Friday, February 21, 2014

Presenter: Ho-Chak Law, Musicology
Faculty Discussant: Xiaobing Tang, Asian Languages & Cultures and Comparative Literature

Abstract:
“Watching Music, Hearing Cinema: Yellow Earth (1984) as a Manifestation of Chinese Communist Musical Discourse”

Set in a quasi-historical background based on the communist field collection of xintianyou folk songs took place in Shaanbei (i.e., today’s northern part of Shaanxi province) in the early spring of 1939, Chen Kaige’s debut film Yellow Earth (1984) delineates a tragedy of a teenage girl who lived in a peasant village near the Yellow River. Influenced by Italian neorealism, Chen attempted to give his portrayal of rural life some verisimilitude through his representation of traditional folk singing. Yet, a scrutiny of the film’s musical setting shows that music is far more than a means of historicizing and authenticating the cinematic narrative.

An analysis of Yellow Earth’s theme song Nüer ge reveals the film’s exemplification of Chinese Communist musical discourse. Disguised as a genuine xintianyou folk song, Nüer ge strategically demonstrates its authenticity through composer Zhao Jiping’s appropriation of musical “conventions” illustrated in fieldwork transcriptions. It is sung by a conservatory-trained singer in the style of minzu changfa (literally, ethnic-national singing method), which conveys a synthesis of various singing methods conforming to the notions of national essence and scientific progress. Cinematographer Zhang Yimou’s ethnographic visualization of xintianyou’s social and ritualistic significance also contributes to such display of authenticity. The moving image that juxtaposes Nüer ge offers snapshots of an indigenous musical culture constituted by communal customs and ethnic symbolism. After all, Nüer ge manifests, aurally and visually, how xintianyou as a musical legacy was modernized and nationalized through the establishment of musical institutions under the Chinese Communist Party’s politicization of art and literature. This cinematized xintianyou becomes a discursive symbol taken from the musical lives of rural communities.

Bio:

Ho-Chak Law is currently a third-year ethnomusicology PhD pre-candidate at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He received a B.A. in Comparative Literature (2008) and an M.Phil in Musicology (2011) from the University of Hong Kong. His review of the September 2012 UMS performance by Suzhou Kun Opera Theater of Jiangsu Province was published in CHINOPERL papers, volume 31, and his master’s thesis “Kun Opera: A Study of its Notation and Instrumental Sonority” investigates the material aspect of kunqu in relation to performance practices. His recent research explores the visual and aural representations of Chinese opera, folk song, and narrative singing in cinema as social, cultural, historical, and political constructs.