Bringing the tune of Kunqu Opera to the world (2)

Pai says everybody should see a Kunqu Opera performance at least once. His enthusiasm has much to do with a performance by Kunqu and Peking Opera maestro Mei Lanfang in Shanghai in 1946, when he was 9.

"We have lost many other forms of musical heritage in China. Fortunately, we can still hear the 600-year-old Kunqu Opera today, and it's our responsibility to preserve and spread it," he adds.

In October, Pai received the Taichi Traditional Music Award, a brainchild of the China Conservatory to honor individuals or social groups all over the world, who have made outstanding and original contributions toward performance, inheritance, theoretical studies or dissemination of traditional music.

At the Taichi Traditional Music Award ceremony, the presenters read this citation of Pai: "Kenneth Hsien-yung Pai and the team who did the youth version of Peony Pavilion have made outstanding contributions in promoting and disseminating Kunqu Opera to the world. The production's meaningful exploration in combining classical traditions and modern art forms helps Kunqu Opera achieve wide influence in the world."

Pai received the award together with Indian sitar master Ravi Shankar, US ethnomusicologist Bruno Nettl and Lin Zhongshu, a farmer from Hebei province who helped to revive the local village concert tradition.

"Kunqu Opera is a representative form of the elegant culture of ancient China," says Fu Jin, director of the Academic Committee of the National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts.

"We should thank Pai for bringing Kunqu Opera back to contemporary life and for showing its vitality to the world."

After Peony Pavilion, Pai produced another Kunqu Opera, The Jade Hairpin, which again demonstrates his concept of modernized Kunqu Opera. As one of the earliest romantic plays that deals with sexuality, it tells a passionate love story between young scholar Pan Bizheng and a Taoist priestess.

Pai says China's music education in schools is Western-centric and suggests traditional Chinese music genres like Kunqu Opera be added to the syllabi.

We recommend:
Grandpa does modeling in girl's wear	Top photographic works on earth	Who is the most innocent girl wearing pigtails?
25 yummy, healthy snacks for children and women	Common scams tourists need to watch out for	Wow! World's harshest deserts
Maiji Mountain Grottoes in Tianshui	Healthy diet keeps you away from diabetes	Kung Fu! Shaolin monk 'flies' across wall