YangYing-Chinese Jazz Lady

The Nine Gates Jazz Festival has been soothing¹ the ears of China's jazz fans since it started September 9. This week, China's own Yangying has returned to Beijing with her American band, Ping Pong Jazz Band, for a spot at the Sixth Nine Gates Jazz Festival.

 

Yangying is originally from China but has lived in America the last fifteen years. Her musical background is quite diversified² in that her education has encompassed³ diverse genres⁴ including Chinese traditional music, American Jazz, and Chinese rock. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]

If you think the first Chinese female rock band, the ancient Chinese two stringed erhu and American jazz don't have anything in common, then you haven't heard what those influences can create.

Andrea Hunt has more:

 
Chinese classics such as the two stringed erhu and Peking Opera don't usually conjure⁵ up the contemporary melodies of American jazz. But Yangying is not your typical Chinese musician. She was raised on Chinese instruments, and then took her passion for music to the United States where she wrapped her roots around a love for American jazz.

One Beijing day in the late 1980s started it all.

"I had a first chance to hear the live jazz and rock music at the American Embassy. When I heard that, I had so much in my heart. I was tired about something and I had felt that I had something in my heart that those repertoires⁷ couldn't really express my feelings. And afterwards, I heard this music that attracted me, I think traditional Chinese music combined with this rhythm. So, from that time, I have had my dream to combine those two fusions⁸."

But her traditional Chinese music career actually started long before then. Yangying grew up in a small town in Henan Province, but had anything but the typical childhood of a small town girl. She developed an erhu soloist⁹ career that led her around the world playing for famous presidents such as Nixon and Carter.

Every morning, her father woke her and her brother up at 5 am to go practice in the park so they wouldn't disturb the neighbors.

"My father is a strict teacher and the most important thing he taught me was, if you want to do something well, you have to put your whole heart there. So, he wouldn't really let me play with other girls at all, so all I was doing was going to school and coming back to practice my instrument. It's kind of a hard life but after growing up I really appreciated what my father did for the family and of course for me…"

She has played for the Central Song & Dance Ensemble¹⁰ of China and her abilities won her recognition in the book, "Famous Persons of China" in 1996. She also plays bass⁶ guitar and keyboard and founded "Cobra," China's first all girl rock band.

Critics laud¹¹ her knack¹² for beautifully weaving improvisation¹³ in her musical performance onstage.

"So, that's really why I wanted to come to America to study because I think Jazz is famous for improvisation and I wanted to learn what that was. But after I came to here to study for awhile, I realized that there are many similarities between traditional Chinese music and American jazz. If you have the skill and you have many things in your heart, improvisation is a natural expression."

Yangying's eclectic mesh¹⁴ of many worlds will be returning to China for the first time in eight years this September 16 and 17 with her, "Ping Pong Jazz Band."

She's looking forward to seeing how jazz in China has changed since she left. She hopes to show the younger generation of Chinese that merging¹⁵ cultures is possible through music.

"I use a traditional Chinese instrument to play jazz standard will probably make people think, Jazz is not something so far away. It's about music and music is the universal language so maybe more people will be interested in doing this."

Music may be a universal language but she says that her experience is what drives it. Her most defining quote is, "Life is input¹⁶, and music is output."

For CRI, I'm Andrea Hunt.

1 soothing   

adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的

参考例句：

• Put on some nice soothing music.播放一些柔和舒缓的音乐。
• His casual, relaxed manner was very soothing.他随意而放松的举动让人很快便平静下来。

2 diversified   

adj.多样化的，多种经营的v.使多样化，多样化( diversify的过去式和过去分词 )；进入新的商业领域

参考例句：

• The college biology department has diversified by adding new courses in biotechnology. 该学院生物系通过增加生物技术方面的新课程而变得多样化。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Take grain as the key link, develop a diversified economy and ensure an all-round development. 以粮为纲，多种经营，全面发展。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 encompassed   

v.围绕( encompass的过去式和过去分词 )；包围；包含；包括

参考例句：

• The enemy encompassed the city. 敌人包围了城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I have encompassed him with every protection. 我已经把他保护得严严实实。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

4 genres   

（文学、艺术等的）类型，体裁，风格( genre的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Novel and short story are different genres. 长篇小说和短篇小说是不同的类别。
• But confusions over the two genres have a long history. 但是类型的混淆，古已有之。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译

5 conjure   

v.恳求，祈求；变魔术，变戏法

参考例句：

• I conjure you not to betray me.我恳求你不要背弃我。
• I can't simply conjure up the money out of thin air.我是不能像变魔术似的把钱变来。

6 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

7 repertoires   

全部节目( repertoire的名词复数 )； 演奏曲目

参考例句：

• There were huge repertoires of pipa music in Chinese history, particularly during the Tang Dynasty. 这种情况在我国古代诗词中有大量的记载。

8 fusions   

熔合( fusion的名词复数 )； 核聚变； 联合； 合并

参考例句：

• Fusions were common between strains from deciduous hosts or coniferous hosts. 来自阔叶树或针叶树寄生的菌系间融合是普遍的。
• They were fusions which are evolutionarily programmed for. 它们是进化上已安排好的融合现象。

9 soloist   

n.独奏者，独唱者

参考例句：

• The soloist brought the house down with encore for his impressive voice.这位独唱家以他那感人的歌声博得全场喝彩。
• The soloist had never performed in London before.那位独唱者过去从未在伦敦演出过。

10 ensemble   

n.合奏(唱)组；全套服装；整体，总效果

参考例句：

• We should consider the buildings as an ensemble.我们应把那些建筑物视作一个整体。
• It is ensemble music for up to about ten players,with one player to a part.它是最多十人演奏的合奏音乐，每人担任一部分。

11 laud   

n.颂歌；v.赞美

参考例句：

• Kathy was very pleased to have graduated cum laud in her class.凯西在班上以优等成绩毕业，她为此而非常高兴。
• We laud him a warmhearted man.我们称赞他是个热心人。

12 knack   

n.诀窍，做事情的灵巧的，便利的方法

参考例句：

• He has a knack of teaching arithmetic.他教算术有诀窍。
• Making omelettes isn't difficult,but there's a knack to it.做煎蛋饼并不难，但有窍门。

13 improvisation   

n.即席演奏(或演唱)；即兴创作

参考例句：

• a free-form jazz improvisation 自由创作的爵士乐即兴演出
• Most of their music was spontaneous improvisation. 他们的大部分音乐作品都是即兴创作的。

14 mesh   

n.网孔，网丝，陷阱；vt.以网捕捉，啮合，匹配；vi.适合； [计算机]网络

参考例句：

• Their characters just don't mesh.他们的性格就是合不来。
• This is the net having half inch mesh.这是有半英寸网眼的网。

15 merging   

合并（分类）

参考例句：

• Many companies continued to grow by merging with or buying competing firms. 许多公司通过合并或收买竞争对手的公司而不断扩大。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• To sequence by repeated splitting and merging. 用反复分开和合并的方法进行的排序。

16 input   

n.输入(物)；投入；vt.把(数据等)输入计算机

参考例句：

• I will forever be grateful for his considerable input.我将永远感激他的大量投入。
• All this information had to be input onto the computer.所有这些信息都必须输入计算机。