The Japanese Canadian National Museum Koto Concert - Chikako Kanehisa, a benefit concert for the National Nikkei Museum & Heritage Centre Sunday, July 26, 2009, 3pm
Certain parts of Japanese culture export very well. Sushi and anime are so popular in the West that they have a life of their own that is separate from their Japanese origins. This is wonderful, but it may leave a somewhat distorted image of Japanese culture as a whole. Japan is much more than raw fish and giant robots!
Judging by the audience at the Koto Concert put on by the National Nikkei Museum and Heritage Centre, the koto, Japan’s national musical instrument, still has a long way to go before it penetrates Vancouver’s cultural consciousness — nearly all of the crowd was of Japanese origin, with the odd Japanese-by-marriage family member and a few curious seniors mixed in. If only everyone was so curious!
The concert, which featured professional koto player Chikako Kanehisa and shakuhachi master Mitsuhashi Kifu, was presented as part of the 80th anniversary of Japanese-Canadian relations that also brought the Emperor of Japan to Vancouver earlier this month. Those fortunate (or curious) enough to attend got to see a part of Japanese culture that is barely visible in the West.
Certainly, I had never heard of the koto before the concert, but the sound is familiar. Anyone with a passing interest in Asian cultures has probably heard a koto — or one of its relatives — without knowing what it was. It’s not an easy instrument to describe; it resembles a huge, six-foot long zither with thirteen movable bridges. The strings are plucked (or strummed, or thumped, or rubbed) with the right hand on one side of the bridge while the left hand is used to create pitch shifts or vibrato on the other side of the bridge.
Listening to it was a complex experience — it’s the kind of music that would be impossible to put in writing because there are so many intangible aspects that aren’t captured by quarter notes on a staff. It had a very organic feel, like listening to birdsong. Ironically, the song entitled “Like a bird” (鳥のように) was one of the least like this, it carried a more regular rhythm and more clearly defined pitches than some of the others.
Perhaps because of this, it was one of the more accessible, exciting songs to my Western ear, but I couldn’t help but feel that the beauty of the instrument was captured best in some of the other songs — the ones with slightly bent pitches and somewhat irregular rhythms. The (Japanese?) idea that beauty is inherent in small, slight imperfections is one that has always resonated with me, and the Koto struck me as an instrument where the skill in playing came from creating just the right pattern of imperfections.
The shakuhachi flute is an instrument that I am more familiar with, but it too impressed me with the range of sounds it could produce. Like the koto, many of the notes were bent in a way that seems more reminiscent of a saxophone or a trumpet than a flute. A number of times, Mitsuhashi impressed me by playing a continuous note that rose or fell almost a full scale — an impressive feat for an instrument with only a small, “fixed” set of notes.
I think I enjoyed the duets most of all. The instruments (and musicans) complimented each other well. On its own, the lonely, longing timbre of the shakuhachi threatened to overwhelm me with its sadness, but the sharp, epic, almost militaristic presence of the koto helped bring the sound back to earth and remind me that, whatever I was feeling inside, there was still a whole world out there to explore.
For most of the audience, the Koto Concert would have been a breath of familiar air (or, perhaps to the second-generation Canadians, a possible answer to the question “Where did I come from?”) For me, my personal interest was piqued because it was foreign. This is not a side of Japanese culture I had previously discovered, and I was happy to have to opportunity to explore it. Koto concerts in Vancouver do not come along every day (or even every year), so I was happy to discover a new side of Japanese music.
Falling in love is one of the most wonderful things in life. There's lots of "falling in love" in the Thoroughly Modern Millie production by Theatre Under the Stars. This makes it a wonderful choice to see with a date.
Diana Kaarina is wonderful as the title character Millie Dumount, who hops off a bus from Kansas and makes her way in New York City. Set in 1922, Millie decides to find a rich husband, by seducing her boss. Trouble is, first she has to get a job, and a place to live..
Millie settles in at the Hotel Priscilla, a place for young women. It's on the wrong side of 42nd St., and run by the very strange Mrs. Meers - who may be Chinese or not. Millie has a series of adventures that include getting a job as a stenographer, going to a speakeasy during prohibition, getting arrested, and going to a fabulous party in the penthouse suite of socialite Muzzy van Hossmere.
Everything about this musical is campy, and over the top. The music is a pastiche of well-known melodies from other productions. The plot contains misplaced identities, misunderstood intentions, star-crossed lovers, and a kidnapping. But the wonderful dancing and singing numbers make you forget that everything seems cliched. Indeed, Thoroughly Modern Millie is designed to pay homage to old musicals, with tongue-in-cheek fun.
Diana Kaarina brings a lot of experience to this production. She created the role of Miss Dorothy Brown (Millie's BFF) for the First National tour of Thoroughly Modern Millie (2003). Kaarina brings lots of Broadway experience, having been the closing Eponine in Les Miserables (2003) and also playing roles in Rent and The Phantom of the Opera.
Kaarina brings a touching humaness to the character of Millie. She isn't just the talk-talking gold digger who wants to marry her boss, but she also cares for her friends and is willing to make sacrifices.
All the lead roles are played well. Meaghan Anderssen plays the ditzy Miss Dorothy Brown with great comic aplomb, which she did so very well in last year's TUTS production of Annie Get Your Gun.
Danny Balkwill plays Jimmy Smith, the poor but dashing young son of a gardener. Audience members might recognize him as one of the competitors in Canadian Idol.
Seth Drabinsky plays Trevor Graydon, the boss that Millie wants to marry. Drabinsky excells in elocution, as he sings "The Speed Test" which is a Gilbert & Sullivan parody, complete with Busby Berkeley styled dancing. Wow!
I didn't expect to see Asian-Canadian actors or Asian characters in
Thoroughly Modern Millie. But it was there in subtle ways... and not
so subtle ways. The program points out that lead actor Diana Kaarina is Half -Finnish and Half-Chinese. Either way, she is still a beauty, similar to Smallville actor Kristin Kreuk who ancestry is Half-Dutch/Half-Chinese.
The subplot involves the character of Mrs. Meers who runs the Hotel Priscilla, and also employs two Chinese henchmen for a side business of kidnapping. Sarah Rodgers is over the top, as Mrs. Meers - so highly unbelievable character, that she can only exist in a musical. Aaron Lau and Daeyoung Danny Kim play the characters of Ching Ho and Bun Foo. They strive to make the characters realistic, speaking in only Chinese, and also performing some martial arts moves on stage.
While I found it refreshing to see Asian actors playing authentic Chinese characters speaking good Chinese, without being traditionally stereotyped. The stereotypes still persisted in other ways.
