Chapter 581: A Big Change in Style
A fat man in black clothes and black pants appeared silently in the corner of the stage, almost blending into the background. He was very inconspicuous. Shen Mozhen glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, and he made an OK gesture to her.
She plucked the strings with her fingers, and a light melody that was completely different from the previous Western music style sounded faintly.
Mr. Martin's heart moved. He had the same feeling when he listened to Liu Man's guqin video, as if a breeze from the East was blowing past him, making him feel relaxed and happy. He even had the urge to take out the incense burner he bought when traveling in Southeast Asia and light it.
Due to the huge differences in education and growing environment, foreigners cannot understand the artistic conception of Chinese music. Mr. Martin can only find some elements that give him similar feelings to imagine it, such as incense, Buddha head, and preferably a cup of black tea from Ceylon.
Even though these things are not necessarily related to ancient Chinese music, they are all defined by Mr. Martin as oriental imagery, and carry a vague, profound and elusive mystery.
Don't blame Mr. Martin for his random understanding. As a foreigner, and a foreigner who studied piano, it's already good enough for him to appreciate these images.
When Shen Mozhen performed in Europe, more than half of the seats were empty. This is the reality of foreigners' understanding of Chinese folk instruments. Even if some foreign audiences sit in the audience, they may not understand these ancient music. Although excellent music knows no borders, the cultural gap is here, just like the Chinese cannot understand Indian and Middle Eastern music.
Under the influence of Yu Zhan, Mr. Martin did his homework in advance and is considered to be a relatively "knowledgeable" person.
At this moment, the foreign faculty members sitting near him were whispering to each other. Many of them were seeing this Chinese multi-string instrument for the first time and were very interested.
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However, they were also confused and did not understand what was going on. Just looking at the title of the song, "Qu Shui He Xiang", even though it has been translated into English, it is still a big problem for them. They will never be able to understand how beautiful the picture of the ancient Chinese people's flowing wine cups, winding water and the fragrance of lotus flowers is.
At this moment, a rhythmic drum beat suddenly joined Shen Mozhen's playing, and the audience instantly felt refreshed.
Everyone looked closely and noticed the fat man in black in the corner of the stage. He was actually sitting on a black box drum. Both were pitch black. No wonder they didn't see him just now.
The so-called cajon is a box-shaped wooden percussion instrument. By hitting the front end of the wooden box with your hands, it can produce a sound similar to a jazz drum.
It originated in Africa, when poor people used discarded wooden boxes to modify musical instruments for their own entertainment. But now, the box drum has evolved into a trendy percussion instrument, which is highly sought after by professional musicians.
Mr. Martin and other foreigners didn't know about the guzheng, but they all knew about the box drum, and the addition of classical music really surprised them.
Not to mention foreigners, some teachers and professors in the audience were also hearing the combination of guzheng and drum beats for the first time. They looked at Shen Mozhen on the stage and were greatly surprised.
They all knew Shen Mozhen, and they all heard her playing the guzheng, which was very different from her previous style! The heavy bass of the guzheng matched with the rhythm of the box drum, which was full of a strong musical appeal. It was as if the fragrant and distant lotus fragrance was mixed with a little bit of uncontrollable popular elements, just like Shen Mozhen's already restless heart.
After appearing in "The King of Singers", Shen Mozhen once again set off a wave of enthusiasm among young audiences.
"It's amazing that a wooden box can be a musical instrument. Just by placing it there, I thought it was a speaker."
"Let me give you some basic knowledge. The wooden box is called a cajon. It is a commonly used instrument in the pop music industry and can replace jazz drums."
"It was my first time listening to a guzheng performance, and I felt it was cool, especially when the drum beats started, I felt inexplicably excited."
"In fact, this kind of cross-border combination is quite difficult. Shen Mozhen is really amazing. He is extremely sensitive to rhythm and has superb control ability across styles. He is comparable to Liu Man's previous piano and guzheng performance."
"My impression of her was that she was Tang Tu's ex, but I didn't expect her to be so awesome."
"Birds of a feather flock together. She must have something extraordinary to be Tang Tu's first love."
"In fact, she and Tang Tu are a good match. What a pity."
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