Chinese music - classical music from traditional China, traditional folkroot music, and contemporary music - and beyond ...
Liu Fang plays pipa (Chinese lute or guitar) and guzheng (Chinese zither or harp). She was born in Kunming (China) and started her music career at early age. Since moving to Canada in 1996, Liu Fang has given numerous solo concerts , including venues such as SettemberMusica MiTo (2007), the Theatre de la Ville in Paris (2006) and Philharmonic Hall of Liege (Belgium, 2006), BBC concerts in London (2004, 2007), Radio-Canada concerts in Canada as well as international music festivals such as Lewes Guitar Festival, the International Bath Festival and WOMAD in UK; the Chord Ennis International Music Festival (for classical guitar) in Ireland; Festival de Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, Festival des musiques du monde les suds à Arles and Festival Les Escales de Saint Nazaire in France, TFF Rudolstadt in Germany, and most of the major folk music festivals in Canada. Liu Fang has also performed with orchestras and string quartets , and collaborated with great musicians from various music traditions . Liu Fang's music playing has received ravish reviews from the media and the audience alike.
Liu Fang's repertory includes Chinese music of both classical and folk traditions , contemporary music for pipa and guzheng solo, compositions for pipa with string quartet, and pipa concertos with orchestra, as well as free style improvizations . Liu Fang also collaborates with master musicians from various cultural backgrounds and musicial traditions. She has received a number of grants from the Canada Council of the Arts and from Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec for various projects. In 2001, she received the prestigious Future Generations Millennium Prize. In the jury's words: " Liu Fang's mastery of the pipa and the guzheng has established her international reputation as a highly talented young interpreter of traditional Chinese music. She aspires to combine her knowledge and practice of eastern traditions with western classical music, contemporary music and improvisation, thereby creating new musical forms, uniting different cultures and discovering new audiences."
Liu Fang has released 9 albums . Her recent album in collaboration with musicians from African, Indian and Arabic music traditions has received the prestigious French Acedemie Charles Cros Award . For detailed information, please visit: liufangmusic.net or www.philmultic.com .
Pipa , one of the oldest Chinese traditional music instruments, is four stringed lute that belongs to the same family as guitar, oud, and many others. Guzheng is another traditional Chinese instrument with 19-26 strings (commonly 21 strings today) spanned over movable bridges. Guzheng is the parent of Japanese koto, Korean kayagum, Vietnamese dan tranh and Mongolian Yagta. They all belong to the zither family. Both pipa and guzheng have well documented history of over 2000 years.
Pipa and percussion duet
"The night of the Bonfire Fest" (Huobajie zhi ye), composed by Wu Junsheng for pipa solo, performed by Liu Fang, accompanied by Ziya Tabassian on framed drum. (Curtesy of CH Montreal, Chinese TV Channel, Mr. Zhou Fan). More Videos (in youtube)