Racial stereotypes of Chinese in Thoroughly Modern Millie
I was shocked
that this musical contained lots of out-dated Chinese stereotypes including:
a Chinese laundry, kidnapping for white slavery, bad Chinese accents,
and a female actor in "white face" playing a white woman masquerading
as a Chinese woman. Much less culturally sensitive than Robert Downey
Jr playing a black man in Tropic Thunder
Part
of the sub-plot is that white girls are sold into white slavery and
shipped off to China, by the character of Mrs. Meers, a white woman dressed up as a Chinese woman -
who doesn't even have a proper Chinese accent - She keeps
mis-prounouncing her "L's" as "R's"
She keeps saying things like "Ssssso saaaad, to be arrrr arrrrone in dis worrrrld"
I realize that this is supposed to be a fun frothy romp, and every character is stereotyped to extreme measures...
Actual
Asian ethnic actors play the Asian roles and do NOT speak in bad
Chinese accents - but actually in good Cantonese. The play makes fun
of the stereotypes...
But I still felt uncomfortable watching
the perpetuation of racist stereotypes in this way. There are many
people in today's audience who don't realize the origins of such
stereotypes, nor the harm that was caused over decades of racism.
Check out what the Asian American theatre review had to say about the
two Chinese henchmen, singing "Mammy" in Chinese - originally sung by
Al Jolson, wearing a "black face" when he played a black man on stage. http://www.aatrevue.com/Old/Millie.html
The original movie was made in 1967 starring Julie Andrews and Mary
Tyler Moore. Japanese-American actor comics Jack Soo and Pat Morita
played the Chinese henchmen. The Broadway musical debuted in 2002, with
the roles of the Chinese henchmen expanded. They only speak in proper
Chinese. It's the white actress playing a white woman who disguises ... Read Moreherself
as a pastiche of Asian stereotypes and accents. The purpose was to
"cleverly" make fun of racial stereotypes. Almost every character is
stereotyped to extremes in this post-modern Broadway musical.
It's
arguable that the perpetuation of stereotypes in any form is still
de-humanizing and destructive OR have we come far enough that we should
be able to recognize such stereotypes for what they are, and be able to
laugh at the stupidity and ridiculousness of the people who perpetuate
them?
The best use of "Clever" parodying of racial stereotypes was in Marty
Chan's "Mom, Dad, I'm Living With A White Girl." The stereotypes take
place in the main character's dream about him mother and father
becoming a dragon lady and her loyal henchman. In this case, the
context is about racial and cultural stereotypes, and easily understood
by the ... Read Moreaudience.
But
in Millie, while the 2 Chinese characters are played very straight and
respectful, speaking in good cantonese, and humourously holding up
sheets of laundry for a clever display of "subtitles" - The fact
remains that they are still Chinese laundry workers, part of a "white
slavery" kidnapping operation.
Otherwise - the cast is GREAT! And
the lead who plays the title character Millie Dumont is Broadway
veteran, Vancouver born Diana Kaarina, half-Chinese and half-Finnish.
The C-Word cast
(Foreground, from left): Preet Cheema (Akesh Gill), Grace Chin (Kelly Cho), Sheryl Thompson (Ashley Hennessey).
(Background, from left): Fane Tse (Steve Chung), Raahul Singh (Pal Prasad). Photo by TerryWong, courtesy of The C-word.
The C-Word April 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 2009 written by Grace Chin
at thePlaywrights Theatre Centreon Granville Island, Vancouver
The C-Word is an engaging play... even before you sit down in the seats. What is the C-Word? Is it for Chinese? Or the derogatory Chink word? Does it mean Coloured? Is it a four letter word that belongs below the belt? One for male appendage, or for female anatomy?
Is the C-Word something more abstract, profound and perhaps "Complicated"?
Or is it "Compassion" or "Cheating"?
In the opening scene, "The Love Guru" is giving a seminar on how to get some action for his male clients. Pal Prasad (played by Raahul Singh), gives a short talk about goals, and what it takes to follow through. It's about intention and going after what you want. It could be any personal development seminar, but this is about the C-word.
Next we meet girlfriends Kelly Cho and Akesh Gill played by Grace Chin and Preet Cheema. They are on a shopping trip and talking about Kelly's upcoming wedding plans. Soon we learn that Kelly has a live-in boyfriend named Steve Chung (Fane Tse) who is a yellow guy, while Akesh is single, but she doesn't like brown guys.
Things become complicated when Steve goes to see his old friend Pal to ask for some advice, and compare his relationship and impending marriage with Kelly to Pal's long term "open relationship" to a blonde woman named Ashley (Sheryl Thompsson). What follows becomes an intercultural Vancouver-style dramedy of errors, innuendo, suppositions on the study of relationships.
Excuse me... the proper words are cheating, commitment, compassion, change, comic and consolation - after all this is "The C-Word."
"The C-Word" is the third play by Grace Chin. Twisting Fortunes was co-written with her TF Productions partner Charlie Cho, and was a delightful comedic romp, set to Vancouver's caffeine drive. "The Quickie", Chin's first solo playwright experience, explored multicultural speed dating. "The C-Word" goes to the next level, exploring a search for meaning in relationships. This is Chin's most frank and sexual play to date, and hints at the darker sides of relationships and human nature, not to mention weddings.
In all three productions, Vancouver's multicultural society is the setting, but it is the intercultural nature of the characters where the culture clashes occur. It's not just a Chinese-Canadian 2nd generation immigrant experience that is explored, but also South Asian this time around too. And somehow this is juxtoposed with what might be mainstream Canadian or possibly alternative sexual lifestyles.
From the beginning, the characters are all interesting and engaging. The topics are easily relateable to the audience... unless you don't have any friends of a different ethnicity, or have never dated. The pacing is good, and the diaglogue never flags.
The casting all works. Raahul Singh has fun being the egotistical "Love Guru" and his character makes reference to the Mike Myers movie. More cultural references abound as character development exploration occurs when Kelly and Ashley try to figure each other out, and what their men may see in each other. Here the extremely self-critical Kelly tries to get a handle on the brazen Ashely, she labels a "Samantha" compared to her "Miranda" - or is she really a Carrie Bradshaw? Grace Chin actually displays a bit of each of the Sex in the City characters in her role of Kelly.
Much of the action revolves around Kelly and Pal, but while Steve's character seems stalled and doesn't give Fane Tse a big range to play with, Preet Cheema gets to push her character Akesh in the 2nd Act. Supporting actors Lili Lau Cook and Vincent Cheng provide wonderfully surprising turns as Kelly's parents. Mel Tuck directs this ensemble cast.
BLOGGERS RULE at the Vancouver Opera... Live Blogging for Rigoletto!
Local Bloggers sat in the lobby during intermission, live blogging opening night at Rigoletto. (l-r) Monique Trottier "So Misguided", Rebecca Bollwit "Miss 604", Tanya "Netchick", Kimli "Delicious Juice" - photo Todd Wong
Opera is one of the most intercultural art forms. It forces its audience to listen to foreign languages, as it tells stories from different cultures. Okay, it also presents a lot of stereotypes and racial chariactures too! But today's productions will balance historic stereotypes with 21st Century sensitivity for cultural diversity.
