THE TIANJIN BUDDHIST MUSIC ENSEMBLE'S EUROPEAN TOUR

In October and November 1993, the Buddhist Music Ensemble of Tianjin (northern
China) visited Europe for a concert tour arranged by the Asian Music Circuit
(London) and the CHIME Foundation (Leiden). The visit was a major scholarly
event. It led to a series of radio broadcasts, lectures, and publications and
was documented on CD by Nimbus records. A special series of lectures was
presented by China's foremost scholar in the field of Buddhist musical ritual,
Dr. Tian Qing of the Music Reserach Institute in Beijing. Furthermore, members
of the group, some of whom are in their seventies, were interviewed by various
European scholars.

MUSIC as a major component of Chinese Buddhist ritual has been given little
attention in Western publications on Chinese Buddhism, perhaps mainly because
of the limited access to China and the decline of temple traditions in the
country. Furthermore, until the late 1980s it was difficult to obtain recorded
materials. At present, many established Western experts on Chinese Buddhism
are unable to distinguish Buddhist music from other liturgical traditions in
China, if they are able to recognize it at all. Thus, the opportunity, late
last year, to hear and watch a group of folk musicians perform authentic
Buddhist chants and instrumental music on a Western stage was welcomed by many
students and scholars of Buddhism. In addition it drew the attention of many
European practitioners of Buddhism and music lovers in general.

The music of the ensemble from Tianjin is the fruit of an extraordinary feat
of memory. The traditions of Buddhist music in China were hampered for many
years by political and social disturbances. During the last decade, many of
the ancient ritual traditions were revived - and in some cases carefully
reconstructed - by aging monks and folk musicians. Since the mid-1980s, ritual
groups in villages and towns all over China have re-emerged. The Tianjin
musicians form one such group. Their personal backgrounds reflect the
chequered history of Chinese ritual culture. Some members of the ensemble
became monks in their childhood, left the clergy in the 1950s, but have always
continued practising ritual folk music. Others have been working closely with
ritual specialists for occasions such as funerals and or god`s birthdays as
laymen all their lives.  

The Tianjin Buddhist Music Ensemble rarely performs in temples, although
undeniably part of their repertoire consists of ritual percussion music and
vocal liturgical music which belongs to traditional temple services of the
past. But the melodic instrumenal music which they play is not explicitly
liturgical and is normally played in folk rituals. The repertoire of the group
is a mixture of the solemn music of traditional temples and the more earthy
style of the local folk music.

The concerts in Europe were positively received. The spontaneous ovations
after some of the concerts in Europe must have taken the musicians from
Tianjin by surprise. In turn, the public was struck by the unexpected vitality
and sturdiness of the music. The ensemble, playing reed pipes, bamboo flute,
Chinese shawms mouth organs, and a variety of percussion instruments,
performed not only calm and contemplative pieces, but also some very vigorous
ones which must have led some people to reconsider their notions of the spirit
of Buddhist rituals in China.

The Tianjin Buddhist Music Ensemble arrived in England on 20 October, 1993,
and gave its first concert in Oakwell Hall in Kirklees two days later. They
shared the stage with the utterly meditative Zen shakuhachi playing of
Yoshikazu Iwamoto, which led to a remarkable contrast. To think that two
styles of Buddhist music could be so totally different! The enthusiastic
response of the public came as a great relief to the musicians, who had no
idea if Western audiences could appreciate their music. They were a lot more
relaxed in subsequent concerts in the Great Britain.

Three concerts were planned for the first week of November in Holland. The
Dutch press was unanimous in its praise of the ensemble. The music critic of
the prestigious NRC Handelsblad, praised the music for its freshness and
unique timbral effects. "All these instruments created a unique ensemble
sound, which is only sporadically reminiscent of something familiar such as
the 'screams' of free-jazz saxophone player Albert Ayler - when the guanzi
freely rockets into the stratosphere - and sometimes even the orchestrations
on some records of pop singer Kate Bush." The idea of such music being played
at funerals clearly appealed to this critic: "Perhaps an idea for Westerners
who keep an open ear for music until the very last: to be laid to rest to the
sounds of this music!"

Abridged from a report by Frank Kouwenhoven (CHIME)