Hi everyone,
Thank you for subscribing to Wu Fei’s Music Daily. This is the #316 episode — Melting into the soil.
This track is a solo guzheng improvisation recorded yesterday.
Meanwhile, I would like to share a new work premiere with you all that I’ve been excited about!
My new composition “The Pirate and the Okra Boat 秋葵海盗” , written for solo double bass, commissioned by Intersection Ensemble, will be premiered by double bassist Tiffany Freeman. It premieres on Thursday, April 29, at 11 a.m. CT Intersection’s Facebook page!
The premiere video was filmed by Continuous Motion Productions at Zeitgeist Gallery. Catch the debut performance this Thursday, and follow the link below to set a reminder for the premiere!
LISTEN is a multi-year initiative celebrating the voices of female-identifying, non-binary or gender non-conforming composers. 25 composers will be commissioned and paired with Intersection musicians to create new, original, solo works designed for young audiences.
LISTEN is made possible with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, and to find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.
WU FEI ON THE TITLE "THE PIRATE AND THE OKRA BOAT"
The pirate is Zheng Yisao, I learned about her story on NPR a few years ago about a book that was written about this extraordinary woman in China, who might be the most badass pirate in world history.
She was a Chinese pirate leader who terrorized the China Seas for decades in the Qing Dynasty in the early 19th century. She commanded over 1,800 junks (traditional Chinese sailing ships) manned by 60,000 to 80,000 pirates – men, women, and occasionally children. Her ships entered into conflict with several major powers, such as the East India Company, the Portuguese Empire, and the Qing government.
After I finished writing the piece, I was thinking about a title, Zheng Yisao kept jumping in my head. I was making dinner and cutting okras. The way the okras (30-40 of them) were laid out on my kitchen counter looked like boats. I started imagining them as Zheng Yisao's boats. They are healthy boats and eatable so the pirates and their family could stay fed and healthy. Those okra boats are magical that can grow back out once you eat them. The double bass also looks like a boat that can be a giant musical okra. Tiffany is a woman bassist, and Zheng Yisao was a woman pirate, both are rare and badass at the same time. That's how I named the piece. -Wu Fei
Double bassist Tiffany Freeman performing my composition at Zeitgeist Gallery filmed by Continuous Motion Production.
