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Category Archives: Music & Art
The Band at La Finca
Alonso, the director of La Finca, loves music and leads a Christian music band comprised of a select few La Finca kids who play drums, base, guitar, keyboard, and sing. Note the kid in jammies in the foreground listening to more »
Posted in Honduras, Music & Art
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Making Music at MIT
This past Tuesday, I performed at MIT’s graduate student open-mic. Gaston and I had only one day to rehearse. Within one hour of posting the Led Zeppelin cover of Thank You, I received an email from YouTube notifying me that more »
Posted in MIT, Music & Art
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Shanghai Violin – Recital Piece
AUDIO Recital Replay During the Spring Festival, only one music store near the Shanghai Music Conservatory was open. It had the floorspace of a typical shop window display with about 20 violins crammed inside. A teacher clapped expressionlessly to a more »
Posted in Music & Art, Shanghai Adventure 2010
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Shanghai Violin – Chinese Film
AUDIO In the Mood For Love While my erhu was being touched up in the shop, I practiced on the Shanghai violins hanging on the wall. Most are copies of Stradivari or other famous violins and have extremely unique tones more »
Posted in Music & Art, Shanghai Adventure 2010
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Purchasing an Erhu – Part VI
I returned to Jinling Lu with Mei’s mother’s surgeon’s son, a ballet dancer with street smarts who had his informed friends from a music academy on the phone while we browsed and haggled for erhus. His friends claimed that erhus more »
Posted in Cuisine, Erhu Blog, Music & Art
2 Comments
Hangzhou – Hefang Old Street – The Glass Blower
Hefang Jie feels like an extraordinarily realistic live museum. While strolling down the old street, you can see artisans showing off their skills to the curious tourists. A glass blower works at a table covered with his creations in the more »
Posted in Hangzhou, Music & Art, On the Streets, Places of Significance
Tagged Glass, Hangzhou, Hefang, Song Dynasty
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Purchasing an Erhu – Part V
Erhus are made from a variety of wood types, red sandalwood being the most prized. The erhus that are now being mass produced in factories with impressive quality seem to be of African ebony, but redwoods are still considered to produce more »
Posted in Erhu Blog, Music & Art
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Hangzhou – Music Fountain
VIDEO Music Fountain The Music Fountain in Hangzhou is located near Hubin Lu, the most modernized street on the lake with shops like Armani and Dulce&Gobbana. Click on the link above to see Chinese tourists watching the fountain rise and more »
Posted in Hangzhou, Music & Art, Places of Significance
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Dada = Bar + Movie Theater
I read on Shanghai Expat that Dada, a bar in Pu Xi, had a movie night featuring The Mack, a 1973 American “blaxploitation” film. Expecting a theater, I was surprised to arrive at a low-key bar in an alley with more »
Posted in Music & Art, Western Influence
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Purchasing an Erhu – Part IV
Meet my favorite erhu dealer, plucking a no-name erhu in the corner, and his somewhat English-speaking crony ready to tell me only what I want to hear about every instrument on the racks. I cannot tell you how relieved I more »
Posted in Erhu Blog, Music & Art
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Open Mike at Oscar's Pub
I’ve only visited Oscar’s Pub three times but am already addicted to their Wednesday night open mikes. A slew of diverse players crowded the place tonight, from country musicians to blues makers. The house band, TJP (Tom-Jerry-Paul), is my favorite more »
Posted in Music & Art, Western Influence
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Purchasing an Erhu – Part III
VIDEO Little Girl Playing Erhu – Part I Little Girl Playing Erhu – Part II Little Girl Playing Erhu – Part III The video above is broken into 3 parts because of uploading constraints. – After watching the guqin lesson, more »
Posted in Erhu Blog, Music & Art
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Purchasing an Erhu – Part II
We started our erhu lesson search by browsing the shops on Jinling Lu. I’ve never seen such an extensive music district before. There are at least 30 separate businesses selling a range of instruments from ancient erhu’s to electric guitars. more »
Posted in Erhu Blog, Music & Art
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Purchasing an Erhu – Part I
Like every adventure, this musical weekend started with a feast. I met up at Baby Doll with Mei, my coworker, and her cousin, Mei Yi Ling. Studded leather booths with red lanterns broadcast the restaurant’s peculiar fusion of Chinese food more »
Posted in Cuisine, Erhu Blog, Music & Art
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First Week at Oscar's Pub
Stefan, the Webbie who worked here last Winter, highly recommended Oscar’s Pub, an expatriate joint with live bluegrass, folk, and rock and an open-mike on Wednesday nights. He used to play with the house band and all the musicians there more »
Posted in Music & Art, Shanghai Adventure 2010
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50 Moganshan Art District
Ken and Aili, friends of a friend of my Aunt Anne’s, introduced me to the budding art community in Shanghai. Formerly an industrial area, the district is home to several art galleries and workshops. The artist featured above created his more »
Posted in Music & Art, Shanghai Adventure 2010
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Flute Player in the Old Town, Puxi
Over the babbling market sounds, you can hear an old man selling his wooden flutes out of small rickshaw cart parked on the corner of a crowded Old Town intersection. Here is the first segment of the video (uploading is more »
Posted in Music & Art, Shanghai Adventure 2010
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Jinling Lu
Jinling Lu, my favorite road, is lined with music shops. Below, a man plays the erhu, a traditional Chinese instrument also known as the Chinese violin. Jackie, the manager of a restaurant on Jinling Lu that I happened to stop more »
Posted in Music & Art, Shanghai Adventure 2010
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