Wu Man and The Huayin Shadow Puppet Band to Perform at the New York Society for Ethical Culture

An ambassador for China's vibrant cultural heritage, pipa virtuoso Wu Man returns to New York with the Huayin Shadow Puppet Band, performing at the New York Society for Ethical Culture on Saturday, March 17 at 8:00 p.m. The Huayin Shadow Puppet Band, formerly known as the Zhang Family Band, continues a centuries-old tradition of blending music, drama, and classic Chinese shadow puppetry, but was little known outside the mountains of northeastern China until Wu Man brought them to New York in 2009 for Carnegie Hall's "Ancient Paths, Modern Voices" Festival, of which she was a curator. Presented by World Music Institute in association with Asia Society New York, the upcoming concert is part of a tour to twelve U.S. cities, including Berkeley, Boston, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and Washington, DC. The program features Wu Man performing both solo and with the Band.

Tickets priced $35-$65 are available from World Music Institute, including online via worldmusicinstitute.org and by phone at (212) 279-4200. Tickets priced $5 are available for children aged 14 and under.

Starting in 2007, as part of her planning for the "Ancient Paths, Modern Voices" Festival, Wu Man began traveling regularly to China's remote regions to uncover the country's ancient musical traditions that are in danger of being lost, including the traditions of the Huayin Shadow Puppet Band, seen in her 2012 documentary Discovering a Musical Heartland. The Band comprises farmers from Shaanxi Province's Huayin County in a rural village at the foot of Mount Hua in northwest China. For more than 300 years the Huayin Shadow Puppet Band has toured the countryside, bringing its rugged shadow puppet plays that call to life the mythical heroes and gods of the oral folk culture of Shaanxi, often evoking famous battles of the Tang dynasty (618-907), temple fairs, and rituals.

The shadow puppet plays are accompanied by "old tune" (laoqiang) traditional music with guttural and high-pitched singing (by senior singer Zhang Ximin) with a rough, mad spirit; percussion including clappers, cymbals, and gongs; stringed instruments including the yueqin (moon-lute) and fiddle; the shawm, a double-reed instrument similar to the oboe; and a natural trumpet.

The shadow puppetry tradition that exists in the village first appeared during the Qing Dynasty under Emperor Qianlong (1736-96) and has been passed down from generation to generation. For many years the shadow puppetry was part of the Zhang family household only, and not until recently has it been passed down to performers outside the family.

Wu Man brings the Huayin Shadow Puppet Band to the U.S. for only the second time in an effort to not only preserve this traditional art form, but also show its relevance in our 21st century.

Following the U.S. tour, Wu Man and the Huayin Shadow Puppet Band return to China to perform at the Shenzhen International Music Festival.

Wu Man is the world's premier pipa virtuoso. As a soloist, educator, and composer, she has given her lute-like instrument-which has a history of over 2,000 years in China-a new role in both traditional and contemporary music. She has premiered hundreds of new works for the pipa while spearheading multimedia projects to both preserve and create awareness of China's ancient musical traditions. Her collaborations with musicians from wide-ranging artistic disciplines allow her to reach diverse audiences as she works to break through cultural and musical borders. For more information, visit wumanpipa.org.

Photo: Wu Man and the Huayin Shadow Puppet Band