Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture

Comments on the Finalist

A tunnel that leads to a pool of emerald water, the flowing sounds of the flute travel lightly and afar through the cool, moist air. At the distant, bright exit of the tunnel, a bamboo raft approaches afloat with a band of musicians in simple attire and makeup. Elegant and refined, they are like divine beings from heaven. On the raft, Nanguan musician WANG Xin-Xin gently plays the music accompanied by the sound of bamboo clappers. As she begins to recite LI Bai's "Downstream to Jiangling" while the band is playing "Birds Home," the performance takes the audience's breath away, leaving them oblivious of time.

This passage paints the picture of XinXin Nanguan Ensemble's performance in Jhaishan Tunnel, a military site in Kinmen. The director, WU Su-Chun has cleverly combined installation, the actual site, and Nanguan, which is deemed as a historic treasure. In the tunnel under the military slogan that says, "Don't forget national humiliation in time of peace and security," the performance at the site, to a certain extent, is closer to a piece of performance art. The raft has not only passed mountains and rivers but also the historic vicissitudes marked by hundreds of warring and chaotic years.

The gentle and calm energy of XinXin Nanguan Ensemble's performance shatters the pattern and boundary of performing arts, transcends artistic forms and styles, and conveys sentiments and sympathy unconfined by the historical time.  (Commentator: ZHANG Xiao-Xiong )

Artwork Introduction

As a performing artistic group devoted to the performance, creation and inheritance of nanguan music, Xinxin Nanguan Ensemble keeps enhancing the beauty of nanguan through embellishment of its tonality and ensemble, and further highlights the present-day value of this tangible cultural heritage via integrated content, stage and mood of the performance so that more people can have access to the abundance and elegance of nanguan music.

Nanguan was originally a music performed in folk venues, such as Min-nan traditional residences or temples mostly. Its gentle lyrics and elegant rhythm has endured four hundred years in Taiwan. In 2009, nanguan music was designated as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage for its pure and original quality. Via the efforts of dedicated researchers, artists and performers in recent years, nanguan has stepped into the hall of art, and presented a new appearance by incorporating assorted theatrical elements. With innovative plans, Xinxin Nanguan Ensemble integrates nanguan music and traditional Min-nan residences in Kinmen, and conducts a set of comprehensive performances and lectures, demonstrating the exceptional effect of combining tangible and intangible cultural heritages.

About the Artist

WANG Xinxin, the founder of the group, grew up in a family of nanguan musicians in Quanzhou, Fujian Province. Years of immersion in the art and performing experience have made her the “orthodox” representative of nanguan music. Nevertheless, WANG refuses to sit on her laurels, and continues to seek breakthroughs, from experimenting with the music and singing styles, to expanding the themes, to modern lighting and stage design. Her annual production, therefore, never fails to surprise her audience. Since 2003 onward, by setting nanguan music to ancient Chinese poems from the Tang and Song dynasties, the series of works, including Song of the Pipa Lute, Elegy on a Funeral for Flowers, and Forlorn – a Rhyming Song for Lovers, has launched this folk music genre to an humanistic and intellectual level. WANG founded Xinxin Nanguan Ensemble in 2003, with the objectives of reviving the tradition of elegant music presented with the purest of voice and attempting to transform and recontextualize nanguan music in the contemporary society. Since then, she has collaborated with artists of various disciplines, including choreographers LIN Hwai-Min, LO Man-Fei, and WU Su-Chun, conductor CHIEN Wen-Pin, and guqin virtuoso YOU Li-Yu. In 2010, she engaged in a new international collaboration with the French opera director, Lukas Hemleb, and created the nanguan opera, Feather. Xinxin Nanguan Ensemble has been in constant pursuit of improving its singing techniques while incorporating other art forms. The exquisite singing and virtuosity are coupled with the professionalism of the cream of Taiwan theatre to bring about the best in nanguan. It is the group’s wish that this would contribute to Taiwanese people’s rethinking of local culture and their interest in traditional art.