. And that tomorrow there will be a new day filled with music. It wasn’t really working, so he decided to give the hardcore crowd one last song. He himself sang a song for us!! It was very much appreciated, and a perfect closure of a day filled with music, comfortable weather and a memorable atmosphere.

Last song of the night by the director of the Midi school

Almost a year ago, I started my METP adventure! Two weeks ago I graduated from this training program!

Click on the picture to enlarge and to read the text. This has been taken from the METP website

It was about time to pay a visit to 798 again! I cannot remember the last time I was there! Lovely day, a bit cold though, but saw interesting things again! The following is from a 3d artist called T. Oursler.

恭喜发财!!! 新年快乐!!!

The Year of the Tiger has begun!!

Watch this movie I made of the fireworks on New Years’ Eve. This is the view from my balcony!!

On the streets of Beijing, around 2 am. CRAZY!!!!