Yilan celebrates sweet strains of plucked string music

2015/10/26

A festival showcasing the melodious merits of plucked string music from home and abroad is underway in northeastern Taiwan’s Yilan County.

Staged at Yilan Performing Arts Center, the five-day event features 100-plus musicians in 16 groups from Taiwan, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, Russia, Spain, Thailand and Uganda.

Yilan City Mayor Chiang Tsung-yuan said Yilan International Art Festival gathers prestigious performers and serves as a platform for sharing experiences and exchanging ideas. “It also offers the opportunity to bolster cultural relations while promoting borderless cooperation, peace and understanding.”

Echoing Chiang’s remarks, Felipe M. de Leon Jr., chairman of event co-organizer National Commission for Culture and the Arts in the Philippines, said the healing power of music can help settle disputes and bring world harmony.

“Music is a particularly effective avenue through which we can share common feelings and easily conduct dialogues,” he said. “The global plectrum string tradition and its increasingly prosperous development are the best fit to trigger people’s resonance and bind them to a common course.”

Of the many outstanding talents at the festival, Teenage Plucked Band of Formosa Melody Music Center is certain to prove popular with local music lovers. Comprising Chinese traditional string instruments such as guzheng, liuqin, pipa and ruan, the homegrown group looks set to build on the momentum of its well-received performances at Yilan Spring Festival and during a U.S. tour earlier this year.

Equally impressive is Kabataang Silay Rondalla Ensemble from the Philippines, which delivers a Spanish-influenced set featuring instruments like the bandurria, cello, guitar, mandolin, octavina and vihuela. The group picked up an Award of Excellence at 2001 Aberdeen International Youth Festival in the U.K.

Another must is Quartette “Phoenix” from Russia. With a signature repertoire dominated by classic, modern and regional numbers, the group puts its skillful playing of the accordion, balalaika, clarinet and domra to good use. The foursome won first prize in the free-optional instrument category at 2007 International Accordion Competition Klingenthal in Germany.

Other activities scheduled as part of the event, which wraps up Oct. 25, include instrument-making workshops, a plectrum string instrument exhibition and music seminars.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=238169&ctNode=2194&mp=9)