Vancouver Opera has been one of the most innovative arts organizations to find new ways to market themselves, whether creating Manga comics for promotion, marketing to the Asian population base in Vancouver with the Voices of the Pacific Rim recital, or beginning live blogging with Carmen and now Rigoletto operas.
Opening Saturday Night at Vancouver Opera, there are lots of people dressed up in the finery. The lineups are deep and long for the cappucinos or wine. Over at the East side of the lobby, 6 bloggers sit madly typing into their laptop computers during intermission. It's Live Blogging Night at the Opera. It started with a few bloggers being invited to blog Carmen in January. And now a few more have been invited to blog Rigoletto.
Some of the audience members are curious. Some are demanding. Some are complaining about the sound in the balcony. One audience member insists that they are not having a true opera experience unless they are drinking wine. One of the bloggers writes that she is having sooo much fun people watching, she finds it hard to touch type at the same time.
I bring out my camera and ask the bloggers for a picture. Actually I yell out, "Bloggers... smile for the camera!"
They all look up and smile. I will post the picture laters...
I recognize Miss 604 Blogger, Rebbecca Bollwitt. She recognizes me and writes on her blog that "We were just visited by Karen Hamilton of TinyBites.ca who is here to enjoy the show as well as Gung Haggis Fat Choy.
Rebbecca Bollwit "Miss 604", Todd Wong "Gung Haggis Fat Choy", Tanya "Netchick" - photo A. Youngberg/T. Wong
Back on January 18th, she was live blogging the Canucks hockey game. I comment that she probably wishes she was at the Canucks vs San Jose game. She says "yeah."
It turns out that blogger
NetChick is a rower, now interested in dragon boat paddling. I tell her that my Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team has been featured on television documentaries for German and French public television, as well as the CBC. It would be pretty cool, if she joined our dragon boat team... we have lots of opportunities for blogging. Oops, I forgot to tell her we will have a parade entry in the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade.
At the opera, it's always interesting to see who is there in the audience. I spy an older couple, a male caucasian with an Asian woman. They are always at major arts events. I think he used to work at the CBC.
I chat with Doug Tuck, VOA Marketing and Selina Rajani, Communications/Media. I introduce them to my date for the evening, Alexandra Youngberg, my CUPE 391 Vancouver Library workers president. Alex loves this production of Rigoletto. She loves music and sings in a choir. Alex has even sung O Solo Mio, while I played my accordion.
The 2nd and 3rd Acts are wonderful ( I will write my formal review tomorrow). Some members of the audience give a standing ovation to
Eglise Gutierrez who plays Gilda, Rigoletto's daughter. We all stand up up for
Donnie Ray Albert who plays Rigoletto. It's quite the multicultural cast. Donnie Ray is African-American, born in Louisiana. Eglise is born in Cuba. Sam Chung, Chinese-Canadian born in Winnipeg, steps out of the Vancouver Opera chorus to play his first supporting role with Vancouver Opera in the role of Matteo Borsa. I congratulate Sam at the reception following.
During the reception, I also chat with Michael Mori, who is hapa Japanese-Canadian. Kinza Tyrell, chorus master tells me how exciting this production is, and asks me how I know Sam and Michael. "Well... through events at Joy Kogawa House, because we really supported, and raved about the Naomi's Road opera.
James Wright, VOA General Director congratulates the cast at the opening night reception - photo T. Wong
My old friend Walter Quan is here! We first met back in 1986, while we were volunteers for the Salt Water City exhibit celebrating 100 years of Vancouver Chinatown history. We recently had lunch in Victoria 2 weeks ago, when I had to return the life-size photos to the Royal BC Museum.
Opera Manager James Wright spots me, and waves at me. So does orchestra concertmaster Mark Ferris, who along with his wife Gloria, have been friends for years. Mark performed at the 2004 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner. Meanwhile, the bloggers are noshing at the food tables, taking pictures of the event, and chatting amongst themselves.
I spent a fine Friday evening last week watching Cock-Pit, a suitably
suggestive and ambiguous title for Wen Wei Wang's equally suggestive
dance piece. It featured a woman and four scantily clad men, one of
whom was pointed out to me as "Scottie-too-Hottie" (my female companion
agreed). The show was highly enjoyable, funny at times, and poignant at
others. It was also highly sexual - a fact attested by the palpable
female enjoyment in the audience. As a man, I certainly enjoyed
listening to that audience, but I also enjoyed the performance.
Now, when a man admits to enjoying watching dance, and especially when
that dance involves highly muscled men strutting around in little more
than tight-fitting boxer shorts, there's one very natural question that
arises: Is he gay? Perhaps it's not so much a question as an
assumption, but, as a straight male, I'm here to tell you that while
that assumption may often hold true, straight men don't know what
they're missing when it comes to dance.
I must admit to being a little apprehensive going into the show about
how I would handle the "eww" factor (as in "eww, naked men!"), but my
worries were unfounded. The show was engaging, enlightening, and I
didn't feel like my sexuality was compromised. Why? Because I felt
myself empathizing with the men on stage rather than objectifying them.
Cock-pit is (among other things) an exploration of gender and,
especially, being male. As gender exploration goes, it's pretty
straightforward: The men are manly, the woman is womanly, and there's
barely the slightest hint that there might be any other way of
arranging things. While this might be a less than complete sketch of
gender, it does speak to the fairly rigid gender roles that most people
fall into, and it made me look at men (and myself) in a new light.
Watching Cock-pit was like watching a hockey game or playing poker
while consuming cold pizza and beer. It reminded me what it means to be
a man, but, unlike hockey or poker, it also gave me a sense of how
ridiculous we look to the other 51% of the population. I'm sure the
women in the audience had a different perspective.
I've never thought of feathers as being particularly male, but when
they're six feet long and stuck down the front of your pants, they're a
fairly obvious symbol. Cock-pit used this symbol to good effect, and
much of the comedy in the show came from painting a portrait of man's
endless obsession with his penis. With the help of the feathers, the
men in the show sword fight and show off, bargain and compete, and,
most of all, fight with each other for the attention of the lone female
dancer in the cast.
This oasis of femininity provided a sharp point of contrast to the
testosterone-laced energy in the rest of the dancers. Her presence
helped remind the audience that maleness exists in opposition to the
female - and provided a welcome place to rest my male-weary eyes. With
my heightened awareness of my masculinity, I found my eyes drawn
strongly to her whenever she was on stage, and her dancing made me
equally aware of the difference between our two genders.
There is much more to Cock-pit than simple gender differences. Many
sections were suggestive of birds (cocks of course) or insects, and one
particularly memorable scene had the four men negotiating a sale of
some sort using creative body language and a distinctly
Mandarin-sounding gibberish. But, even these neutral scenes were cast
in the context of masculinity thanks to their relationship with the
rest of the choreography.
