Tan Dun, who has been interested in Huagu Opera since a young age, believed it was Zhangjiajie’s scenery and cultural attractions which inspired him to produce classics like Butterfly Lovers; the Romeo and Juliet of China.
Tan Dun expressed his desires a few times: “We hope to showcase the charm of Chinese culture to the world. In New Woodcutter Liu Hai, the classics are based on folk songs and landscapes of Zhangjiajie. But beyond that, we hope both the foreign and Chinese teams will be able to learn from each other and take away from it positive values”.
This is not the aspiration from a musician who merely composes music, but from a person who concerns himself greatly with the Chinese culture. Tan Dun’s identity as the cultural ambassador of Shanghai Expo definitely is not limited to the fact that he collaborated with distinguished American musician Quincy Jones, to compose the Expo’s theme song. It is more the fact that he holds a wide field view and has a deep understanding when it comes to exploring means and way of protecting intangible cultural heritages. For him, “protection” also means creativity, succession and exchange.
New Woodcutter Liu Hai is a perfect illustration of this ideal. The drama could be regarded as a creatively and extraordinarily done interpretation of the classical tradition. The play, adapted from the household Huagu Opera in Hunan province, was listed as national intangible cultural heritage in 2008.Its music blends with Sangzhi Folk Song (also an Intangible Cultural Heritage in China). Other folk cultures typical of Zhangjiajie have also been presented with a modern touch, such as the Maogusi Dance of the Tujia Ethnic Group and Daliuzi of the Tujia minority, an ancient and folk instrumental ensemble.
Tan Dun points out that creativity is one of the components in protecting intangible cultural heritages. “A good example is that celebrated artists such as Pierre Cardin, Giorgio Armani would visit museums before designing. They look at Chinese china, the jewels of the famous queens in the world. They then draw inspirations from those works before creating their own designs.”
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