Over 4 days the Forge focuses on the influence of Indian music in collaboration with various other genres from Western classical and traditional Chinese to jazz and steam punk!

Tonight’s Concert:

Sitarist Mehboob Nadeem & Chinese lutenist Cheng-Ying Chuang form a fantastic cross-cultural duo for tonight’s concert.

Acclaimed sitarist/vocalist Mehboob Nadeem and award-winning Chinese lutenist/countertenor Cheng-Ying Chuang will lead audience through a musical journey through the time and space between South Asia to Far East.

Derived from Mesopotamia, instruments of the lute family evolved into diverse physical structures and musical expressions under the nourishment of different cultures. Following the legendary pilgrimage of Monk Xuanzang, the Chinese monk who brought authentic Buddhist scriptures into China in 7 A.D., tonight’s unique collaboration of lutenists/vocalists will not only showcase their ancient music traditions as soloists, but also explore each other’s traditions as a duo.

Programme:

Chinese lute/vocal solo:
Traditional (Tang Dynasty of China, 6 A.D.): Moon on High (zhongruan & voice)
Wang Huiran: Marked Melodies of Liuqin Opera (folk opera tune collection recomposed in 1950s)
Chen Wenjie: The Remote Singing Voice (composition in Muslim Chinese music style of West China along the Silk Road which Monk Xuanzang traveled)
Xu Changjun: Sword Dance (contemporary composition with Li Bai’s poetry in 8 A.D. in mind)

Sitar/Indian voice with tabla accompaniment:
Indian classical raag