At
times Wen Wei's Chinese heritage showed through, and it was interesting
watching his five non-Chinese dancers absorb this and transform it in a
very Vancouver way. The most obvious example was the Mandarin
gibberish I've already mentioned, but the use of feathers throughout
the piece had a very Chinese theatricality to it. The feathers served
as swords, wings, antennae, and helped emphasize and exaggerate the
movement of whatever body part they happened to be attached to.
Cock-pit was a wonderfully creative and entertaining show, and, while
I've picked it apart for analysis here, its strengths lie in the talent
and energy of its dancers and choreographer, not the significance of
its theme. The dance is an exploration, not a theory, and it's worth
seeing for the feelings it evokes. For me, it evoked the thoughts about
maleness that you have just read, but my version is hardly the
definitive one. For that, you'll have to go see it for yourself...
Cock-pit played at the Scotiabank Dance Centre from February 24th to
28th. It featured David Raymond, Josh Martin, Scott Augustine, and
Edmond Kilpatrick, as well as lone female Alison Denham, and was
Choreographed by Wen Wei Wang.
Todd Wong and Joe McDonald went down to Seattle on February 15th, to take their manic Gung Haggis Rap south of the Canadian border for an exciting Seattle program of Chinese lion dances, Scottish bagpipes, Chinese dancers, Highland dancers, and the Asian Youth Orchesta.
It was 5pm at Ocean City Restaurant in Seattle's International District, the day after Valentine's Day. Where were you? Todd Wong, Joe McDonald and Deb Martin, were still driving to Seattle after a 2 hour delay at the US Border. They arrived about 6pm, as the Kenmore & District Pipe Band has just followed David Leong's Bellwon Martial Arts Lion dancers. more»
What is typical Vancouver music for the Cultural Olympiad? I think it is the cultural fusion music of Andre Thibault and Qiu Xia He''s Silk Road Music!
For Chinese New Year, Qiu Xia He and Andre Thibault organized a truly multicultural show, featuring many ethnic performers and musical styles in Vancouver. But more importantly was the intercultural representation. Caucasian Willy Miles is singing in Mandarin Chinese. Non-African ethnic dancers are performing traditional African dance with Jackie Essombe. The stilt walkers are every ethnicity including mixes. And of course the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team features Scottish and Chinese ancestry + everything in-between and everything beyond - photo Deb Martin
Still Moon Arts Stilt walkers meet the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon dancers. The stilt walkers are children and young teens led by Carman Rosen, who has also performed celtic music at the 2005 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner. - photo Deb Martin.
Kathy Gibler, executive director of Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens, Ellen Woodsworth - Vancouver City Councilor, prepare to help make opening speeches with Dr. Jan Walls - MC for the show and performer of Chinese clapper tales - photo Deb Martin
Bonnie Soon leads Uzume Taiko through some very exciting rhythmic drumming perfomances. Uzume Taiko often performs with bagpipers. Bonnie and I talked, and I hope we can feature them at a future Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner one year - photo Todd Wong
Chinese Lion stilt dancers! In one of the crazy moments of beautiful serendipity, I offered my Lion Dance costume to the Sill Moon Arts stilt walkers, for a photo prop... and the next thing we knew, another stilt walker offered to be the tail, and presto! The very first Chinese Lion stilt walkers!!! The kids had so much fun, it is always a joy to see them. - photo Todd Wong
Jessica Jone is a classically trained dancers - she has studied Chinese classical and Chinese folk dancing as well as Western classical and contemporary dancing. She always smiles and has incredible presentation. - photo Todd Wong
Dancers from the Jessica Jone dance school come on stage for a wonderful fan dance. I love the colour and movement. - photo Todd Wong
Jacky Essombe and The Makalas perform traditional African Dance. The weather was so cold you could see Jacky's hot breath steam into the cold air. But they brought so much high energy, you just felt warmer while seeing them work so hard - photo Todd Wong
Here's a group shot with almost everybody on stage. The dancers posed for pictures, and so we brought the dragon to stand behind them. Soon everybody was in the picture!
Here we pose with Qiu Xia He, organizer of this great event. Left to right: Todd Wong, Devon Cooke, Qiu Xia, Dave Samis, hidden are Brooke and Deb - photo Marion
Here's our dedicated group of Dragon Boat paddler dragon dancers! Todd Wong, Deb Martin, Brooke Samis, Dave Samis and Devon Cooke. - photo Marion.
Monday night was the 6th Annual World Poetry Gung Haggis Fat Choy Gala. This event was first created when I noticed there were no readings of Robbie Burns at the library... I contacted Ariadne Sawyer of the World Poetry Reading series to collaborate for this now popular program.
Just before our 7:30 start time, I chatted with the audience, explaining the origins of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, and sharing some of the events that happened the night before at the big Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, and at our small ceremony at the Robert Burns statue in Stanley Park - to celebrate the 250th Birthday of Robbie Burns.
We bring together the elements of Gung Haggis Fat Choy within a world context. We feature poetry of Robbie Burns, China, as well as contemporary Scottish-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian poets. And sometimes we add in music and dance and of course... singalongs.
This year's program was a lot of fun. It was hosted by Ariadne Sawyer, Diego Bastianutti and myself.
We featured poet James Mullin and myself reading poetry by Robbie Burns. I also brought my accordion to play some tunes too.
Rita Wong, the 2008 BC Book Prize Poetry winner, read from her books
Monkey Puzzle and Forage. With the World Poetry theme, Rita even read
a poem by Pablo Neruda, which Diego read in Spanish afterwards.
Tommy Tao, explained how he ended up doing poetry translations of 9th
and 15th Century poetry, and how he has come to love it. He read a few
poems about food and celebrations.I talked about some of the similarities about Chinese New Year and Scottish Hogmanay.
I readthe Burns poem "A Man's A Man For A' That", then later performed "Address to A Haggis."
James Mullin led a group of four volunteers to dance my parade dragon around the room while I played "Scotland the Brave" on my accordion.
There were a number of Korean ESL students in the audience, and they really had a lot of fun.
My earlier attempt at playing and singing "My Luv is Like a Red Red Rose" was easily redeemed by my playing of Scotland the Brave, and leading the audience in a group singalong of "Auld Lang Syne"
Evrerybody really got into the spirit of the evening. This photo features poets James Mullin, Tommy Tao along with a Korean language student and Peter Clark originally from the U.K.
Damon Calderwood is FANTASTIC in his peformance of "Billy Bishop Goes to War": at the Deep Cove Shaw Theatre. "Gordon Roberts and I have had a wonderful time doing it, and some sellouts already, but it must come to an end on Sat Nov 22" more»
Readings from the book "Eating Stories: A Chinese Canadian & Aboriginal Potluck" were featured at the at the Chinese
Benevolent Association on Sunday. The book was published by the Chinese Canadian Historical Society last year and quickly sold out its first printing. I was part of the writing workshops that helped to create this anthology of stories about food, culture and history.
Scheduled to read were moderator George Jung, Dan Seto, Larry Wong and Bob Sung. Also scheduled was Shirley Chan, but she asked me to fill in for her late Saturday.... so I was a surprise reader.
