Apart from the concert performed by The Ju Percussion Band, there were two other musical concerts held at the same venue on the 3rd and 4th of November respectively. They were a “Concert of Stringed and Woodwind Instruments” and a world music concert, “The African Drums.”
The stringed and woodwind instruments concert was particularly honored by the presence of Gary Dilworth, a professor who came specifically from California State University, Sacramento, one of TKU’s sister universities, to play his best instrument, the trumpet, with local musicians. These musicians were Kan Yuan-ching on oboe, Lee Pai-yu on the piano, and several others on clarinet, flute bassoon and French horn. They put on a versatile performance that included a peaceful pastorale by Eric Ewazen, a joyful woodwind quintet by Jacques Ibert, a sophisticated concerto by Alexander Arutunian, and finally, a mystical Tibetan music by Eric Ewazen.
The other concert “The African Drums” was performed by a group of Taiwanese musicians who call themselves “The West African Tribes”. One of the band members, Chang Yun-zhi, is a part-time lecturer at TKU’s Department of Information and Communication, who appeared on stage with other band members bare feet, but dressed in traditional West African costumes, playing various instruments, such as Djembe drums, Dunun drums, and Ashiko drums. The boisterous sound of their drums put the audiences in some African jungles that filled with wild and ecstatic sensations. Suddenly, audiences could feel the vibration of the elephants and the galloping of the zebras. In this elated state, the band invited the audiences, adults and children alike, to play and dance with them on and off the stage.
Their performances were interactive, relaxing but also educational. Furthermore, they were creative. Their last song, for example, was a combination of West African drums mixed with Middle Eastern flute, Taiwanese Beiguan theatrical music and modern electronic synthesized music. This unusual merge of multi-cultural musical heritages won thunderous applauses at the end of the concert. (~Ying-hsueh Hu )
