You might have already seen Wu Man with Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble. This master pipa player is returning to the Kimmel Center tonight, and she will be premiering two new works. Did you stay for the Artist Chat after the show? Do you agree that the pipa sounds like the Chinese banjo? How was tonight's show in your estimation?
I am a student of Tai Chi and felt very fortunate to have a front row seat at the Wu Man PIPA performance. The Pipa has a magical yet haunting sound that evokes a dreamlike state, at least for me. Though the Pipa sound fills most of the music I practice Tai Chi to I have never seen the ancient instrument played in person.
My wife Barb accompanied me and as I mentioned we sat a mere fifteen feet from a master. Wu Man's performance was of such high quality. Beyond her discipline and talent I could see the "qi" rise from her inner soul and extend through her limbs, hands, fingers and strings of the Pipa. The energy became music and left the stage and filled us all. What I found amazing was the reverse flow of energy as each piece ended, went back to the Pipa and into Wu Man.
Wu man's mastery of the Pipa was visually spellbinding to watch as she performed "Ambush Laid On Ten Sides". At one moment she would shoot a single note like a solitary archer and in the next launch a thousand notes from an Emperor's army. My wife especially enjoyed the percussionist Robert Schultz's enthusiastic accompaniment on what I (ignorantly) refer to as pots and pans--PRETTY AMAZING. Barb said his determination and joy reminded her of me doing Tai Chi. I ,on the other hand, prefer to compare myself to Wu Man's hands floating effortlessly upon the Pipa. Wu Man has GOOD KUNG FU!!
Charles Brynan
Being a Pipa musician I hear it a lot that the sound is like a Banjo. I like the Banjo but I do cringe when people say that.
Charles, were you the person that asked Wu Man how she prepares herself mentally before a performance? That was a good question and I thought her answer was a classic.