The reading started off with a welcome and an historical explanation of the Chinatown heritage buildings such as the Chinese Benevolent Association, and how the many clan associations served to help the pioneer Chinese in Vancouver and Canada.
Dan Seto was the first reader. He read his short story "Fong Luen Tong New Year Banquet" about the society set up for people with the names "Seto" or "Sit."
Bob Sung read second. He read the story "A Lesson in Communication" about trying to impress a White Girl on a date in a Chinese restaurant, and how he kept mispronouncing the Chinese words so much that the waiter was laughing at him.
Larry Wong read third. He read the story "Evening With Pop (1949)" about how his father would always bring food home late at night to share with him and his sister.
I read fourth. I explained that my contributions were a blend of pictures and their descriptions. The first picture I showed was me with my grandmother and girlfriend at Mother's Day 2007.
The second picture was me when I was 16 years old, holding two freshly caught salmon. I explained how my mother's favorite way to cook fish was steamed with hot oil.
The third picture was the first picture ever taken of me wearing a kilt, back in 1993. I was a tour guide at Simon Fraser University, and volunteers were needed to help with the university's traditional Robbie Burns ceremony. This was when I first coined the phrase "Gung Haggis Fat Choy."
The final picture was taken at the 2005 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner with me holding a large haggis on a plate, while then Mayor Larry Campbell stabbed it with a knife. I explained the origins of the dinner, and how it grew into a famous mix of cultural fusion of Chinese and Scottish food and culture.
George Jung was the final reader. George read his story "Applesauce" which described how 102 year old Mrs. Der had climbed two steep flights of stairs to demand "Where is the money, the frefund for the head tax that my husband paid?" He describes how Mrs. Der met Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and how the redress ex-gratia payment arrived too late after she dies.
I counted 18
current and past Gung Haggis paddlers + Hillary's mom - in the audience
- enough for a dragon boat team in competition! and 1/3 of the audience
.. Former paddler Elwin Xie had earlier in the day conducted his
Chinese Laundry Boy tour of Chinatown for the Heart of the City
Festival.
I acknowledged Savanah Walling in the audience - she is the
co-founder of the Heart of the City Festival. I met her in April when
we both received the BC Community Achievement Award.
Sunday Night, CCHS writer Shirley Chan gave a reading of some of her
writings from the Eating Stories book, following the presentation of
the documentary Mary Lee Chan Takes on City Hall. The film is about
how Shirley's mother helped to stop the demolition of Strathcona
neighborhood for freeway development. Shirley's daughter Emma paddled
on the Gung Haggis dragon boat team last summer.
Chinese and African dancing accompanied Silk Road Music's always entertaining world music concert at the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Garden's final Enchanted Evenings concert series.
Qiu Xia He and Andre Thibault of Silk Road Music Ensemble with their
friends African dancer Jacky Essombe and percussionist Pepe Danza - photo Michael Brophy
It was a great concert to close out the Enchanted Evening series, Friday Sep 4th, at the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens, by Silk Road Music, made more exciting by the presence of Cameroon dancer Jacky Essombe and the Chinese creative dance team of Jessica Jone and Cheng xin Wei, also known as Moving Dragon Dance Company.
Picture from Program.
The program opened with a traditional reel - not out of place in french-canadian or celtic circles. Qiu Xia demonstrated esquisite picking skills on her pipa (Chinese lute), as Andre Thibault strummed furiously, and Pepe Danza played his drums. Andre shared that they have played all over the world with Pepe, and they also perform together in the group Jou Tou where Andre is band leader (Qiu Xia leads Silk Road Music).
Qiu Xia invited dancers Cheng Xin and Jessica Jone out to join them, explaining that they would perform traditional Xingjian music from China, not often performed in Vancouver or Canada. Next she invited African dancer Jacky Essombe, sharing that Jacky had been part of the Cultural Olympiad show that Qiu Xia had organized for Chinese New Year's earlier this year.
Clouds was a celtic inspired instrumental compsed and performed by Qiu Xia on her pipa, while Jessica performed a Chinese fan dance. It was an unlikely but beautifully harmonious fusion of cultures, dance and song. Hmmm.... definitely something to consider for the next Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner.
Andre and Pepe followed with a rollicking flamenco song, which Qiu Xia joined in on. Andre loves playing flamenco, and it is amazing how Qiu Xia picks the melody on her pipa with her vituostic skill.
Jessica spoke to the audience about Moving Dragon's upcoming show at the Scotiabank Dance Centre for Sep 12/13, titled LuminUS.
Full of surprises, the rest of the program blended more chinese and african dancing with the Silk Road Music repetoire. For the final song, Jacky invited audience members to the centre stage area to join her in African dancing. She encouraged people to yell and make noise, as the room filled up with vibrant energy. Canadian Africanized dancers young and old joined in the dancing.
Todd Wong aka "Toddish McWong" is now an "artifact" in the Royal BC Museum display for "The Party."
How did this happen?
- photo Todd Wong
Every year, the Royal BC Museum has an interactive display that
visiting tourists can have their picture taken with. Last year it was
for their Titanic display. This is a great place for tourists. It
sits kitty corner to Victoria's Inner Harbour, and is on south side of
The Empress Hotel, and the East side of the BC Legislature buildings.
This year, you can stand next to some of BC's most interesting people. All of these figures are featured in the exhibit "The Party."
In this picture above are some of my cultural heroes including Rick
Hansen, Chief Dan George, Emily Carr and my friend Joy Kogawa. My
girlfrend Deb Martin is standing right behind Joy (in red). We first
learned about "The Party" exhibit last summer, when Joy needed a full
length picture of her to give to the Royal BC Museum. We took this
picture for Joy, and were glad she was happy.
It's part of the "Free Spirit"
exhibition to celebrate the 150th birthday of British Columbia, founded
as a colony in 1858, and joined Canada in 1871 for the promise of a
coast to coast railway.
Deb and I first visited the exhibit on April 23rd, earlier this year.
It was with great excitement that we went to the Royal BC Museum, and
up the escalator, searching for the picture of our friend Joy Kogawa.
We visited with writer friend Gary Geddes and David Kogawa, Joy's good
friend and ex-husband. Read our account of our visit here:
Todd's adventure in Victoria: Traveling to "The Party" at BC Royal
Museum http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/_archives/2008/4/25/3659001.html
But this time we had a different reason to visit. This time, there was
a life-size picture of me, Todd Wong aka "Toddish McWong."
At the exhibit, they had also asked visitors for nominations to fill
the remaining spots. I was voted in to "The Party" along with Trevor Linden, Dal Richards, Red Robinson, Ida Chong and Jennie
Butchart.
We walked over to the Royal BC Museum, enjoying the lovely sea breeze and the sunshine. The Empress Hotel, now known as the "Fairmont Empress" was designed 100 years ago by BC architect Frances Rattenbury, who also designed the BC Legislature buildings.
