For those who are interested to know more about composer Wang Luobin, read the Translators Note, which I wrote below. Translator’s note “The Silk Road is said to have been created by the treading of caravans. But if you’re a music lover, you’ll find it is paved with beautiful songs.” Wang Luobin (1913-96) The reputation of the songs and dances of China’s northwestern region goes back more than two thousand years. The Chronicles of the Han Dynasty (206 BC – AD 220), for instance, notes that as early as in the 2nd century BC, the song and dance of Yutian (now Hetian, southern Xinjiang) was already popular in China’s central plains and featured regularly in the Chinese imperial court’s entertainment. Major resurgence occurred in early 4th century AD when songs and dances of Quici (now Kuqa), Sule (now Kashgar or Kashi), Gaochang (now Turpan), and Yizhou (now Hami) again made their way significantly to the central plains. In the 7th century (early Tang Dynasty), the famous Buddhist pilgrim, Xuan Zhang, in his Records of Travels to the Western Region of the Great Tang Empire, notes that Quici “is superior to all the other states in music and dance”. Indeed, during the Tang Dynasty, the northwest region’s songs and dances - particularly those of Xinjiang – were so popular that they routinely made up almost half of the imperial court’s entertainment programme. The popularity has continued undiminished to the present day and the northwest still retains its nickname of the home of song and dance. Most musicologists attribute that largely to Wang Luobin, who did more than any composer in modern times to revive the region’s great musical tradition. Half-seriously, he once said his was a 500-year project, by which he means he expects his songs will continue to be sung long after he was gone as they indeed do. Wang Luobin started his quest of collecting and arranging northwestern folk songs around the end of 1930s while working as a volunteer in an anti-Japanese campaign in the northwest region. He was imprisoned twice – not by the Japanese - but separately by the Kuomintang and by the Communists, with a combined total of eighteen years. But the loss of freedom, with occasional releases for work paroles, did not deter him from working on his music. A fast and prolific worker, he wrote more than one thousand songs and six operas/musicals over his lifetime. Some of the songs are regarded as Chinese classics of the twentieth century and are commonly heard in concerts and even in karaoke bars, throughout Greater China and further afield. Several are in the repertoires of such world renowned singers as Paul Robeson, Placido Domingo, and Jose Carreras, especially when performing to Chinese audiences. Because of his extraordinary stature as a composer, I feel much humbled to be entrusted with the task of translating his biography, Wang Luobin, my father (published in 2003), written by his youngest son and heir, Mr Wang Haicheng. At his suggestion, I rename this translation Wang Luobin, his life and music, a title which has a distinct advantage of being focused and self-explanatory. Two minor points should perhaps be noted about the present translation. First, it is not strictly a literal rendering. Some passages have been rephrased and re-arranged to make the narrative easier to follow in English, especially for readers who are not be well versed in China’s culture and the political complexities of the time. Second, in translating the lyrics and poems, I aimed primarily at conveying the intended meaning, thus inevitably giving short shrift to beats and bars musically and being generally vers libre. Except for the mentioned caveats, the present translation departs little from its original text.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 15:01:30 +0000
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