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Dana Leong, known as the "hi-def Yo-Yo Ma" in the electronic music scene, will collaborate with Dave Liang, a leading name in the electronica charts, in the multimedia concert "The Sound of Folk Tales" next month. Together they will craft a mesmerising realm where futuristic animation can transform the theatre into a place of legends and folk tales enriched by a dynamic soundscape, reloading the legends of Shanghai, Tokyo and New York.
"The Sound of Folk Tales", one of the programmes of the New Vision Arts Festival organised by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, will be staged on November 2 and 3 at the Sha Tin Town Hall Auditorium.
Composer-musicians Leong and Liang have extracted the special sound qualities of the koto and the pipa in Asian music and, with creative audacity and computer magic, have fused them with classical and jazzy acoustic sounds and edgy electronic music. The folk tales "Legend of the White Snake" from China, "Fountain of Youth" from Japan and the creation tale of the Native Americans will be retold through dynamic animation by Japanese animator Yuki Nakajima and matched with contemporary musical idioms and sensibilities to bring about a whole new music experience.
The multinational creative team includes famous artists such as koto player Yumi Kurosawa, who was a 2006 Tokyo Contemporary Koto Music Competition Finalist for original music composition; pipa player Zhou Yi, a featured pipa player for the 2008 Spoleto Festival premiere show of "Monkey, Journey to the West"; bass guitarist Stomu Takeishi, the poll winner in the DownBeat 57th Critics Poll category of Electric Bass, Rising Star; and drummer Yonadav Halevy, who was granted "outstanding musician" status by the Ministry of Culture in Israel. Hong Kong's own cutting-edge pop culture figure Ghost Style and hip hop trendsetter M.I.N.D. Studio will also join as special guests.
Leong and Liang are New York-based musicians who have established a commanding presence in the North American music scene in recent years. The innovative Leong merges excellence as a cellist and trombonist with his Chinese-Japanese heritage and passion for reworking musical genres, gaining him the appellation "hi-def Yo-Yo Ma" in the hip hop and electronic music scene. Pianist and keyboard player Liang founded the renowned Shanghai Restoration Project and has launched an innovative crossover between Chinese music, hip hop and electronica, injecting contemporary nuances and a global vision into traditional folk tunes.
"The Sound of Folk Tales" will be staged on November 2 and 3 at 8pm at the Sha Tin Town Hall Auditorium. Tickets priced at $360, $280, $200 and $130 are now available at URBTIX.
Half-price tickets are available for full-time students, senior citizens aged 60 and above, people with disabilities and their minders, and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients. Other booking discounts of up to 20 per cent are available.
Programme brochures are available at URBTIX outlets or at the website, www.newvisionfestival.gov.hk.
For programme enquiries, call 2370 1044. For telephone credit card bookings, call 2111 5999. Internet bookings can be made at www.urbtix.hk.
Ends/Thursday, October 18, 2012
Issued at HKT 16:46
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