Todd stands in front of a modest Kim Campbell - the first female
Canadian Prime Minister and slightly behind Chee-ah-thluc, Chief of the
Songhess people from the 1840's to 1864, aka "King Freezy" (because of
his frizzled hair). - photo Deb Martin
There are video stations containing silouettes of each figure in the
display. You click on one of the figures, and a short biography pops
up on screen. This is the display for Todd Wong:
- photo Deb Martin
This is the video display of the "Todd Wong bio." The original photograph was taken by my friend Richard Montagna. Richard specializes in fine art, commercial, portrait, action, and landscape photography.
It reads:
Voted in by the visiting public, this person is seen as an important figure in BC history!
Todd Wong (1980- ) Passionate
about intercultural adventures, "Toddish McWong" founded Gung Haggis
Fat Choy, a Robert Burns / Chinese New Year event that has been
celebrating with an annual dinner since 1997.
Corrections: No - Todd wasn't born in
1980. That would have made him only 13 years old when he first invited
the phrase "Gung Haggis Fat Choy" while wearing his first kilt for a
Robbie Burns celebration at Simon Fraser University. Sometimes museums
make typo mistakes too.
My girlfriend's favorite character in the display (besides me) is the Vancouver Island Marmot - photo Deb Martin
Harry Aoki is a musical legend. He has a strong vision about music, and how it crosses boundaries and builds bridges to help enrich both culture and society, as well as personal lives.
Harry
Aoki stands beside his musical friend Themba Tana and holds his special
gift from the evening, a yellow cedar paddle carved by Chief Cedric
Billy, mast carver of the Squamish Nation. Harry has a long time
respect for First Nations heritage. - photo Todd Wong
Last Sunday's Harry Aoki Tribute concert July 20th, at the Firehall Arts Centre
not only highlighted Harry's musical legacy through a wonderful
multicultural music event, but it also established the Aoki Legacy Fund
for St. John's College, UBC. Here's the program write-up for The Aoki Legacy Fund:
Harry Aoki, musician/composer/ethnomusicologist, ahs devoted most of his life to the presentation of world music and intercultural dialogue to promote harmonious diversity in society. Ted Aoki, universtity teacher/scholar/philosopher, has devoted his career to progressive education for intercultural understanding. The Aoki Legacy Fund is to be used in support of the Aoki vision, through sponsoring or co-sponsoring events that use muisic, dialogue and other cultural productions, for the explicit purpose of celebrating and promoting intercultural understanding.
The musical program featured many musicians and friends, with some such as mezzo-soprano Liya Ahmad flying in from Edmonton, and pipa player Xiao Yu flying in from Florida to perform. Long time Aoki supporter Cath Bray flew in from Nova Scotia. There was also a very special surprise appearance from Harry's brother Ted Aoki, who arrived from Edmonton.
Harry Aoki was featured at this year's Vancouver International Jazz Festival, participating in the JazzStreet presentations at the Vancouver Public Library on June 10th. Another highlight for Harry this year was performing "Star Dust" on his harmonica with the Dal Richards big band at the Britannia High School Reunion in May 2008.
Harry Aoki performed at the first public open house event at Historic Joy Kogawa House in September 2006. Harry had been a big supporter of the "Save Kogawa House campaign," . - photo Deb Martin
I have known Harry since 2002, and he gladly performed at some of our awareness-raising or fund-raising events for Joy Kogawa House, as well as attended our literary events. It was a real honour to participate in the Harry Aoki Tribute concert with so many wonderful musicians such as CBC radio journalist Margaret Gallagher, oboeist Janine Oye, drummers Thema Tana and Albert St. Albert, pianist Alison Nishihara, cellis Kira Van Deusen, and shakuhachi player Al Ramos.
Harry has been producing an event held at the National Nikkei Museum and Heritage Centre, called First Friday Forum. He brings together musicians and stories and songs from ethnically diverse cultures, and demonstrates the links between them.
The first half of the tribute concert started off with emulating the format of these forums, by inviting all the performers on stage to perform a musical soundscape. Themba Tana and Albert St. Albert played percussion to start a musical journey around the world, that represented music and stories from the world's 5 major continents. Margaret Gallagher followed by singing the celtic song "Danny Boy", followed by an Indonesian song titled "Putri Gunung" accompanied by Sutrisno Hartano who played an Indonesian gamelan instrument.
"Moo Li Hua" is a traditional chinese song known as "Jasmine Flower", was played by clarinetist Janine Oye and accordionist Todd Wong. I had a lot of fun practicing this traditional song with Janine, as we played it first by alternating 8 bars of music, then by playing a musical game of tag, as Janine followed my playing, two bars behind me to create "a round."
Highlights of the event included: A reading of "My Enemy" by Duncan Shields in English, and Chigusa Sherry Barnes in Japanese, while Janine Oye and FFF Friends accompanied them performing a Harry Aoki composition "Yoko's Theme."
"Bachianas Brasilieras" sung by mezzo-soprano Aliya Ahmad with Kira Van Deusen on cello and Alison Nishihara on piano.
"Harry loves Romanian and gypsy music," I told the audience. I once asked him if he could attend a concert with me, and he told me "No... I have to go on a cruise, with Gypsy musicians." For Harry I played the traditional song "Dark Eyes."
Co-MC Jan Walls recited the words to the Hoagy Carmichael song "Star Dust," as Harry went to pick up his harmonica and returned to centre stage. Ken Keneda accompanied Harry on piano, as Harry performed a very touching harmonica solo of "Star Dust" - one of Harry's favorite songs. You can hear a You Tube performance of Harry playing "Star Dust" at the 2007 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, accompanied by Jaye Krebs on piano. http://video.aol.com/video-detail/gung-haggis-fat-choy-207-harry-aoki-stardust/2045846013
It is hard not to have met Harry, and been touched both musically and personally by him. I think of Harry as a courageous man, who at age 21 left Vancouver in 1942 on his own, to avoid being forcibly sent to the Japanese-Canadian internment camps during WW2. He couldn't take his violin with him, but he took his harmonica. Harry knows that he can reach people through music, and his life has become a tribute to end racism through musicians playing together, and people learning about intercultural cross-boundary similarities of the world's musical cultures.
Janine Oye, Harry Aoki, Chigusa Sherry Barnes, Bev Nann and Todd Wong, share a moment with Harry after the concert as all the performers and the event organizers went for dinner at the Congee Noodle House.
July 17-27, 2008 Richmond cultural Centre, Richmond
August 13-21, 2008 Roundhouse Performance Centre, Vancouver
I swear I could hear the voices and body actions of the famous and acclaimed actors Tony Randall or Jack Lemmon as Felix, or Jack Klugman or Walter Matthau as Oscar in the well-loved play or tv show. But holy cow, they are in Asian bodies on stage!
"The script and the writing is very strong," says director Raugi Yu, when I asked him if he or the actors had studied the movie or videos of the play or TV show. "The actors are wonderful in it.... at one point I asked them if they wanted to go with accents, and they really got into it. It just flowed."
