A night at the (Cantonese) opera

[imomus]

Click the picture to see a short video clip of the opera (4.46 MB AVI, 8 secs).

And here's a little audio taste of the music. Cantonese Opera mp3 (3.56MB mono mp3, 7.46 minutes)

Comments

[sheppardzo-14.livejournal.com]

great fun. thanks for the quasi-vacation.

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

Something of the Vaudevillian in Cantonese opera.

so cool

[(Anonymous)]

it's so cool.... the music is so energetic and clear /this fast clashing tsiang tsiang tsiang , it's almost like death metal /and acting looks like campy vienese operetta plus all this acrobatic figures ... i know in china nationalism is rising so at least i hope they will cherish their traditional treasures and won't let it go away ...

[33mhz.livejournal.com]

Neat. Until seeing that video, I had no idea that those little bobbing antennae were indeed little bobbing antennae.

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

I wonder how truly far it is from the likes of light comic opera such as Gilbert and Sullivan? I couldn't help but think of The Mikado when watching the clip. Interesting that I didn't get that same sense when viewing the bunraku (sp?) puppeteers.

[(Anonymous)]

I have a tape with the music from a cantonese opera. I love it. weird noices.

is there anywhere on the net where I can find some cantonese opera music?

o nick, I got the DVD of emperor tomato ketchup, the terayama film abt kids ruling society. I'm excited.


erik
rotterdam

dutch bobbing

[(Anonymous)]

dutch folk dress seem to have picked up the same waves


erik

[(Anonymous)]

Fantastic!!! Cool! Thanx!

there's a web radio ...

[david-f.livejournal.com]

a web radio called CHOP is broadcasting non-stop cantonese opera.
it's here : http://www.shoutcast.com/sbin/shoutcast-playlist.pls?rn=469849&file=filename.pls
sometimes it seems that the sound comes from the 30s, like an old photograph..

Re: there's a web radio ...

[david-f.livejournal.com]

sorry it's COHP, not CHOP.

[sparkligbeatnic.livejournal.com]

I've always wanted to see Chinese Opera but didn't have the chance to as I was only in Hong Kong for about 3 days, 2 of them for work.

I used to ask my Cantonese friends in Vancouver about the opera but they would say they'd never seen it and that only old people had time to attend the opera. I guess what they meant is that it was uncool. Anyways I stopped asking them about it.

If you get a chance it's fun to check out the 500 yen Kabuki in Tsutenkaku, south of Namba, Osaka. A really grungy Osaka experience, but with heart. And, while you're there, go for a stroll in the pleasure quarters (I think it's called Tabata-cho or Tabita-cho). It still has the gridded street pattern and old houses with carved wooden exterior of the Edo-period pleasure quarter. The young ladies sit at the genkan with a Madam. Now it's a pretty low life zone and locals say it's dangerous there.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I'm actually staying at Tennoji, which is pretty close to Namba, and have already been to the 500 yen kabuki. I went last year, and was amazed to see the actors stopping the play to sing current pop hits, and the audience of obachans stuffing 10,000 yen notes into their kimonos. Very different from the classical Ginza kabuki. Right outside transvestite prostitutes linger, and you sometimes wonder if they aren't the kabuki actors raising a little extra cash. (In fact, when the kabuki actors stand outside meeting and greeting with the audience after the show, it's sometimes easy to mix them up with the transvestites.) I've also been to the porn cinema next door, which I'm sure is run by the same management as the kabuki theatre. I must go again this year (to the kabuki, I mean).

[sparkligbeatnic.livejournal.com]

Naru hodo. It's quite the hip area, I understand. But I haven't been there for a few years. Last time I was there I broke a tooth, so it has some unpleasant associations for me.

Have you tried 'smart ball' or have you taken a walk through the gridded prostitution area which is about 15 minutes walk from Tsutenkaku? I'm surprised we haven't seen a picture essay on the Edo period style prostitution zone. Perhaps it's not a safe place to take pictures?

[maybeimdead.livejournal.com]

oh wow, Momus at canto-opera. From what I know of it, Cantonese Opera is a low-brow art form modified from Peking Opera by the Cantonese to send messages rebellion and revolt during the rule of the Qing Dynasty. By virtue of their historical distance from the ruling classes, the Cantonese have always been the subversive ones. Was it subversive to you?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I certainly picked up on the lowbrow element; just as I went to kabuki expecting to see something more like Noh, I went to Cantonese opera expecting Beijing opera. I'm always looking for something otherworldy and austere, and getting something populist. That's because the austere forms, like Beijing opera and Noh, were court forms, and can't really thrive where there's no imperial court or monarchy. Tourists and locals don't want to sit through three hours of strange gesticulation from men in whiteface. I do. Does that make me subversive? In a cock-a-mamie kind of way, perhaps.