Contextual Matters
A Rehearsal for the Opening Ceremonies in Context
The official opening ceremonies have just been completed here in Beijing and the city revels in the spectacular. Now we can understand the depth of desire in China to celebrate and promote its’ vast recorded history, rich in culture, Confucianism and commerce. There were many, many levels of complexity to enjoy and savor.
Chinese is a contextual language filled with homonyms – hence meaning must be derived from both a specific auditory analysis of the sounds and tones of individual words, in addition to a consideration of their collective relationships and temporal placement. Likewise, while seeing and hearing the rehearsal in person, I was struck by the cultural intensity of the imagery and sounds that were woven into a rich contextual story of Chinese history and dynastic majesty. The formal show began with countless rows of “drummers” all dressed in flowing gray robes, taking to the stadium floor with military precision.
Zhang Yi Mo, the genius behind this stage production, comes from Xi’ an, an ancient capital of the Middle kingdom and home of Qin Shi Huang Di, the first emperor of China, who united a powerful collection of warring factions and nationalities into a state of unparalleled size and destiny. Today in Xi’ an there still stand battle formations of the bing ma yong (兵马俑) “ terra cotta warriors”, in a vast display of ancient military might and organizational grandeur, that have silently guarded the approach to the emperor’s final resting place since 210 B.C. The site still has the power to inspire and mesmerize, just as it must have 2000 years ago. I know that standing in front of several thousand life-sized fire-hardened warriors in near identical dress, but with unique faces, summons a primitive visceral response which must in some small way reflect the mixed feelings welling up within vulnerable awestruck villagers as an all-powerful army marched into town in precise battle formation.
Zhang Yi Mo clearly calculated that even now in the age of virtual reality and high tech wizardry there is no substitute for a spectacle of thousands of individuals bound together into an organic coordinated body, flowing with rhythmic pulses and exploding with sudden salvo’s of unimaginable vocal intensity. Sitting at the top rim of the “birds nest” I truly felt like an eagle watching a storm forming in the valley below. Here I could clearly and safely appreciate the precision of the group’s movements and sample the sharp sonic pulses that would wash over the stadium from end-to-end. The instruments they played may be described as drums in the west, but they are played tonight with a subtlety that transcends the beating of a tightly stretched skin or soundboard. The instruments are a modern variation of the ancient ceremonial fou vessel; originally made out of ceramic or bronze and meant to serve up wine as well as music with ritual splendor.
A multi-purpose vessel with double walls
Tonight the thousands of performers methodically stroke and beat the instrument’s surface giving rise to a river of sounds that mimic the wind, rain and torrents of flowing water punctuated dramatically with the thunder claps of an other-worldly storm. A white-rimmed frame that is sensitive to vibration outlines the upper surface and in combination with others creates an eerie 2 K resolution picture of a strangely pixelated performance (especially when seen from a great distance in the dark). The dramatic event begins with the amplification of random human white noise, but quickly locks onto a performance signal that is white hot and multi-culturally clear. As the rhythmic chants and drumming build to a crescendo, symbolic red-lighted batons appear with a flash in the night and form a hypnotic lightning that sizzles through the sweltering darkness and lifts the intensity of the sensory overload to new heights. Then abruptly and without warning the storm is quickly over and the performers silently disperse in a manner as ethereal as the wind. But I suspect this impressive force will certainly regroup spontaneously again, at some other place, some other time and in some other form. Today, I am very happy to be a bird.