Five Asian men and one Caucasian man speak in New York accents, playing a Neil Simon play for a Vancouver audience. Felix is played as a new immigrant to North America and represents more traditional Asian traditions vs Oscar the multi-generational North American born Asian who is more North American and consequently the slob.
It's a bold vision put forward by producer Joyce Lam, who actually
called Neil Simon's lawyers to ask if they could translate the classic
play into Chinese language for sur-titles and change some of the words
to fit the transposed Asian immigrant theme.
"They didn't care that we were translating it, but they wouldn't let us
change the words." said Lam who is very proud of this production.
They boys meet regularly for their poker game, and it is in this setting that the drama unfolds. Heck, it could be almost be mah jong... but then they would have too many for a foursome. As each character walks on stage, a different type of Asian music announces their arrival. Traditional Chinese for Felix, Japanese pop for Oscar. Bad Asian karaoke for another character. Rock 'n' Roll for the White guy. It's a different twist, but it helps to add character layers and remind the audience that a very different "Odd Couple" is being presented.
The acting is solid by Ron Yamauchi as Oscar, and Jimmy Yi as Felix. These actors have the skills to perform the characters, but Asian actors never get to play such roles because traditionally they are not cast for traditionally "white" characters. But if you live in North America, most of the roles become supporting characters or stereotyped cliches of Asians. Bravo to Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre for purposely taking a classica Broadway play and re-visioning it for a potentially large pan-Asian audience in Metro-Vancouver.
Carmine Bernhardt and Lissa Neptuno play the sexy English neighbors upstairs, named Gwendolyn and Cecily Pigeon. These two characters help create tension between Oscar and Felix and highlight the different attitudes not only between traditional and multi-generational values towards dating, but also between marriage and divorce. Bernhardt and Neptuno bring a vital energy to their performances with their flirtations and silly giggles. They act coy and suggestively in a way that no man could resist. You almost wish you could be on stage with them, with the attention they pay to Oscar and Felix.
Bravo to Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre for pushing the racial boundaries of Vancouver theatre once again. With limited resources, VACT is saying "Why can't we do this?" and turning colour blind casting and perceptions on it's head.
I look forward to VACT's future presentation of Rogers & Hammerstein's musical set in San Francisco's Chinatown, "Flower Drum Song", which broke down racial stereotypes about Asians while reinforcing others.
Check out the latest trailer for The Odd Couple on YouTube, filmed during rehearsals for the upcoming Richmond production.
Todd Wong brought his accordion repertoire from the CUPE 391 Library Square strike line to the COPE summer bbq at the Vancouver Rowing Club
It was a sold out Thursday night for the COPE annual summer BBQ at the Vancouver Rowing Club in Stanley Park, on July 17.
Who showed up? Why there was COPE city councilor David Cadman, MLA
Adrian Dix, MLA David Chudnovsky, Vision city councilors Heather Deal, George Chow, Tim
Stevenson, COPE parks commissioner Loretta Woodcock, COPE school board trustee Allan Wong, and Vision
mayoralty candidate Gregor Robertson. There were also lots of candidates such as recently declared Council candidates Andrea Reimer, Kerry Jang, Meena Wong and Parks Board candidates Stuart Mackinnon, and Aaron Jasper + parliamentary candidate Don Davies.
Here is a group of wannabe politicians for the Vancouver civic election: 1. Gregor Roberson -
Vision Mayoral candidate
2. Sarah
Blythe - Park Board candidate
3.
Aaron Jasper - Park Board Candidate, 4. Meena Wong - COPE City Council candidate, 5. David Eby City Council candidate - photo Patrick Tam
Labour Unions were also represented. Attending were David Walker the new BCGEU president, Bill Saunders president of the Vancouver District Labour Council, and CUPE 391 Vancouver Library workers.
The CUPE 391 table featured vice-presidents Laura Safarian, Inder Pannu and Library shipper/film maker David Philip. Fellow CUPE 391 library workers not in the photo are Mark Whittam, Margaret, and yours truly Todd Wong - photo Patrick Tam
CUPE 391's presence was very special because not only did the Vancouver Library Workers sponsor a table, they also represented a good portion of the featured entertainment with Todd Wong (of Gung Haggis Fat Choy fame) also newly elected to the CUPE 391 executive as member-at-large.
MLA Adrian Dix speaks to the sold out event, as keynote speaker. He addresses the inequalities in the city. He also shared a secret with the NDP friendly crowd - but I can't reproduce it here, because he didn't want to share it with the media... not just yet.
Carlo Bodrogi did a fine job MCing the
event. I discovered that he is half-Phillipino and the other half is Jewish and Hungarian...
very Gung Haggis, as I explained to him the term "Hapa" which is a
Hawaiian term that means "half Asian"
Todd Wong reprised selections from his "Library Square strike-line repertoire" as David Philip shared his films made during last year's CUPE 391 Vancouver Library Workers strike. Todd shared stories about what it was like on the strike line, as CUPE 391 made media headlines and waves in the labour movement because of their creative and innovative strike line activities, which included "flying bicycle pickets," knitting groups, musicians, video films, and a writer's reading series - organized by Wong.
"The accordion and music made it easier to interact with the public," said Wong telling tales of the songs he would play as pedestrians made their way to the ballet, the hockey game, or attended "Word on the Street" literary and book fair.
Philip's videos demonstrated not only the creativity of CUPE 391 picketers, but also the resolve to deal with the stress and challenges of a 3 month strike. They are filled with anger, compassion, humor and the strength of human spirit.
Rachel Marcuse was event organizer, and she said "People told me it was the best entertainment we've had yet at our events," as Wong was able to blend together the art forms of music and video with the politics and pathos of the strike line.
Wayson Choy came back to Vancouver to read from his upcoming book, "Not Yet a memoir of living and almost dying," Wayson is famous for his first novel "Jade Peony" and its' subsequent prequel "All That Matters"which was nominated for a Giller Prize..... On Tuesday night, Wayson talked about his second heart attack, and his conversations with ghosts. more»
Soprano Heather Pawsey and pianist Rachel Iwassa pose with Todd Wong after a successful "Dead Serious" concert - photo Tim Pawsey
Ever attended a concert at a funeral home? Or how about the Vancouver Crematorium?
In the latest venue for the New Music in New Places, opera soprano Heather Pawsey brought the theme of death and dying out into the open. No bagpipes playing Amazing Grace. But pianist Rachel Iwasaa accompanied Pawsey, as did flautist Kathryn Cernauskas.
It was a very interesting evening, full of surprises. Guests first met at the Hamilton-Harron Funeral Home at Fraser St. and 38th Ave. We then walked up Fraser St. across from the Mountain View cemetary, to 41st Ave. It was a chilly evening, as we crossed Fraser, and made our way to the Vancouver Memorial Services and Crematorium.
