To varying degrees, we have all been affected by the COVID pandemic over the last few years, and each of us has a story to share of how we handled lock downs and isolation. At this year’s OzAsia Festival, world renowned musician Mindy Meng Wang will be sharing with us stories and tales from families out of China, their experience of the pandemic, and the blame the world pointed to them.
Mindy Meng Wang is a versatile Chinese-Australian composer, guzheng performing artist and producer. Her cross-cultural life and professional experience have influenced her music and created an interesting and unique style that combines east and west, modern and traditional. She is bold and innovative, and her practise crosses different art forms and disciplines. Her long-term vision is to create a deeper and reciprocal connection between Australia and China through art.
In When, Mindy creates a poignant and emotional audio-visual meditation on family, memories, and life in times of great change. Sharing personal, undisclosed stories between her hometown of Lanzhou, Wuhan (China) and her new home of Melbourne (Australia), Mindy humanises the profound upheaval that comes from a worldwide pandemic.
With such a brilliant career so far, where did it all start for Mindy?
“It started when I was really young. When I was around five or six years old, my parents in China tried to develop some arts skills in me, so I was sent to learn painting and piano, but that didn’t work out for me. A few years later, we had a new neighbour who was the best guzheng player in our region. I kept hearing music from her window all the time and seeing other people going to study music with her. I was was suddenly drawn to this instrument; as a young child I thought it looked super cool. So I asked my mum if I could learn, and I did. That is really where it all started for me.”
Mindy has a wonderful way of combining traditional elements of Chinese music with the modern world.
“The guzheng has 2500 years of history behind it, so has always been played traditionally in China. When I was living in China, I really only played it traditionally. I knew that I had a good career ahead of me in China, and I also won many prizes for playing it. I left China and moved to England where I met a very different music concept. I loved how free they were in how they played. It fascinated me. From then I wanted to bring the instrument out of the traditional approach and into the modern word. When I play music like this in Europe and Australia, it represents a new culture of traditional music. It highlights how contemporary traditional instruments can be when played differently. It’s something I’m really passionate about and I just want to share it with everyone. I love the freedom this way of playing shows people.”
When, which opens at the OzAsia Festival this weekend, grew from Mindy’s experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When the pandemic started, there was a lot of discrimination towards China and Chinese people. Whilst it did cause issues around the world, a lot of people’s thoughts were very shallow. People forget it wasn’t deliberate. So many families in China also experienced the despair the rest of the world felt. I remember reading someone’s diary about losing their family in China during the pandemic, and this person’s story really resonated with me. So I had the idea to use my music to tell people’s stories and look at how lucky we are to not have had to experience the devastation that came out of China first hand. This whole work is filled with all the deep emotions that come through in a lot of these families’ stories. I get quite emotional when we rehearse. It’s a very moving production. We take the audience on a very emotional, deep journey.”
Mindy hopes that When will open the Western world to the stories behind the pandemic, taking audiences on a deep journey.
“I’m hoping this show will open the eyes of people to what it was like for a lot of these families in China. It’s heartbreak for any human to experience loss, and I’m hoping this show shares these emotional stories with audiences. I wanted to make a work that reminds people that we are all humans, we are all the same.
“We have film makers who have worked with us on this project too, as well as journalists who have given us their first hand experience. It is going to be a show like no other.”
When will be performed Friday 4 November at 8pm and Saturday 5 November at 6pm & 8pm at Nexus Arts. Tickets and further information can be found at https://ozasia.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au/whats-on/when .
Interviewed by: Ben Stefanoff
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