Atmosphere was created in the service rooms. The accoustics were good, and it seemed like any concert setting in a Church. Ushers were dressed in robes. One even wore gloves with skeleton designs. Hand shakers created a bone-rattling sound, as the musicians entered the stage area. Pawsey sang two new songs by composer Leslie Uyeda, based on poetry by Joy Kogawa: Zen Graveyard; and Stations of Angels. Cernauskas accompanied on bass flute for this world premiere.
After these two songs, we exited through a different door, and walked downstairs past memorial places for urns. Seeing the flowers and pictures honouring deceased loved ones gave the evening a thoughtful dynamic. We filed out the back door and up some stairs, coming beside still more memorial plaques along the walls of the building. Next we walked south through the cemetary, then East towards Fraser St.
Back at the Hamilton-Harron Funeral Home, we viewed some of the artist displays by S.D. Holman. There was a unique altar display featuring tiny sugar sculptures in the shapes of human skulls, apparently a tradition for Mexican Day of the Dead celebrations.
In the service room, draperies hung down the aisle along with artworks suspended from the rafters. It all spoke to images of death and transition. The piano was draped over with a white cloth.
Rachel Iwaasa entered the room, and started playing piano. A disembodied voice was heard. Where was it coming from? From the piano.
After the song, Heather Pawsey revealed herself, by lifting off the white drapery off herself and the piano.
The evening followed with a variety of songs, some solemn, some joyous, and some like Rodney Sharman's "Crossing Over"- obviously campy. Composer Chris Sivak set the Phyllis Webb poem "Treblinka Gas Chamber" to music for another world premiere. My favorite musical piece was the Kurt Weill song, "Complainte de la Seine", sung in French as was "Mon Cadavre est doux comme un gant" by Francis Poulenc, with words by Louise de Vilmorin.
The final highlight was another world premiere, The Gashlycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey, set to music by Robert Ursan. It is a musical version of the macabre ABC book by Gorey, in which goes through an alphabet of children's names, who each strangely die untimely deaths.
Truely, an interesting evening.
Below is an e-mail from Heathere Pawsey, performer and producer of the Dead Serious event
Hey Todd,
Thanks for the great write-up. You really captured all the elements of what we were trying to achieve with the concert (profundity, fun, reflection, remembrance). I'm so glad you enjoyed it.
I think that's the first time I've been able to present THREE world premieres in a single concert. As you know, I'm very passionate about promoting the creative work of Canada's fantastic composers. You know Leslie, I believe. She is one of the most profound and brilliant composers in this country - period.
Chris Sivak is a 4th year student at UBC; I met him when he was attending Cap College and writing music for some of my singing students. He wrote "Treblinka Gas Chamber" as a gift for me; I didn't know he had done it until I found the score in my mailbox at the college.
Rob is an old friend since Grade 9. We toured the prairies together singing with Prairie Opera, and one year we premiered his children's opera The Snow Queen and toured it (it was also broadcast by CBC Radio). I was very honoured to be able to sing the music of three composers I know and respect so highly.
Mined Over Matter coming up on March 16 at the BC Museum of Mining! I'll let you know more details. Off to the first workshop of Veda Hille's new children's opera Jack Pine for Vancouver Opera (and rehearsing Fidelio in the evenings). Life is never DULL!
2010 prices SINGLE TICKET
$60 + $5 service charge = $65
Student price is $50 + $4.50 = $54.50 (must show student high school or university ID)
Children's price is $40 + $4.00 = $44 (ages 13 and under).
Reservations for tables of 10
$600 + lower service charge
WHAT: GUNG HAGGIS FAT CHOY: Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner - 12th Annversary Dinner, celebrating 251st Anniversary of Robert Burns' birth + incoming Chinese New Year of the Tiger.
WHEN:
6PM January 31 2010, SUNDAY
doors open 5pm, Dinner 6pm
Media Inquiries
Call Gung Haggis Productions / Todd Wong
direct: 778-846-7090
email: gunghaggis at yahoo dot ca
CULTURE:
Our Performers
create something special for us every year with traditional and contemporary performances featuring everything in-between and beyond!
FOOD: A quirky fusion/mix/buffet of
Scottish Canadian and Chinese Canadian culture 10 course Chinese banguet dinner
2004 - The debut of Gung Haggis Won-Ton
2005 - Haggis lettuce wrap!
2007 - Haggis dim sum appetizer buffet
2008 - Scotch tastings! + debut of Gung Haggis parade dragon!
2009 - debut of Gung Haggis Fat Choy Pipes & Drums band + auction of 37 year old special edition Famous Grouse whisky + scotch tastings of Famous Grouse, The Macallan and Highland Park.
Watch for more surprises in 2010!
Description of 2009 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner
co-hosted with CBC News anchor Gloria Macarenko and Media colunist Catherine Barr
featuring performers: bagpiper Joe McDonald and Mad Celts, Silk Road Music's Qiu Xia He and Andre Thibault, Opera Soprano Heather Pawsey and DJ Timothy Wisdom, BC Book Prize winner Vancouver poet Rita Wong + poet traslator Tommy Tao, Playwright Adrienne Wong and a scene from "Mixie and The Half-Breeds"
Description of 2008 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner
co-hosted with Media colunist Catherine Barr
featuring performers: , celtic band Blackthorn, bagpiper Joe McDonald and Brave Waves, Ji-Rong Huang on erhu, Film maker Ann-Marie Fleming, Vancouver poet laureate George McWhirter, Playwright Grace Chin and a scene from "The Quickie"
Description of 2007 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner
co-hosted with CBC Radio's Priya Ramu,
featuring performers:
Silk Road Music,
Heather Pawsey,
Brave Waves,
Leora Cashe,
No Luck Club,
Dr. Ian Mason (Burns Club of Vancouver)
Lensey Namioka - Author "Half and Half"
Margaret Gallagher,
"Twisting Fortunes" (sneak preview of play)
Description of 2006 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner
with co-host with CityTV's Prem Gill
featuring performers:
Rick Scott & Harry Wong, The Shirleys, Joe McDonald & Brave Waves, Sean Gunn, author Joy Kogawa,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat team
for lots of summer fun, fitness and friendship. We are a social team full of cultural vigor, that likes to eat.
We have been featured on television, local, national and international. We have a unique and internationally famous fundraiser dinner event.
We practice starting March
Sunday 1:30 pm -3:30 pm
Tuesday 6pm-7:45pm
We meet at Dragon Zone clubhouse - just south of Science World in Creekside Park above the Aquabus and dragon boat docks.
Our coach Todd Wong has 15+ years of experience including novice, recreational and competitive levels, and both community and corporate teams.
Our 2008 season took us to races in Burnaby, Vancouver, Vernon, Vancouver Taiwanese race, UBC, Ft. Langley.
It was our strongest team ever and we are proud of our race performances.
Picture from Program.
Todd Wong plays "Dark Eyes" - photo Deb Martin
- photo Todd Wong
- photo Patrick Tam
- photo Patrick Tam
- photo Patrick Tam
